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
Hoarder Queenslander house up for sale deemed unsafe to enter
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)A hoarder house filled to the brim with broken furniture and rubbish has been deemed too dangerous to enter, but, this being Australian real estate, it’s not bothering buyers.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/ramshackle-west-end-house-up-for-…
# Australia, Health, Housing market.REA boss tips NSW property rebound after lockdowns lift; Property gets the COVID blues
Zoe Samios, Colin Kruger The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)[At 11.37am] REA Group chief executive Owen Wilson is anticipating a strong rebound for the NSW property market once Sydney opens up, after delivering unexpectedly strong growth in a financial year riddled with lockdowns in Victoria. [At 2.15pm] REA Group chief executive Owen Wilson may have been reassuring the market that he is anticipating a strong rebound for the NSW property market once Sydney opens up, but the market may be getting the wobbles over the prospect of prolonged lockdowns.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/flat-start-ahead-for-asx…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Brisbane running out of land for new homes, with less than 3 years’ supply
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Brisbane will run out of available land to build new homes in less than three years – and Noosa has just one year – as a housing crisis grips the state. The startling projection was revealed via documents released as part of Queensland budget estimates hearings ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/brisbane-running-out-…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Renters worried about inspections breaching Sydney COVID restrictions, warns tenants union
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)It is becoming clear the Greater Sydney COVID-19 lockdown, and its effect on the property market, is presenting challenges for renters. But what they fear most, according to the Tenants Union of NSW, is having strangers who are potentially infectious with COVID-19 moving through their home on inspection days if their landlord decides to sell. The tenants union said that under Sydney lockdown restrictions, real estate agents were only allowed to show homes to one person a day and could only do that twice a week. But CEO of the Tenants Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, said he had heard from tenants who said some realtors had been trying to break this limit. You also can listen to the audio of the same story at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/pm/renters-fear-covid-exposure-during-open-house-inspections/13480424] (ABC PM)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-04/renters-worried-about-ins…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Regional NSW.The eviction moratorium in the U.S. expired. Here’s how other countries handled such bans.
Miriam Berger (No paywall)A U.S. federal ban on evictions expired Saturday, nearly 11 months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the moratorium in place to keep people from losing their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. ... Other countries — including Britain, Spain and Australia — similarly imposed measures banning evictions and rent increases for individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic. Some of those programs are being rolled back, and housing advocates have warned that millions ... risk losing their homes in the coming months as a result. Here’s where some of these measures stand in comparison with the United States. (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/01/eviction-rent-mo…
# TUNSW in the media International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, International.What tenancy protections are available for renters after the moratorium ends?
(No paywall)As Australia transitions out of the COVID-19 emergency period and moratoriums come to an end, several measures remain to support tenants and landlords. We’ve rounded up the key changes and financial support measures for each state and territory to help you navigate this period. (rent.com.au)
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.New Zealand commission launches inquiry into ‘massive human rights failure’ on housing
Tess McClure The Guardian (No paywall)New Zealand’s housing crisis has become a “massive human rights failure”, the Human Rights Commission has said, as it launches a national inquiry into the problem. “Successive governments have failed New Zealanders,” chief commissioner Paul Hunt said in a statement as he announced the inquiry. “New Zealand governments have signed up to a critically important human right: the right to a decent home. For generations, they have promised to create the conditions to enable everyone to live in a decent home, but this has not happened.” ... [But the United Nations'] special rapporteur and human rights commission have said it lacks a domestic legal framework establishing and protecting that right. The inquiry will establish a clearer definition of “decent housing” and then make recommendations along those lines. Also, check out the same story at RNZ: [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448245/human-rights-commission-launches-national-inquiry-into-housing-crisis]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/02/new-zealand-commis…
# International, Rent, Repairs, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Young people.'Just a nightmare': Calls for more affordable housing to combat growing homelessness in Australia
Biwa Kwan SBS (No paywall)Advocates are calling for federal government intervention to combat the impacts of homelessness in Australia as charities report a surge in demand for their services during the pandemic. At Homelessness Week gets underway, Homelessness Australia says a diminishing provision of affordable housing is pushing more Australians into homelessness, a trend COVID-19 has only exacerbated. ... [CEO Jenny Smith says] "We need urgent government intervention. This problem can be overcome. All it requires is political will."
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/just-a-nightmare-calls-for-more-affo…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Older people, Race and ethnicity, Women.