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
‘Solid start’: Property industry leaders grade Albanese government's housing agenda
Benn Dorrington realestate.com.au (No paywall)The federal government has been under pressure to solve the country’s housing challenges – everything from making home ownership and renting more affordable to helping shelter vulnerable Aussies. Under its housing agenda, the government has committed $32 billion to helping Australians to build, rent and buy, and to reach its target of seeing 1.2 million new homes built. Housing affordability and cost of living will continue to be high on the agenda, with the next federal election less than a year away.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/solid-start-property-industry…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, .Want to slash social housing waitlists? We should allow tenants to swap homes
Andrea Sharam and Debbie Faulkner The Conversation (No paywall)There are 184,100 people on social housing waiting lists around the country, reflecting the impact of declining homeownership and escalating private rents. However, building new social housing takes a lot of time and money. The Australian government’s $2 billion social housing plan, for example, will deliver only around 4,000 new homes. But even for people with roofs over their heads, it doesn’t necessarily mean they live in the best house for their circumstances. Their homes could be too big, too small, or have yard space they struggle to maintain.
https://theconversation.com/want-to-slash-social-housing-waitlis…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.'Should be as good as home ownership': How can Australia improve the lives of renters?
Elfy Scott, Adriana Wainstok SBS (No paywall)Australians are being forced to rent for longer, despite most saying they would prefer to own their homes for the long-term stability, ability to make modifications and freedom to own pets. A new report from independent national research network the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has looked at the the nation's housing trends and preferences. While the majority of Australians are homeowners, that number decreased across all age brackets from 2011 to 2021 (except for Australians aged 80 years old and over).
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/would-australian-renters-be-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.‘It’s never going to happen’: three in five Australian renters expect to never own a home as steep rents hit
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Kyle Ward wants to own a home. He and his wife have been saving hard, living in a cheap rental in Ipswich, south-east Queensland, for three years. Paying $365 rent a week, they were saving everything they could. Ward, 36, earns $68,000 a year and his wife, 34, is a carer for her mother. She gets the pension – just over $1,000 a fortnight. Saving was going well until their landlord decided to sell – to another investor who wanted to divide the property into individual rooms to rent out separately, he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/12/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Kyle found the perfect place to rent when his application was rejected... the real estate agent's reason left him stunned
Max Aldred Daily Mail (UK) (No paywall)An Aussie CEO has revealed he was rejected from the perfect rental because the real estate agent claimed he was single and too young. Kyle Hunt, 25, who juggles executive work for three companies, was eager to find a home close to work and spotted a promising listing in Melbourne last month. He arranged for a private viewing of the property and was elated to inspect it. 'I'd been looking for an apartment for three months and I finally found one in the perfect location, beautiful,' he said in a TikTok. 'And I spoke to the real estate agent over the phone, super nice, and I booked the inspection.' But the agent appeared a little apprehensive when he met with Mr Hunt.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14064279/Kyle-Hunt-rent…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Discrimination, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Do you have a housing concern you need to get off your chest?
Fiona Katauskas The Guardian (No paywall)"I'd actually love to own my own home but I thought this would help me face reality..." - Cartoon by Fiona Katauskas.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/nov/12/do…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.How nearly 50,000 homes are getting stuck in Sydney’s planning pipeline
Max Maddison The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Nearly 50,000 dwellings across Greater Sydney approved in 2021 and 2022 have not commenced construction, raising questions about whether Labor’s planning reforms can address housing supply. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure forecasts that 151,670 new homes will be built in Greater Sydney by July 2029, below the 263,000 needed to meet the targets under the National Housing Accord. As the Minns government tries to address declining approvals through the planning system, data analysed by University of Sydney Emeritus Professor Peter Phibbs showed that large-scale approved projects were not progressing to construction.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/where-nearly-50-000-homes-ar…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing.Rough sleeping in London hits record high amid predictions of worse to come
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)Rough sleeping in London hit another record high this summer, with an 18% increase on the summer before, as the mayor predicted the problem was likely to get worse this winter. In July, August and September 4,780 people were counted sleeping rough, the most since the quarterly counts began a decade ago. It was “a number that should incense us all”, said Emma Haddad, the chief executive of St Mungo’s, which helps rough sleepers in London and is seeing far more people with mental health problems. The number of new rough sleepers was up 12% in the year to more than 2,300 people, and 681 people are now considered to be living constantly on the streets – 42% more than in the same period in 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/31/rough-sleeping-l…
# Hot topic International, Rent.