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
And now the real housing affordability crisis of soaring rents
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)The real housing affordability crisis is rapidly worsening. No, not the cost of buying a home that hurts a relatively small number of people, but the cost of renting which hits a third of the population, including the Australians least able to cope with it. ... Australian governments’ collective retreat from social housing provides a floor for the private rental market while developers’ self-interest and land banking ensure prices rise.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2021/10/27/michael-pascoe-hou…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.Bush Summit 2021: Paul Toole’s vow to solve NSW housing crisis
Matthew Benns and Lachlan Leeming Daily Telegraph (Paywall)New Deputy Premier Paul Toole has vowed to tackle the housing crisis in the bush that has seen rents double and people even forced to sleep in their cars. “We’re going to open up more blocks of land we’re going to cut the red tape through the planning system to allow housing development to occur within a number of areas to open them up,” Mr Toole said. The NSW government’s Regional Housing Taskforce, set up to address the housing issues in the bush, will release a raft of recommendations later this month on measures to address the shortfall. It cannot come too soon for employers in the bush already struggling to find workers in the regions and desperate for homes to house the people they do manage to recruit. ... Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive of the Tenants’ Union of NSW, said the state needed “a big [public and community housing (words omitted from article)] construction boom” for housing supply to catch up with runaway demand. “We’re seeing double figure rent increases in so many of the regions. People are being asked to move and, having nowhere else to go, they’re sleeping in cars,” he said. He said ousted tenants were calling the union for help while camped in the overcrowded homes of family and friends. “They’re really shocking and sad stories,” he said. “At the end of the day, people can’t find homes that they can afford.”
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/bushsummit/bush-summit-2021-de…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.'Breaking point': rejected for a rental 70 times, this mother and daughter have now bought a tent
Caitlin Zerafa (No paywall)After 70 rental rejections, a long-term Sunshine Coast resident says she’s bracing for life in a tent with her elderly mother and their two pets. Jayanne Hughes and her 70-year-old mother Dianne, who is recovering from major surgery, will soon have to leave their Alexandra Headland rental property of almost 17 years. The timing could not be worse as the rental market on the Sunshine Coast continues to tighten ... Close to “breaking point”, Ms Hughes, who works in mental health, has been forced to purchase a second-hand tent that they will have to live in if they can’t find a suitable home in coming weeks.
https://www.sunshinecoastnews.com.au/2021/10/22/rental-rejection…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Women.Housing emergency declared by northern NSW MP as rental costs go 'crazy'
Bruce MacKenzie ABC (No paywall)Greens MP Tamara Smith says the housing situation in her electorate of Ballina, on the NSW north coast, has grown from a crisis into a full-blown emergency. New data from Domain shows median rents in the Ballina Shire have risen by 25 per cent in 12 months, to $650 a week. The neighbouring Byron Shire is still the most expensive place to rent in regional New South Wales with a median rental cost of $850 a week, up 22 per cent in the past year. "That's crazy, it's a crazy hike," Ms Smith said. "It's beyond a housing crisis ..."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-26/ballina-mp-declares-housi…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government, Work, employment, Young people.Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast beachside boom to push housing costs higher than Brisbane
Owen Jacques and Amy Sheehan ABC (No paywall)Lockdown-fatigued buyers wanting to escape the city are pushing up house prices on the Sunshine and Gold coasts which are forecast to overtake Brisbane prices within three years. ... St Vincent De Paul's John Harrison works with those facing the crushing weight of the booming property market in Noosa and across the Sunshine Coast. He said some struggle for as long as they can — maybe even taking on boarders or sub-tenants — before being forced out of town.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-25/sunshine-coast-gold-coast…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Rental Crisis Looms: Property Signs 27th Oct 2021
Martin North (No paywall)In today’s show we look at the latest rental data which underscores the pressure many renters are under, examine the last gasp borderline mortgage applications being rushed through before APRA’s tighter rules come in next week, and we look at the comprehensive credit reporting regime, and why people want it further expanded. (Digital Finance Analytics blog)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/rental-crisis-looms-pro…
# Video Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.Meet a family at the centre of the homelessness crisis in Queensland's fastest growing region
Baz Ruddick ABC (No paywall)"It's homelessness elite," Leia McCabe jokes as she gestures to the caravan she now shares with her husband, daughter and dog, which cost them most of their savings. It's been a tumultuous 18 months for the family, who went from living in the same rental for nearly 10 years, to subletting, then finally, to homelessness. ... [Karen Rollinson works for a Homestay program with community organisation Encircle, which helps people at risk of losing their accommodation] "We've had families have to split up so some of the kids have had to go to one of their friend's places, we have had families of five sleeping in cars, or they'll sleep in a tent or couch surf in different people's houses," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/qld-homeless-crisis-moret…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories.Sydney real estate agents under fire for failing to warn buyers of 'serious defects' in apartment towers
Amy Greenbank ABC (No paywall)Real estate agents selling apartments in two Sydney high rise buildings found to have "serious defects" by government inspectors have been targeted in a fiery New South Wales parliamentary hearing. Courtney Houssos — who is Labor's shadow minister for better regulation — used parliamentary privilege to take aim at agents selling units in the Atmosphere Towers in Castle Hill and the Aya Eliza building in Auburn. Ms Houssos described the buildings as "notorious" and claimed she had discovered several real estate agents had not disclosed to prospective buyers that both developments were under prohibition orders.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-27/sydney-real-estate-agents…
# NSW, Strata, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.