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
Granny flats allowed to hit the tight rental market to help Queensland's housing crisis
Sarah Richards ABC (No paywall)Queensland home owners who have granny flats will be allowed to rent them out over the next three years under emergency planning changes designed to alleviate the state's housing crisis. The move will enable secondary dwellings to be made available to people other than immediate family members and expand accommodation options for smaller households, such as students, single persons, older people and couples. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the change would mean "cheaper properties will enter the rental market, helping thousands of people". Also, read Tony Moore's article entitled: 'As govt mulls granny flat rentals, council says communities must have say' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/as-govt-mulls-granny-flat-rentals-council-says-communities-must-have-say-20220923-p5bkf0.html].
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-23/qld-granny-flats-rent-lea…
# Australia, Rent, Granny flats, studios, Housing market.Tenant confronted by 'nightmare' court action after landlord defaults on mortgage
Emily Power Domain (No paywall)A New South Wales tenant has revealed the stress of housing uncertainty and court intervention after their landlord failed to pay the mortgage.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/tenant-confronted-by-nightmare-co…
# NSW, Eviction, Mortgagee repossession.Property prices are falling, so where have Sydney’s first home buyers gone?
Kate Burke and Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)First home buyer activity has dropped to its lowest level in years despite falling property prices, as rising interest rates and a fear of overpaying push aspiring homeowners to the sidelines. Declining property prices sound like good news for first home buyers but are of little help when borrowing power is falling faster and prices are still well up on previous years, industry figures say.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/property-prices-are-falling…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Sydney.Margaret River school holiday tourists add pressure to homeless locals
Georgia Loney ABC (No paywall)A cold tent is no place to grieve, but there are no other housing options for new widow Cheryl Rowe in Margaret River, one of Australia's best-known tourist towns.Her neatly kept tent was filled with flowers the day after the funeral of Peter, her partner of more than 30 years. The caravan park in south-west WA is her temporary refuge after the house she rented for five years was sold. But she cannot stay long.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-24/margaret-river-school-hol…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Homelessness, Older people, Women.Home buyers’ budgets slashed by hundreds of thousands, pushing property prices down
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Home buyers’ budgets have been slashed by hundreds of thousands of dollars, new figures show, as rising interest rates squeeze the amount the average Australian can borrow. Five rate rises since May this year have trimmed the loan size that buyers can qualify for, and put downward pressure on house prices.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/home-buyers-budgets-slashed…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Young WA family faces homelessness due to ongoing rental housing crisis
Lauren Smith ABC (No paywall)A West Australian family of six with four children, each with disabilities, is facing moving into a tent or caravan as the nation's rental crisis continues to worsen. Mum Megan Macdonald is the sole provider for her Albany family, which is moving out of its rental property after the landlord decided not to renew the lease. With her children and husband Ray Macdonald, she is considering moving to a caravan park or even living in a tent due to the tough competition for rental properties and high rents. Ms Macdonald said the market had never been this bad before.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-23/family-four-kids-facing-h…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Rent, Homelessness.ACT urges Tanya Plibersek to quash defence housing plan that would destroy critically endangered grasslands
Lisa Cox The Guardian (No paywall)The ACT government has urged the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to reject a defence housing development that would destroy critically endangered grasslands in Canberra’s north-west. Defence Housing Australia (DHA) has proposed building hundreds of houses on an old naval transmission site in the suburb of Lawson. The development would consist of 443 dwellings, 150 of which would be for defence personnel and their families. The remainder would be sold on the private market. Construction of the estate would involve clearing up to 15.8 hectares of the critically endangered natural temperate grassland of the south-eastern highlands, about 15% of the grasslands on site. Also, read Jessica Rendall's article entitled: 'Endangered Gouldian finch returns to Lee Point, prompting campaign to stop Defence Housing Australia development' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-24/lee-point-darwin-gouldian-finches-defence-housing-development/101452040].
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/23/act-urges…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Planning and development.Warilla mum whose house burnt down fears the same thing could happen again
Tareyn Varley Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)A Warilla single mum-of-four, who lost everything when her social housing home burnt down three years ago, lives in constant fear that the same thing will happen to her current fibro Housing NSW cottage. Kirsty Woodroffe, 43, believes that old, overloaded wiring in the region’s crumbling public dwellings are putting lives at risk.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7914360/warilla-mum-wh…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Repairs, Minimum habitability standards.