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.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Calls to extend Aboriginal housing program to stop people 'falling through the cracks'
Shannon Schubert ABC (No paywall)Shannon Kennedy was living out of his car and struggling with declining mental health when he received a lifeline.
The 33-year-old Tatti Tatti and Mutti Mutti man admits he was "always on the run" — not knowing where here he would get his next meal or whether he would be dry that night.
"I was living out of my car. I was sleeping wherever I could if I could get a roof over my head for the night," he said.
It was at this point Mr Kennedy was accepted into a program offering him stable, affordable housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-11/aboriginal-housing-progra…
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters, Affordable housing, Personal stories.Urgent call for federal intervention amid housing crisis
Nina Hendy National Indigenous Times (No paywall)An urgent call for the federal government to tackle the Indigenous housing crisis has been made amid the nation's escalating cost of living pressures.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association (NATSIHA) has joined forces with the Community Housing Industry Association, National Shelter, and Homelessness Australia amid surging rents and interest rate rises to call for immediate government intervention.
Three pieces of legislation are currently before the Senate in a bid to ease housing pressure in Australia. Housing bodies argue government intervention is crucial in a bid to avoid a national crisis.
https://nit.com.au/05-04-2023/5508/urgent-call-for-federal-inter…
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters, Federal Government, Housing affordability.Who pays for mould and can your landlord actually increase the rent?
Melissa Heagney-Bayliss and Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Many Australian renters are finding it difficult to find and keep a roof over their head amid the nation’s rental crisis, making it increasingly important for them to know their rights.
Rental markets across the country have been recording ultra-low vacancy rates and rapidly rising rents – even for substandard homes – for months.
While a competitive market can make tenants wary of rocking the boat with their landlord, there are some protections in place to help those facing excessive rent increases or living in maintained properties.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/what-are-your-rights-as-a-r…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Mould.‘We can’t produce miracles’: Minns rules out rent cap, promises supply drive
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Premier Chris Minns has dashed tenants’ hopes for immediate relief from skyrocketing rents by ruling out a cap on rent increases, but promised major efforts to increase housing supply to ease price pressure in the long term.
An unprecedented squeeze helped raise the median Sydney apartment rent to $620 a week in March, up from $500 a year ago, with more pain on the way as migration restarts post-COVID and supply remains stagnant, and vacancy rates remain at or below 1 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/we-can-t-produce-miracles-mi…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, State Government.Worse before it gets worse: The A to Zetland of Sydney’s rental crisis
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)I sank further and further into my chair at the National Press Club as I watched Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe, in his soft and dispassionate tone, read out his prophecies of doom.
Rental stress, he said, was at least as big an issue as mortgage stress. And with population growth high and housing supply low, it would likely get worse before it gets ... well, slightly less worse.
On my phone, browsing one-bedders in Zetland, the evidence was writ large. Apartments that were going for $500 per week a year or two ago were now $700 minimum. The next day, confirmation: the latest Domain rental report found the median unit rent in Sydney’s inner south was $760 a week.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/worse-before-it-gets-worse-t…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Inner Sydney homes mysteriously taken off the market
Megan Gorrey and Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state’s social housing agency has been blasted for attempting to sell publicly owned terraces in inner Sydney as tens of thousands of people face decade-long waiting times for housing assistance.
Residents and City of Sydney councillors expressed dismay after five public housing properties in Glebe were listed for sale by auction in the past few weeks, some with a price guide of $1 million.
The Glebe Society president Ian Stephenson criticised the bid to offload the properties – which have since been removed from the market – as NSW’s ballooning social housing waitlist passed 51,000.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/inner-sydney-homes-mysteriou…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Housing affordability, Sydney.In the wake of gentrification: The relocation of public housing tenants
Josh Clay Honi Soit (No paywall)Carolyn moved into public housing at 82 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe, in the early nineties with nothing but a mattress, a black-and-white TV, and some clothes. There were certainly some issues — poor sunlight and a lack of ventilation meant that mould bloomed quickly in the newly constructed building. Nevertheless, over the last thirty years, Carolyn and their neighbours made this place their home.
“We help each other out,” said Carolyn, a Wiradjuri person, “one has plants, the other one does another person’s shopping, or does the other person’s washing … or looks after the cat.”
The resident cat Koko, a chocolate Burmese, has been passed among residents as people became sick, passed away, or were otherwise unable to take care of her. Carolyn recently took up care of Koko after her owner became unwell.
https://honisoit.com/2023/04/in-the-wake-of-gentrification-the-r…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Personal stories, Strong communities.Labor’s win leaves public housing advocates hopeful but trepidatious
Erin Modaro City Hub (No paywall)Labor’s recent win in the state election has left many wondering what the implications could be for public housing in Sydney, particularly in the inner-city.
John Engeler, CEO of peak housing advocacy group Shelter NSW, said that the new government represents “not just a fresh start, but the opportunity for fresh eyes”.
As the housing crisis continues to impact Australians, the previous government has been criticised by opposing parties and housing advocates for the demolition and sell-offs of large swaths of public housing. In Sydney’s inner-city, large public and social housing blocks in Redfern, Waterloo and Eveleigh have been sold to private developers to be turned into high-density housing with an average of 30% retained for social housing options.
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2023/04/labors-win-leaves-public-ho…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.