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 crisis 'abhorrent': Housing Trust CEO Michele Adair
Zoe Cartwright Illawarra Mercury (No paywall)A survey of 666 Gilmore voters undertaken by the Everybody's Home campaign found 84 per cent of respondents thought it was either 'hard' or 'very hard' for people on low-to-middle incomes to rent a home in the region. A similarly strong majority 72 per cent believed the federal government had not done enough to address housing affordability, while 76 per cent thought there was not enough social and affordable housing for people struggling in the housing market. ... Housing Trust CEO Michele Adair said she was not surprised by the findings. "Even before the floods, COVID and bushfires we had an affordable housing crisis across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven," she said. "It used to only affect people on very low incomes, but now working professionals on good salaries with a household income of $120,000 are eligible for subsidised rental housing.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7659722/id-be-homeless…
# NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Staff shortages impacting older Australians on home care packages
Ellen Coulter ABC (No paywall)Angela Dolcetta has lived in the same home in Melbourne's north for more than 50 years, and she's determined to stay in her own home for as long as possible. ... Ms Dolcetta has applied for a home care package to get help with shopping, gardening, and cleaning. There are four levels of home care packages, with federal government subsidies ranging from $9,000 a year for basic help, to more than $52,000 for more complex assistance. The money is paid to a provider chosen by the recipient. Ms Dolcetta was assessed as eligible for a Level 2 package in October, but she's still waiting to hear when she'll be allocated a package.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-16/staff-shortages-home-care…
# Australia, Disability, Older people, Welfare.Fears thousands will become homeless when National Rental Affordability Scheme ends
Rachel McGhee and Paul Culliver ABC (No paywall)In less than a month, pensioner George Parkyn and his beloved dog, Baxter, could be homeless. Mr Parkyn lives in one of more than 8,000 Queensland properties provided through the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS). The federal scheme provides 22,000 properties nationwide. NRAS started in 2008 with the aim of increasing the supply of new and affordable rental dwellings by providing an annual financial incentive to property owners for up to 10 years. This incentive is issued to landlords to create lower-cost rentals for low and middle-income earners at 20 per cent below the market rate. ... Every year rentals on the scheme increase in line with the Consumer Price Index, but in years five and eight of the scheme, property owners are given the opportunity to increase their rent by market value. For Mr Parkyn and others living in Tannum Sands estate, it is year number eight. ... It's not just the looming rent increase that's worrying Mr Parkyn. Over the next four years those living in the 22,000 NRAS properties will find themselves competing for rentals in the open market when the scheme ends. ... Housing advocacy group Everybody's Home spokesperson Kate Colvin predicts thousands of people will become homeless as a result. "People will be thrown to the mercy of the private rental market, and rents have increased massively," Ms Colvin said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-16/housing-crisis-to-worsen-…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.Petrol prices won’t crash the housing market - it’s renters who will suffer most
Emma Dawson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Where the sharp increases in cost of living brought about by petrol price rises will hurt is at the bottom end of the housing market: those in private rentals, some of whom may still be hoping to buy their first home. Lower income households – the bottom 40 per cent, predominantly living on fixed income support, sometimes combined with part-time or casual wages from insecure work – pay more than 3 per cent of their income on petrol, compared to less than 2 per cent for higher income earners. They also spend a much greater proportion of their income on essentials, leaving little to save for a home deposit – or to cover increases in rent, which are beginning to follow house prices up that steep incline.
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/petrol-prices-won-t-crash-the-hou…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.One million homes at risk of flooding by 2030, new modelling shows
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)More than one million properties are at risk of flooding across 30 priority local government areas around Australia, new modelling shows. And climate change-fuelled riverine flooding could cause $170 billion in property value losses by 2050, or $45,000 per exposed property, research from risk analysis provider Climate Valuation found.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/one-million-homes-at-risk-o…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market.Australian home prices rose a record 24% last year. That’s insane
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)In most capital cites housing affordability is about 25% worse than it was just 18 months ago. That it was expected makes it no less shocking. The huge surge in housing loans early last year always meant property prices were going to take off. But it still takes your breath away when the latest residential property price data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that prices across the nation rose a record 24% last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2022/mar/17/aus…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.Property prices heading for ‘break even’ point as clearance rates fall
Tawar Razaghi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The property market is starting to return to a more normal level, with preliminary auction clearance rates edging lower on the weekend. At the height of the pandemic-driven property boom, the majority of homes were selling under the hammer for well above reserves, as buyers fought it out for the limited stock on the market.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/property-prices-heading-for…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Brace yourself Sydney for more transport chaos
Christopher Standen The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The extreme weather of the past fortnight has exposed the vulnerabilities in Sydney’s transport system. Roads flooded, horrendous traffic and numerous crashes. Ongoing public transport delays and cancellations. Essential workers struggling to get to work. And this chaos is just a taste of things to come. With global heating, storms and floods set to become more frequent and intense, one has to ask if Sydney’s transport system will cope, or if we have to resign ourselves to worsening travel disruption.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/brace-yourself-sydney-for-mo…
# NSW, Climate change, Planning and development, Work, employment.