Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
Housing catastrophe worsens as Falinski failure exposed
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)How badly did Jason Falinski maul and distort the housing inquiry he chaired at our expense? So badly the secretariat took their names off the final report. In Parliament House public-servant-speak, that’s about as strong a condemnation as you can get short of a career-ending burning of the document in the forecourt. In the various parliamentary committees’ reports, the secretariat – the people who do the mountain of work that goes into an inquiry and know the submissions better than anyone – are listed under “members” of the inquiry along with the politicians. Not for Mr Falinski’s perversion of the process along the ideologically pre-judged lines he was chosen to deliver. The secretariat didn’t want to be associated with it. I’m reporting their pointed silent protest as Australia’s housing catastrophe measurably worsens. ... And the rental market – the catastrophe – is worse and worsening.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2022/04/05/michael-pascoe-hou…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.‘We literally don’t have anywhere to live’: Why Sam and her daughter are living out of a suitcase
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sam Burns was craving a return to the country when she decided to uproot her life in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and move to the booming town of Orange in central-western NSW. But after a two-year search for a house, and a rental that fell through at the last minute, she’s spent the past eight weeks living in holiday accommodation with her three-year-old daughter, as she juggles remote work with an increasingly desperate search for a home. ... Housing Plus chief executive David Fisher said the housing shortage was fuelled by properties being used for short-term rental accommodation, the popularity of which had “accelerated exponentially” in recent years. “The economy in Orange is partly about tourism, for very good reasons. It’s a beautiful city that has a lot to offer tourists, but that has a detrimental effect on the housing market,” Mr Fisher said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/we-literally-don-t-have-anyw…
# NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.People left homeless by northern NSW floods say they have 'fallen through the cracks'
Elias Clure ABC (No paywall)It's been four weeks since Lauren De Groot's home in Lismore was flooded and deemed unlivable. In a hand-me-down caravan, she spends sleepless nights cuddled up to her three-year-old daughter, listening to the howling winds of the New South Wales north coast and the waves crashing on the nearby beach. ... Ms De Groot is one of many residents of the north coast area who have been left homeless by the recent floods. "We have nowhere to go, we have none of our possessions and we aren't getting anything from the government — all of these promises that aren't been followed through on," she said. The caravan Ms De Groot lives in has been lent to her by a friend for only six months, and she has to pay for it to be parked at a Ballina caravan park. ... North Coast Community Housing estimates 3,800 homes have been deemed unlivable as a result of the recent floods and believes thousands have nowhere to go.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-04/people-left-homeless-by-n…
# NSW, Homelessness.Time is ticking for Nicola's family to find a rental home — and they're running out of options
Elizabeth Wright and Celina Edmonds ABC (No paywall)Nicola Moorhouse has less than a fortnight to find a new home. For almost three months, the Newcastle single parent has been searching without any success. Affordable rental accommodation is not easy to find in the NSW Hunter region, especially for people with accessibility requirements. The 45-year-old is legally blind and has two autistic daughters. During the six years in their current rental, Nicola complained about the condition of the house, particularly the bathroom. ... The landlord has issued an eviction notice so that the three-bedroom home can be renovated. While the family has been told they can return after the work is complete, it will not be for the current price of $415 per week. "They're looking to put the rent up by over $250 a week," Nicola said. "I'm on a disability pension and I cannot afford that."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-07/finding-rentals-with-disa…
# NSW, Rent, Disability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Federal Budget 2022-2023
National Shelter Enews (No paywall)Check out National Shelter's Enews ... National Shelter's media release on the budget can be found at: [https://shelter.org.au/site/wp-content/uploads/20220329Media-Release-Federal-Budget-202223-1.0-1.pdf]
https://mailchi.mp/8fcb3edeaabe/enews-february-5334738?e=712b1f3…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Home ownership.NSW to go it alone on flood funding after federal government refused
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW will go it alone on new cash handouts to help uninsured flood victims whose homes have been decimated and contents destroyed after the federal government refused to go halves in the cost. Also, read Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'Uninsured flood victims can receive up to $20,000 payment under NSW scheme' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/04/uninsured-flood-victims-can-receive-up-to-20000-payment-under-nsw-scheme]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-to-go-it-alone-on-flood-…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.Australia faces national rental crisis as vacancy rate falls again
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Australian tenants face a worsening rental crisis, with competition for homes soaring as the proportion of vacant rental properties falls to its lowest level in years. The national rental vacancy rate fell to 1 per cent in March, halving year-on-year, with all capital cities now operating in a landlord’s market, Domain’s latest Rental Vacancy Rate report found. ... Vacancy rates nationally, as well as in Sydney (1.4 per cent), Canberra (0.5), Brisbane (0.7), Adelaide (0.2) and Perth (0.5), have reached their lowest point since Domain records began in 2017, and Darwin (0.5) is close to a record low. Hobart recorded a marginal increase, but with a rate of 0.3 per cent it remains one of the most competitive capital city markets. “In some of our cities it is like finding a needle in a haystack when trying to find an available rental,” Dr Powell said. ... Declining vacancy rates and rising rents were making it harder for tenants to find, and hold on to, an affordable home, said Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross. ... “They know they are susceptible to being asked to move on and will have a hard time finding somewhere and likely face higher rent for a smaller place or have to move even further away.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/australia-faces-national-re…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.What’s in the 2022 Budget for housing and homelessness?
AHURI (No paywall)AHURI News: Support for home ownership remains the focus of federal housing policy support. Although the 2022 Budget hasn’t focused significantly on housing and homelessness, the Australian Government is funding a number of ongoing housing and homelessness commitments.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/Whats-in-the-2022-Budget-…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.