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
Melbourne renters struggling in lockdown urge government to bring back eviction moratorium
Calla Wahlquist The Guardian (No paywall)Melburnians who struggled to pay rent during last winter’s lockdown are at risk of eviction again unless the state government reinstates the rental moratorium, advocacy services have warned, with some renters carrying up to $18,000 in deferred rental debt.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/04/melbourne…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Bringing the house down: A Quinovic monologue
Robbie Nicol (No paywall)From New Zealand ... SATIRE: Kia ora! My name is Robbie and I’m another white man behind a desk. Today we’re talking about Quinovic: New Zealand’s number one property management company, if you’re listing them in order from most to least evil.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300322768/bringing-the-house-dow…
# Video International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Powers for Treasurer to intervene in super fund investments scrapped
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The federal government has scrapped controversial plans to let the Treasurer intervene in superannuation funds’ investment decisions to ensure the support of crossbench and Nationals MPs for its proposed changes to the $3.2 trillion sector. The last-minute amendments to the Your Future, Your Super legislation were introduced after Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce slammed the bill on Wednesday over concerns the powers could be used by a future government to block super funds from investing in coal, live exports or gas on “moral” grounds. He said several Nationals MPs held similar concerns. ... Liberal MPs have previously discussed using the powers to shut down industry super lobby groups, *** restrict super funds from investing in housing *** [my emphasis], and intervening on super lobbyists’ advertising activities deemed to oppose government policies.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/powers-for-treasurer-to-…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.On why it’s so hard to be an inner city greenie lefty sometimes
The Fifth Estate (No paywall)The NSW Productivity Commission’s White Paper, released this week reiterated concerns that Sydney’s housing supply was not keeping up with demand leading to an availability crisis likely to worsen over the coming decade.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/news-from-the-front-desk/o…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Grandparents need the backyard’: Boomers deepen housing crisis by staying in empty nests
Matt Wade and Tawar Razaghi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As the population ages and lifespans lengthen, older couples and singles are staying put in spacious dwellings for longer. That means fewer family homes in well-located neighbourhoods become available to those they were designed for: couples with young children. As a result, an army of prime-age workers and their kids must settle a long distance from the city’s most dynamic job hubs, such as the central business district. Others opt for a small home closer in, or resign themselves to forever renting close to work. Also, check out the Sydney Morning Herald's Editorial at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/retirees-need-to-make-room-for-younger-families-in-inner-sydney-20210604-p57y9g.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/grandparents-need-th…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Older people, Planning and development, Young people.First-home buyers will struggle to get into the market without help from family already in the market, experts warn
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Soaring house prices are heading to a point where the only way young people will be able to get into the market is with financial help from their family, experts say.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/first-home-buyers-will-struggle-t…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.Adelaide single mum forced to eat from bins documents life on the edge of homelessness
ABC (No paywall)An Adelaide mother who documented her descent into poverty says she had to resort to eating out of bins as she struggled to pay her bills.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-02/adelaide-mum-facing-homel…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Women.Owners in last-ditch attempt to recoup losses two years after Mascot Towers evacuation
Yumi Oba SBS (No paywall)The Mascot Towers debacle in which apartment owners were forced to evacuate the building has led to a raft of legislative changes, yet the 132 unit owners say they have been left forgotten. Now many who were once "silent" have come forward, ahead of a vote to decide their future, as a last plea to the government.
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/owners-in-last-ditch-att…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.