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
How a ‘perfect storm’ of COVID-19, influencers and Airbnb created Byron Bay’s housing crisis
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Tiny homes and a community land trust are being touted as solutions to Byron Bay’s housing affordability crisis, which has been blamed on social media influencers, NIMBY activists and a lack of social housing. Short-term holiday rentals and the COVID-19 crisis have also fuelled what Byron Shire mayor Simon Richardson called “a perfect storm of conditions”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/how-a-perfect-storm-of-covid…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Local Government, Regional NSW.Victorian town of Apollo Bay on brink of healthcare crisis due lack of housing
Rachel Clayton ABC (No paywall)A Victorian town fears it's on the brink of collapse, as its only medical centre fails to find enough doctors and nurses to fill gaping holes in its roster due to "dire" rental conditions. Apollo Bay on Victoria's Surf Coast has a population of about 1,000 people and has already lost 20 rentals this year due to owners moving in or putting their home on platforms such as Airbnb. The town's rental vacancy rate has hit zero ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/apollo-bay-healthcare-cri…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Housing market.Kent council fined after mother and son left to live in tent in pandemic
Patrick Butler The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A council has been fined after it removed a homeless teenager and his mother from temporary housing during the pandemic, leaving them to sofa surf and live in a tent for two months. ... “It should have been clear to the children’s services department’s funding panel that the family would suffer hardship following the withdrawal of funding as they had no other housing arrangements in place,” the ombudsman’s report concluded. “While we are sympathetic to the pressures on councils, we expect them to consider national guidance issued during the pandemic and the failure to do so was fault.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/23/kent-council-fin…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Calls for rental price caps as families struggle with major increases
Amy Sheehan ABC (No paywall)Sunshine Coast resident Tina and her husband had expected their rent to increase when their lease was due for renewal in February, but they were shocked to receive an email stating it would jump by $100 a week. ... "I tried to negotiate a lower price, which they just refused," she said. ... National Shelter, a not-for-profit organisation lobbying for affordable housing access, is calling for legislation to cap exorbitant rent increases.
Executive officer Adrian Pisarski said the Sunshine Coast was one of the most unaffordable places to rent right now.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-23/sunshine-coast-rental-pri…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Government accused of not growing social housing fast enough
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Queensland government has been accused of falling well short of its own targets to open thousands of new social homes over the next decade, while 47,000 people sit on the waiting list. ... Greens MP Amy MacMahon said the figures were “alarming”, but Ms Enoch accused the Greens of “chasing a headline before they fully understand the facts”. ... The Queensland government’s definition of social housing also included programs such as crisis accommodation and the national rental affordability scheme, ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/government-accused-of…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Families, Housing market.Pathways to regional housing recovery from COVID-19
Julia Verdouw and others AHURI (No paywall)This study examined the consequences of COVID-19 for households in regional Australia, and considered that post-pandemic recovery models designed for large cities such as Sydney or Melbourne may not work in regional areas or less-urbanised states like South Australia or Tasmania. ... Findings indicated that regional housing markets experienced few serious consequences as a result of the pandemic. Regional markets had experienced increased demand, including from inward migration, and this has put upward pressure on prices, reducing affordability in these areas. The research also found housing impacts of COVID-19 had been uneven and challenging, especially for lower income tenants in the private rental market. This group has been overexposed to income protections such as JobKeeper which buffered the effects of job and income losses while they were available.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/354/_nocache?utm…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Petrol, home building prices to lift CPI
Colin Brinsden (No paywall)Higher petrol prices, the rising cost of home building and an increase in rents are expected to be among key drivers in a solid rise in the consumer price index for the March quarter. (Microsoft News)
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/petrol-home-building-prices…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.'Death by 1,000 cuts': Environmental advocate calls for overhaul of Darwin's planning
Nicholas Hynes ABC (No paywall)On the northern edge of Darwin there is a line where the suburbs stop and nature begins. But the border between the tightly -packed houses of Muirhead and the coastal bushland of Lee Point will be blurred next month, as land sales begin on a major development which will eventually welcome 3,000 residents and a new tourist precinct. ... But there are growing concerns about the potential impacts on Darwin's coastal waterways. ... Environmental advocates say the proposed subdivisions could destroy key habitats and impede natural filtration and runoff of the waterways.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-26/land-demand-buoys-darwin-…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.