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
Offshore landlords claim billions in Australian property tax write-offs
Nathan Mawby realestate.com.au (No paywall)International investors are racking up billions of dollars in tax write offs to use as negative gearing and deductions from their Aussie home profits. And none of the changes made in the Albanese government’s federal budget overhaul of property investment in Australia will have any impact on the super-wealthy offshore landlords currently able to slash their tax liabilities with Australian benefits. Market watchers have warned while the revelation would not “pass the pub test” with most Australians, the reality was consistent undersupply of new home building meant foreign landlords were now a necessity as rental supply struggled to meet demand.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/offshore-landlords-claim-bill…
# Australia, .How public and community housing works in Australia
Zoe Thomaidou SBS (No paywall)In Australia, government-subsidised rental housing is available for eligible households. Assessment is based on need under criteria that vary depending on your state or territory. Here’s what to expect when applying for different types of housing assistance, some common myths around social housing and where to reach out for help. The terminology used for lower rent housing programs can be confusing. For example, public housing and community housing are different categories within the same system.
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/en/podcast-episode/how-p…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Starting a tenancy.The developers hoping to cash in on 'affordable' housing
ABC (No paywall)When you say 'affordable housing' there’s a natural scepticism. Across the country developers are being offered perks to be part of schemes supposed to give people a chance to rent without draining their pay packets. But who gets to live in these 'affordable’ rentals and who sets the rent and when it can go up? Today, Pat McGrath on his Four Corners investigation into whether 'affordable’ rentals actually are affordable.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/the-develo…
# Audio Australia, .Anthony's city apartment costs the same as the Brisbane sharehouse he rented 20 years ago
Kathleen Farmilo SBS (No paywall)Anthony and Alex's one-bedroom, one-bath apartment — with a balcony — costs them around €400 ($658) a month. Not per week, which is what you might expect if you saw their apartment on an Australian real estate website. That's because Anthony, who is Australian, and Alex, an Austrian, live in Vienna's social housing system, along with approximately half of Vienna's population of just over 2 million people. "I think the rent we pay now is what I was paying in a sharehouse in Brisbane 24 years ago," Anthony told SBS Dateline.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/anthonys-apartment-…
# Australia, .‘It’s Changing Lives’: New Program Helping First Nations Women Find Housing After Prison
Denham Sadler About Time (No paywall)Tracy was one of many women released from prison straight into homelessness. The 53-year-old Gamilaroi and Wiradjuri woman has mental health issues and a lung condition and was unable to secure adequate housing after she was released from prison. During Sydney’s cold winter months, Tracy lived in a tent. But then the Homeward Sisters program stepped in to help. Homeward Sisters, a collaboration between Legal Aid NSW, Homes NSW and Corrective Services NSW, aims to remove the barriers preventing First Nations women from accessing housing assistance when leaving prison.
https://www.abouttime.org.au/mob/its-changing-lives-new-program-…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters.Widowed social housing tenant kicked out after 22 years, owing thousands
Gabriel Fowler Newcastle Herald (Paywall)An 87-year-old social housing tenant is being turfed out of the house she has lived in for 22 years with her husband, with a debt of more than $12,500. The woman's husband died just over two years ago, in June 2024, leaving her as the sole tenant. Less than a year later, however, the NSW Land and Housing Corporation wrote to her after learning there were seven "unauthorised" people living at the house with her, including her daughter and granddaughter.
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/9306512/nsw-land-and-ho…
# NSW, .Who is paying the price? Investigating affordable housing schemes | Four Corners documentary
ABC (No paywall)Australia has been promised a solution to the housing crisis: affordable rental housing delivered with private developers, public money and big investors. But a Four Corners investigation raises serious questions about whether the system is delivering FOR the people who need it most. Reporter Pat McGrath takes a look at the growing housing model being embraced by governments across the country and reveals the reality for some renters. In an exclusive data analysis, Four Corners examined affordable housing rental listings in NSW and Victoria over eight weeks. The findings raise serious questions about how affordable housing is being defined and delivered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=BhbebSbGt39x6dN-&v=TnYP1C_TqJY&…
# Video NSW, .Waterloo: When Did Solidarity Stop Listening?
Michael Mackenzie-Shreenan Provocare (No paywall)What happens when a protest movement becomes more invested in the fight than the people it claims to represent?
Waterloo may be confronting that question right now. I write this as someone who has worked in and around Waterloo for two decades, including alongside residents, services, community organisations and government agencies. I know there are mixed views across the estate. Some residents support redevelopment, some oppose it, and many sit somewhere in between: anxious, practical, tired, hopeful or simply wanting straight answers. All of those views deserve to be heard. But hearing every voice is not the same as allowing the loudest voices to claim the whole room.
https://provocarecoaching.com/waterloo-when-did-solidarity-stop-…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing.