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
When WA’s hard border comes down, will property prices go up?
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Western Australia’s property market could undergo a mini property boom when borders, closed for almost two years by the coronavirus pandemic, finally reopen on February 5.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/when-wa-s-hard-border-comes…
# Australia, Housing market.How to offer security to millions of renters
Emily Holzknecht The New York Times (Paywall)From the United States ... For many people, the pandemic experience has centered around the home: working from it, quarantining in it and getting an education in it. And for far too many Americans, just keeping a home during this time has been a challenge. Now, as the Omicron variant continues its surge, federal funds for rental assistance are drying up and there are only a few remaining eviction moratoria still in place. Local governments across the country need to use all the tools at their disposal to keep people in their homes and strengthen tenant protections. In New York State, progressive Democrats are working to pass the Good Cause Eviction bill before the state’s eviction moratorium expires on Saturday.' The New York Times, 13 January 2022. Watch the video at: [https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000008153212/new-york-eviction-bill.html]
https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19, No-grounds evictions.In Boston, an Approach to Housing That Avoids Eviction
Shelby R King (No paywall)A major for-profit affordable housing provider hasn’t evicted a single tenant since early 2020. How did the company do it, and can its method be a model for other developers? ... Tenants’ rights attorney Jay Rose spent four-plus decades waging legal battles on behalf of poor folks. So taking a job as a legal consultant for the nation’s largest for-profit affordable housing landlord might seem an odd choice. But executives at Boston-based WinnCompanies—which manages approximately $14 billion worth of largely affordable and military housing in 550 developments across 22 states—recently learned an unpleasant fact and knew the organization needed help from someone like Rose. (Yes! Solutions Journalism)
https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2021/12/29/bostons-top-evict…
# Must read International, Eviction, Tribunal NCAT, Affordable housing.Draft national plan to end violence against women and children released, open for consultation
Georgia Hitch ABC (No paywall)The government's draft national plan to end violence against women and children has been released, showing what it thinks needs to happen and how it plans to get there. ... The plan is taking a very wide look at what supports, services, policies and programs are needed across the community to help reduce violence against women and children and hopefully eliminate it one day. ... But the plan doesn't say how much money would be put toward these measures. Domestic violence support services and emergency housing providers have struggled with increased demand during the pandemic, with both sectors calling for more funding to ease some of the pressure and make sure women are safe.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/draft-national-plan-end-v…
# New policy announcement Australia, Domestic violence, Federal Government, Women.‘We’re conning young people’: The double whammy trapping first home buyers
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Renters are facing a double whammy of rising rents and soaring house prices, combining to make it harder to get a foot on the property ladder. It now costs $50 a week more than it did a year ago to rent the median house in Sydney, Domain figures released last week show, while apartment rents rose $20 a week. ... The Australia Institute chief economist Richard Denniss said it was an “enormous challenge” to try to buy a home in the face of rising rents and rising property prices, highlighting the tax concessions on offer to investors. “No one should be surprised that investors who are bidding up the price of houses are substantially increasing the rents they’re charging. That’s the plan,” he said. “I think house prices are too high and it would be good if they went down, but no politician wants to say that out loud because two-thirds of Australians either own a house or are paying one off. “We’re conning young people. We’re pretending we’re trying to solve a problem, but for two-thirds of the Australian population, they don’t feel a problem.” Mr Denniss called for reform of the capital gains tax discount – a position now rejected by both major political parties – and for policymakers to reconsider the complete exemption of the family home from capital gains tax. He also suggested a rethink of public housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/we-re-conning-young-people-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.Why are young Australians locked out of home ownership? The answer is politics
Intifar Chowdhury The Guardian (No paywall)Home ownership is a much-revered Australian milestone, a marker of adulthood independence and a key to economic security. However, today, the big Australian dream of owning a house in your 20s is not for all. ... Home ownership rates have been plummeting since the 1980s in a nation that used to boast of being an egalitarian society. With the intergenerational shrinkage of stable income and a spike in debt-to-income ratio, young people and those with a modest income have been gradually locked out of the real estate market. ... The reality is that those with power and money impact the market more than those without.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/16/why-are-yo…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Tax, Young people.‘Not really that great’: The ripple effect of booming rents in Byron Bay
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Rents in northern NSW have jumped over the past year, buoyed by a spillover effect from coastal hotspot Byron Bay and the shift to remote work. It now costs $850 a week to rent the median house in the greater Byron shire, Domain figures show, a 13.3 per cent rise in 12 months and $250 a week more than in greater Sydney.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/not-really-that-great-the-r…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.The city where house rents are growing fastest in Australia
Sarah Webb Domain (No paywall)Rental prices for Brisbane houses have again skyrocketed to record heights, with new data revealing the Queensland hot spot outpaced every other capital in the country for annual growth last year, with experts warning there’s more to come.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-city-where-house-rents-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.