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
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns pins election hopes on new faces as he announces shadow cabinet
ABC (No paywall)NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has announced his new frontbench promising "renewal, change and new ideas". ... Michael Daley will step into the shoes of Shadow Attorney-General; Rose Jackson, Shadow Minister for Water, Housing and Homelessness; Courtney Houssos, Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation; Paul Scully has moved from Shadow Minister for Planning; Penny Sharpe has the environment portfolio. Same story at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/real-generational-change-chris-minns-reveals-new-labor-frontbench-20210611-p580dk.html] For the full Shadow Cabinet, go to: [https://twitter.com/MinnsChris/status/1403263846945525764]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-12/nsw-labor-leader-chris-mi…
# NSW, State Government.Sydney tourism slump a boon for renters in former Airbnb hotspots
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney renters in the inner city, eastern suburbs and northern beaches have reaped the benefits of a slump in the holiday rental market during the pandemic, as Airbnb landlords converted their properties to traditional long-term lettings. Researchers at the City Futures Research Centre at the University of NSW found the suburbs in Sydney with the greatest Airbnb activity before the COVID-19 pandemic also experienced the biggest drops in typical weekly rents during 2020. ... In April, NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes introduced a State Environmental Planning Policy for short-term rentals such as Airbnb or Stayz, which overturns any blanket bans on short-term rentals at council level. ... Alex Greenwich, the state MP for Sydney, which includes suburbs such as Paddington and Surry Hills, said he would work with apartment communities and tenancy advocates to push for stronger laws to prevent residential homes being turned into short-term holiday accommodation.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-tourism-slump-a-boon-…
# NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Planning and development, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.Badgered boomers bite back over big homes
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Check out this and other letters to 'The Sydney Morning Herald': 'If Betty and John Citizen can’t take Flossie or Fido with them then they are forced to either stay where they are or have their beloved animals re-homed or worse.' See the article in Housing News Digest (7 June 2021) at: [https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/grandparents-need-the-backyard-boomers-deepen-housing-crisis-by-staying-in-empty-nests-20210605-p57ydf.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/badgered-boomers-bite-back-o…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market, Planning and development.Medical van treats acute and chronic illnesses in hundreds of rough sleepers across Sydney
Lydia Feng ABC (No paywall)... But when a red medical van pulls up to the curb in Woolloomooloo on a Tuesday night she’s eager to meet the medical staff inside. Within minutes, Julie is seated beside a doctor and getting a health check-up for the first time in years. ... Julie is one of many rough sleepers benefiting from a new initiative called Street Side Medics.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/new-medical-van-treats-ro…
# NSW, Health, Homelessness.NSW to offer $25,000 grant for first home buyers in stamp duty overhaul
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)First home buyers would get a $25,000 grant to help them enter the market as the NSW government moves to overhaul property tax at the same time as home ownership for people under 40 plummets. A grant would replace existing stamp duty concessions for first home buyers under the property tax reforms, which would initially allow buyers to choose paying stamp duty or an annual levy.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-to-offer-25-000-first-ho…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Tax, Young people.New housing supply, population growth and access to social infrastructure
Somwrita Sarkar, Emily Moylan, Hao Wu, Rashi Shrivastava, Nicole Gurran, David Levinson, AHURI (No paywall)This research tests the usefulness of new datasets to inform the forward planning of social and community infrastructure in rapidly growing areas of Australian cities. It focusses on greenfield areas of Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth to demonstrate data sources and methods that can be replicated in other locations.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/356?utm_source=Z…
# Research alert Australia, Planning and development.Has COVID induced property vacancies swung the balances of power in the inner-city property market?
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inner-city property market could generally be understood in three words: fierce, competitive, and lucrative. ... [But now] it looks that a change may be appearing on the horizon. ... a shortage of tenants hasn’t worried everyone in the inner-city property market. The overwhelming tide away from the city fringes has left those still in the inner-city with largely unprecedented levels of purchasing power and leverage, whereby landlords typically desperate for property occupancy have been forced to negotiate better conditions and cheaper rents with prospective tenants. It’s a pattern that has been welcomed by CEO of the Tenants’ Union of NSW Leo Patterson Ross. ... Despite the growth in property vacancies and plunge in rental prices in the inner-city, Patterson Ross remains sceptical when discussing the true extent of power that tenants have been afforded throughout the past 12 months. “My test for a tenant’s market is one where the landlords are competing for the tenants to move in – they’re offering things like longer leases, pets by default, being really proactive about their maintenance, and we really didn’t see that, what we saw was the prices going down, but the real experience of renting in Sydney even in the middle of the CBD really didn’t change very much,” Patterson Ross said. “People were being offered basically the same deal, just a little bit less expensive.” (Inner West Independent)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/06/has-covid-induced-property-…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Indigenous eviction prevention program's last-ditch bid to survive
Claire Moodie ABC (No paywall)Patricia Williams watches as a team of workers marches into her public housing home in Perth's northern suburbs, removing piles of hard rubbish and cleaning mould and dirt from the walls and floors. The 60-year-old grandmother has put up the white flag, calling for support to help her deal with the mess and unpaid bills that have been threatening to have her evicted from her home of 11 years.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/wa-indigenous-eviction-pr…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Public and community housing, Families, Health, Homelessness.