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
Ballina MP Tamara Smith supports call for fairness
David Lowe (No paywall)A deputation of courageous residents of residential land lease communities around Ballina have joined local MP Tamara Smith in calling for changes to the Act governing their communities, in the face of increasing exploitation and inequity. (The Echo)
https://www.echo.net.au/2021/03/ballina-mp-tamara-smith-supports…
# NSW, Land lease communities, Regional NSW, State Government.Midlands authority to charge premium council tax on thousands of empty homes
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Birmingham Council will begin charging twice as much council tax on homes that have been sitting empty for more than two years in an attempt bring the properties back into use. The changes will come into force in April and see owners of properties that have been empty for more than two years but less than five years pay 100% of their council tax plus an additional 100% premium, effectively doubling the rate paid. ... [for those] which have been empty for more than five years but less than 10 years ... these will be charged a 200% premium on top of their annual bill. The largest premium being introduced, for those unoccupied for more than 10 years, will have a premium of 300% to pay.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/midlands-authority-to-…
# Must read International, Homelessness, Housing market, Local Government, Tax.Prospective tenants dressing nice, offering more to secure a rental home in competitive market
Sage Swinton (Paywall)Prospective tenants have described offering more money and even dressing nicely at open homes in a bid to secure a property in Newcastle's highly competitive rental market. (Newcastle Herald)
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7165594/offering-more-d…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.Newcastle and Hunter rental market's alarm bells are ringing louder
(Paywall)THE idiom safe as houses may taste bitter in the mouths of some who are struggling
to lease a property and keep a roof over their head among a tight market that market
watchers say shows little signs of easing any time soon. Meanwhile, house values
are soaring and buyer demand has roared. (Newcastle Herald, Editorial)
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7164361/the-volume-is-r…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Housing market, Regional NSW.‘Once and for all’: Minister wants resolution to debate over developers on councils
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock has called “once and for all” for a resolution over the fraught issue of developers running for councils as her own party stagnates on its stance. But Mrs Hancock clarified before a parliamentary hearing last week that she didn’t believe banning certain sectors of the population from being elected to positions on local government was the correct course of action.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/once-and-for-all-minister-wa…
# Hot topic NSW, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Without more investment, it would take 1300 years to house every person on WA’s social housing waitlist
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It would take the West Australian government more than 1300 years to house every person on the state’s social housing waitlist at its current rate – without accounting for a ‘tsunami’ of pandemic-related homelessness predicted when an eviction moratorium ends this month. Meanwhile, in the private sector, people are spending more on rent and being forced into bidding wars, sparking fears among service providers they may flock to social housing if unable to secure accommodation.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/without-more-i…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Rise in higher risk loans as housing market surges
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Lending to highly-geared home buyers rose in the December quarter as the property market also rebounded, sparking debate over whether riskier lending is starting to re-emerge. As regulators keep a close eye on the surge in house prices, figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) on Tuesday showed a rise in the proportion of new loans with high loan-to-valuation ratios (LVRs), and loans with high debt-to-income multiples.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/rise-in-high…
# Australia, Housing market.ABC Investigations journalist Anne Connolly on her crowdsourced probe into aged care and the shocking stories it uncovered
Anne Connolly ABC (No paywall)ABC Investigations journalist Anne Connolly has spent the past three years looking into the state of aged care in Australia. The federal government called a royal commission the day before her first in-depth story on Four Corners went to air and her reporting on the issue has won several awards ... n this interview with ABC Backstory, Connolly says aged care is an issue that's been neglected in media coverage but she sensed there was widespread suffering that needed to be exposed.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/backstory/2021-03-16/anne-connolly-o…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.