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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.

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Archive

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Key topics

‘Free house’: Renter advocate and social media star encourages struggling Aussies to become squatters


news.com.au (No paywall)

Social media users have taken aim at stars of The Project after an appearance by a renter advocate who’s encouraging those struggling with the housing crisis to squat in empty homes. Jordan van den Berg, better known online as @purplepingers and founder of the S*** Rentals website, shared a video to his channels at the weekend as something of a call to arms. “Are you sick of rich people hoarding empty houses during a housing crisis? I know I am,” Mr van den Berg said, standing outside a rundown house in the Melbourne suburb of Chadstone. “Here’s how you can do something about it.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/free-house-r…

# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.
 

What is Victoria's new rental taskforce?

Oliver Gordon
ABC (No paywall)

AUDIO: Rental advocates are welcoming a new Victorian Government taskforce that will crack down on landlords and estate agents doing the wrong thing. The taskforce will enforce existing laws upholding renter's rights to a structurally sound, functional property, and clamp down on false or misleading advertising by agents. Featuring: Jordy van den Berg, Rental advocate; Joel Dignam, Better Renting; Jacob Cain, Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/pm/what-is-victoria-s-new…

# Audio Australia, Rent.
 

Lawyers are leaving the community legal sector due to low pay, creating an experience gap

Julius Dennis
ABC (No paywall)

Katie Green is dealing with a familiar problem. As the managing solicitor of the Inner City Legal Center (ICLC), — which is considered New South Wales's only LGBTQIA+ centric CLC — recently lost three staff to better paying jobs, including two lawyers who left to work for the Legal Aid Commission. In New South Wales, the gap between CLC and Legal Aid Commission pay cheques is between 10 and 30 per cent. "We have never been appropriately compensated. It's always been an oily rag," she says.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-09/qld-communty-legal-sector…

# Must read Australia, .
 

What is negative gearing? Why is it so controversial? How does capital gains tax come into it?

Dannielle Maguire & Michael Janda
ABC (No paywall)

There's been a lot of talk in recent years about how difficult it is for young people to buy a home in Australia, but with everything getting more expensive lately, the conversation has been intensifying. And the discussions usually include terms such as "negative gearing" and "capital gains tax concessions". These may sound like complicated concepts, but you don't need to be a financial expert to understand them. And you shouldn't feel silly if you don't quite understand negative gearing because the chances are that the explanations you're getting are overly complicated and full of financial jargon, so they're not actually providing any clarity.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-02/what-is-negative-gearing-…

# Hot topic Australia, .
 

Victorian Labor party members to stage revolt over public housing tower redevelopment

Benita Kolovos
The Guardian (No paywall)

Rank and file Victorian Labor party members will use an upcoming state council meeting to push the government to guarantee no public land will be sold off to private developers when it knocks down the state’s 44 public housing towers. Labor for Housing – a non-factional advocacy group within the Victorian Labor party that advocates for better housing policies – will also use May’s state conference to call for a doubling of the social housing contained in the planned redevelopment. “We know that the only way through the housing crisis is to increase supply through both government and private development,” said Julijana Todorovic, the Labor for Housing co-convener and co-founder. “But we also know that once we sell a government asset, we can’t get it back.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/09/victorian…

# Hot topic Australia, .
 

Independent inquiry launched as Australia grapples with worst housing crisis on record


SBS (No paywall)

AUDIO: Couch surfing for months at a time, moving back in with the parents and stuck in share housing well into your mid forties. These are just some of the scenarios thousands are facing as Australia grapples with its worst housing crisis on record. Everybody's Home - a national campaign seeking to fix the crisis - is launching a new independent inquiry, called the People's Commission into the Housing Crisis, which is set to hear from community members - including renters, people with crippling mortgages and homelessness services.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/independent-inquiry-…

# Hot topic, Legal significance, Audio Australia, .
 

What can a landlord get away with? In the court of public opinion, it’s changing

Tawar Razaghi
Brisbane Times (No paywall)

Single mum Gemma Toogood paid $875 a week in rent for a mould-riddled, rat-infested cottage that had no insulation and was missing internal doors. The 40-year-old had little recourse that would see real and timely change to her living conditions. Her landlord has so far been more or less allowed to get away with it as the current laws stand and in the current market where Sydney rents just hit another record high of $700 a week for the typical unit and $750 for the typical house.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/property/news/what-can-a-landlo…

# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, .
 

‘Scope for exploitation’: investors eye rooming house conversions amid Melbourne rental crisis

Stephanie Convery and Nino Bucci
The Guardian (No paywall)

Late last year, outside a house in Melbourne’s inner-west, an auctioneer tried to drum up some interest. The suburb is sought-after by families looking for a home within easy access of the CBD, but the agent had other investors in mind. The house, a run-down three-bedroom property with a price range of between $1.25m and $1.35m, represented a wonderful investment, he said, for someone wanting to set up a rooming house. “I hear you can get $200 a week for a room,” he told the small crowd gathered outside. “This has three bedrooms. You do the maths.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/08/scope-for…

# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Share houses.
 

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