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
Behind the Line: Poverty and disadvantage in Australia 2022
Alan Duncan (No paywall)This report, the ninth in the Focus on the States series, provides the latest examination of the prevalence of poverty within Australia, how this has changed over time, and which groups in society face the greatest risks of financial hardship and material deprivation. ... Open the link to the publication. It reads (p 26): 'Our research finds that nearly a quarter of renters (23.6%) fell below the poverty line in 2020, an increase of 2.2 percentage points in two years ... Financially vulnerable people are forced to make spending decisions on really tight margins with little or no discretionary income, and that’s exactly the situation facing the 1.5 million renters across the country who are experiencing poverty. It is not unusual for the poorest families to have to survive on less than $150 per week once housing costs have been paid – that’s only $21.50 a day.' (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre)
https://bcec.edu.au/publications/behind-the-line-poverty-and-dis…
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Families, Housing market.ACTCOSS calls on Housing ACT to put ‘heartless’ relocation process on hold
Ian Bushnell (No paywall)The ACT’s peak welfare group has blasted Housing ACT’s new tenant relocation push as heartless. They have called on the government to pause the process and genuinely engage with the more than 300 households that received letters last week saying they would have to move from their current homes. The ACT Council of Social Services said the letters advising tenants they would have to move because their homes had been earmarked for sale or redevelopment as part of the public housing renewal program came out of the blue for many of them.
https://the-riotact.com/actcoss-calls-on-housing-act-to-put-hear…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, State Government.Housing crisis worsening on the Fleurieu Peninsula as homes sold and rent hiked, leaving people homeless
Alice Dempster ABC (No paywall)A critical lack of housing on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula is leaving people who have been pushed out of rental properties sleeping in cars and hopping between caravan parks, residents say. Victor Harbor's Sue Duncan, 62, is one such person, facing eviction from her rental property at the end of March when her landlord moves back from overseas and into the home. "We're really sort of stuck as to where [we go], because my housemate has been to a couple of places for rent and there's been so many people lined up, probably about 30, 40 people lined up for the same house," Ms Duncan said. "It's crazy, and the prices, I think one house was $520 a week. "Who can afford that, unless you're getting some astronomical amount of pay?" Ms Duncan, who works in the disability sector, said the thought of having nowhere to go was hard, especially as an older person.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-04/fleurieu-peninsula-housin…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Older people, Women.Social landlords should work together to address the growing threat of cyberattacks
Goher Mohammed Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Data breaches and cyberattacks threaten the relationship of trust between tenants and landlords ... Gone are the days when banks, e-commerce and technology companies were the only victims of cybercriminals. Information security breaches are an all-too-common occurrence in today’s world and are now recognised as one of the biggest risks facing social landlords. Whether it’s legacy technology leaving security holes in our systems, or an easily compromised infrastructure environment caused by a lack of proactive management, the sector has become associated with a dated – and somewhat risky – approach.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/social-landlords…
# International, Public and community housing, Landlords and agents.Not everyone who owns a home wants it to soar in value
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)John Howard famously said he had never met anyone who complained about their house going up in value, but there are some homeowners who might beg to differ. With house prices spiralling in the past two years, the Bank of Mum and Dad has become one of the top mortgage lenders in the country. But there are plenty of mums and dads who do not want to run a bank, and many who wish their house had not shot up in value because it locks their children out of the market and risks their retirement when raiding their nest-egg to help their offspring.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/not-everyone-who-owns-a-hom…
# NSW, Families, Home ownership, Housing market.Mortgage repayments and inflation risks rise but joblessness to improve
Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Homeowners will feel the crunch of higher mortgage repayments while pay rises will be eaten up by inflation until next year, some of the nation’s pre-eminent economists believe, despite unemployment on track to reach 50-year lows.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mortgage-repayments-and-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Floods, storms and your tenancy
(No paywall)Renting in Queensland and affected by floods and storms? If you want to leave or want to negotiate rent, here’s what to do.
https://www.rent.com.au/blog/queensland-floods-storms-tenancy
# Australia, Rent.Fairer housing should mean those who have, help those who have not
Jenny Smith The Age (Paywall)The prospects of those struggling in Victoria’s increasingly unaffordable rental market has just dimmed, considerably. The small Social and Affordable Housing Contribution, to be paid by developers, would have funded 1700 new social and affordable rental homes a year and made an enormous difference to Victorian families in desperate need of a home. But the contribution was vigorously opposed by the development industry – and ultimately defeated. The need for this housing is stark when you know that in 2020-2021, 64,570 Victorians came to homelessness services seeking help to access medium or long-term accommodation, but only 8988 were housed. Many of those who miss out are women and children fleeing family violence. And rental affordability in Victoria is getting worse.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/fairer-housing-shoul…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Women.