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
FEANTSA Flash February 2022
(No paywall)Welcome back to the FEANTSA Flash. February was a devastating month for Europe and the world, and our thoughts are currently with people in Ukraine. We are sure our network will draw even closer together at this time in calling on Member States to ensure that no person fleeing the war in Ukraine is left without a roof over their head. In more positive news, members of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness came together yesterday at a Ministers Meeting led by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union to adopt a work plan to end homelessness in Europe by 2030. ... [Read on] (International Union of Tenants)
# International, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness, International.Wollondilly Council calls for halt to rezoning plans for massive Appin housing development
Kelly Fuller ABC (No paywall)Wollondilly Council is urging the New South Wales government immediately halt any plan to rezone land at Appin as part of a major housing expansion south-west of Sydney. Housing giant Walker Corporation has previously outlined a proposal to pour 50,000 people into the semi-rural village as part of the state government's Greater Macarthur growth corridor. The project has been described as a solution to Sydney's housing crisis. Newly elected Wollondilly Mayor Matthew Gould has made responding to the project one of his first priorities. "We are very concerned the state government is about to rush through a quick rezoning of that area and there simply is not the infrastructure," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-01/wollondilly-appin-housing…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Why Victoria's big social housing build is causing friction among some councils and residents
Elise Kinsella ABC (No paywall)The Victorian Big Build Scheme aims to support thousands of social housing dwellings being built quickly. But the Victorian government is assessing these developments under an alternative planning process that its critics describe as using a "Big Brother" approach and being "anti-democratic". [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-01/victoria-social-housing-d…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Land tax in Tasmania is about to get slashed. Here's what impact it'll have
April McLennan ABC (No paywall)A Tasmanian economist has argued a decrease in rental prices due to a land tax slash is a "myth propagated by the property industry". Tax relief is hoped to ease the cost of living for owners of rental properties, shacks, vacant land and commercial property. ... The Tasmanian government has revealed plans to double the tax-free threshold for land tax to $100,000, less than a year after initially doubling it to $50,000. ... [Tasmanian Residential Rental Property Owners Association's Louise ElliotMs Elliot] said a cut to land tax could be beneficial to rental tenants. [Economist Saul Eslake] does not expect reductions in land tax to be passed on in the form of lower rents. "It's a myth propagated by the property industry, that land taxes affect rents, they don't," he said. "Rents are determined by the interaction of demand and supply in the land market, in the rental housing market. I'd be very surprised if many landlords, having received a lower land tax bill, decide to reduce the rents they charge their tenants."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-28/tasmanian-government-to-d…
# Australia, Rent, State Government, Tax.Affordable housing – in pandemic times, what works and what doesn’t?
Emily Hamilton The Conversation (No paywall)Two years of pandemic disruptions have put a spotlight on shortcomings in the U.S. housing market. Some of these shortcomings have their origins in federal and local policy decisions made decades ago. But there are also positive examples of cities making zoning decisions that work to create affordable housing. On Feb. 10, 2022, SciLine interviewed Emily Hamilton, an economist and senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, about housing policy and how it affects who can afford to live in American cities.
https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-in-pandemic-times…
# International, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.First-home buyers hit by double-whammy cost of living hikes
Joel Gibson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Housing costs soared last year by an average of 22 per cent. In Sydney, prices rocketed 29.6 per cent – almost $1000 a day – according to property market researcher CoreLogic. Melbourne house prices rose by 17.9 per cent. Regional rents soared by 12 per cent in 2021 because of a once-in-a-generation demographic shift of those moving from capital cities to the country, as working from home became the norm. However, these extraordinary leaps are not factored into the official inflation rate of 3.5 per cent because of a quirk in how the CPI measures housing costs. A new research report to be released today by Dr Angela Jackson, from Impact Economics and Policy, states that although the CPI measures some housing costs, such as capital city rents and new home purchases, it does not reflect the cost of purchasing established homes or regional rents.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/first-home-b…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Regional NSW.Social housing package off the table for good, says Pallas
Paul Sakkal The Age (Paywall)The Andrews government has dumped its controversial $800 million social housing tax, even if Labor is re-elected, after fierce resistance from the property sector. Less than two weeks after it was announced, Treasurer Tim Pallas on Tuesday ditched the package, which could have streamlined planning approvals, creating $7 billion of economic uplift over 10 years while building 1700 new affordable homes for vulnerable Victorians. ... Julijana Todorovic, spokeswoman for Labor for Housing, an internal party pressure group, said she was devastated the government had ruled out the reforms even if it won the next election. “It’s incredibly disappointing that we had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move from Victoria being the state with the least social housing per capita,” she said. “Whether it was a scare campaign or poor planning, either way, we now don’t have a long-term funding solution.” Read his previous articles at: [https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/reduce-it-or-replace-it-property-industry-urges-changes-to-housing-tax-bill-20220227-p5a03d.html] and [https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pallas-offers-take-it-or-leave-it-ultimatum-on-800m-housing-tax-20220228-p5a07m.html] You may also read the same story by Richard Willingham and Sian Johnson entitled: 'Victorian government ditches plan to tax developers to fund social housing projects' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-01/developer-tax-to-fund-social-housing-dumped-victorian-government/100870910].
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/andrews-government-d…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, State Government, Tax.Rental affordability hits record lows in Geelong, driving youth homelessness and housing stress
Harrison Tippet (Paywall)Geelong is in the midst of a rental affordability crisis. New data has revealed there has never been fewer affordable rentals in the region as median rental prices reach record heights – having tripled since 2000. And with about 200 young people experiencing or at immediate risk of homelessness on any given night in Geelong, experts fear the increasingly unattainable rental market will fuel youth homelessness. (Geelong Advertiser)
https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/property/rental-affordabili…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.