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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Perth homes up 18.1 per cent in value, but growth is slowing
Peter de Kruijff The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)House prices in Perth have gone up by 18.1 per cent in the past year, but the growth has slowed down with only a minor increase in the past quarter.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-homes-up…
# Australia, Housing market.Perth home values surge by more than 18 per cent in past year
Nicolas Perpitch and Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)Perth house prices have surged more than 18 per cent in the past year, and even more in regional WA, according to revised property data by CoreLogic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-01/perth-home-values-surge-1…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.Can an owners corporation legally mandate vaccination in a strata community?
Lehana De Silva and Justin Abi-Daher Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Recently, a residential complex in Sydney informed residents it would be requiring that all persons entering the building must be vaccinated, which raises the question can an owners corporation mandate vaccination for residents of an apartment building (owners and tenants)? In this blog Lehana De Silva, Tenants' Union of NSW, and Justin Abi Daher, Marrickville Legal Centre, look at the issue of vaccine mandating in strata communities from a legal perspective.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/can-owners-corporation-legally-m…
# NSW, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19.Rent and crisis: Old housing problems require a new state of exception in Australia
Sophia Maalsen, Dallas Rogers and Leo Patterson Ross (No paywall)Here's an article from last year that is well worth a read ... The coronavirus pandemic is opening up a space for housing advocates and scholars to push for reforms to the private rental sector. Yet, we argue the Australian government has shown little commitment to addressing long-term, structural housing issues. Temporary reform will not lead to a new or more socially just housing system in the long-term—a new housing normal—without a significant and nation-wide tenant campaign. Like others, we are working together on campaigns such as this, but we are conscious that the government is likely to revert back to their old housing habits. (Dialogues in Human Geography)
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Housing market, State Government.Apartment building residents considering banning unvaccinated residents
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)Apartment residents across Australia are considering banning unvaccinated residents from their facilities. Strata committees are debating restricting access to gyms, pools, spas, saunas, barbecue areas, recreation rooms and gardens to the double-vaccinated only, in a highly contentious move that could pit neighbour against neighbour. A number are now even drafting bylaws in order to limit those who can use their common property amenities, despite unvaccinated owners also paying towards their upkeep, or unvaccinated tenants paying higher rents for the privilege.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/apartment-owners-considering-bann…
# Australia, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19.Berlin’s vote to take properties from big landlords could be a watershed moment
Alexander Vasudevan The Guardian (No paywall)With coalition talks that could last months under way to form Germany’s next government, the reverberations of Sunday’s election will be felt for quite a while. But one of the most significant developments in voters’ weekend trip to the polls was a local referendum in Berlin, which strongly endorsed a campaign to expropriate properties owned by large corporate landlords. More than a million Berliners supported the campaign Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co, which targeted companies holding 3,000 or more apartments (Deutsche Wohnen is one of the largest investment trusts in the city). In total, 240,000 properties, or 11% of all apartments in Berlin, would come under the terms of the initiative, which was backed by a majority of 56.4% in the referendum. The vote isn’t legally binding ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/29/berlin-vot…
# Legal significance International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Isn’t it time the federal government stepped up on social housing and its implications
Alan Morris The Fifth Estate (No paywall)In a recent speech at a property developer forum, Jason Falinski, a Sydney Liberal Party MP and chair of the Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s Inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia, commented that “Since World War Two, housing commission has had a lot of negative impact on vulnerable communities and I query whether building it actually helps people in challenged communities.” ... Judging by the federal government’s abysmal lack of support for social housing since regaining power in 2013, it would appear that Mr Falinski’s views are generally shared by his colleagues. Unfortunately, this perspective translates into a desperately poor performance nationally with respect to expanding the number of social housing dwellings.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/isnt-it-time-the-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government.Low availability of housing is driving wealth inequality across Australia, experts say
Bianca Healey (No paywall)Demand is outpacing supply for public housing across Australia, new figures show, as soaring property prices and a tightening rental market across regional Australia has led to what some experts are calling a “crisis.” ... Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) NSW cited internal modelling that showed NSW has a shortage of at least 70,000 social housing dwellings. ... Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive of the Tenant’s Union of NSW told Business Insider Australia it had witnessed skyrocketing rental stress since the start of the pandemic. The Tenant’s Union was increasingly hearing it was leading members to make difficult decisions in order to be able to stay in their property. ... Ross said one way to redress this imbalance was for the government to build a supply of affordable housing to create stable “availability and pricing” outside of the current market. “Because there’s no genuine competition for landlords, particularly [on] the low end of the private market, there’s very little competition that would change their behaviour and make them work to keep their tenants,” Ross said. “A big supply of genuinely affordable housing would provide that competition.”
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/housing-availability-public-h…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Families, Housing market.