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
If we taxed land properly, we'd have billions of extra dollars to fund big tax cuts elsewhere. So why don't we do it?
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)It's a basic principle of tax design. If you want less of something you tax it more, and if you want more of something you tax it less. So why do we tax workers and businesses so heavily in this country, and why do we tax speculation and pollution and monopoly rents so lightly? It's a persistent mystery that Prosper Australia has highlighted for decades. And it published a new report last week that asked the question again, showing if state governments only taxed land in smarter ways, they'd have $27 billion more in tax revenue every year to fund large tax cuts in other parts of the economy.
Isn't that something we'd benefit from?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-24/tax-land-properly-27-bill…
# Hot topic Australia, .Tenants forced to choose between their pets and a roof over their heads amid rental crisis
A Current Affair 9 News (No paywall)It's a decision no family should have to make - a home or a pet - but it's one many are facing amid the rental crisis. Dogs, cats and other furry friends are being abandoned to appease landlords and animal rescue organisations at capacity, say something's got to give. Sayem got his Siberian husky Julius six years ago and says it was life-changing." There's this unconditional love between the pet and the owner, it's just amazing," he said. So you could imagine his heartbreak when Sydney's rental crisis forced him out of a townhouse and into a small two-bedroom unit. "It was very hard, every day it was heartbreaking," he said.
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/rental-crisis-forces-p…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent.Community legal centres turn away 1,000 Australians each day despite growing need for help
Josh Butler The Guardian (No paywall)Community legal centres report having to turn away more than 1,000 people every day last year due to budget constraints and short staffing – twice the number they were able to help. The sector has asked for an urgent funding boost as cost-of-living pressures and poverty drive an increase in legal need, while its federal funding has slipped behind inflation amid staff burnout and huge workloads. The Community Legal Centre Australia chief executive, Tim Leach, warned that a lack of proper legal representation would lead to people facing unnecessary jail terms, homelessness or being forced to stay in unsafe relationships.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/mar/25/community-legal-cent…
# Must read Australia, .NT, federal governments still negotiating 'landmark' housing deal amid backlog of homelands awaiting urgent repairs
Oliver Chaseling ABC (No paywall)The Northern Territory and federal governments are continuing to negotiate whether new housing can be built on homelands under a new $240 million deal, after some homelands have already waited up to six years for repairs and maintenance announced under previous deals. Between 400 and 600 homelands or outstations surround the territory's remote communities, belonging to specific Aboriginal clan groups and held under land trusts established by the 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Since 2007, federal and NT governments have refused to fund the construction of new housing in homelands, limiting funding to maintenance, as well as essential and municipal services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-23/nt-federal-governments-24…
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters.In Queensland’s ‘feeding frenzy’ housing market, renters are paying the price
Andrew Messenger The Guardian (No paywall)Queensland renter Anne Dirks has spent three months struggling to find a new home. Brisbane last month surpassed Melbourne as Australia’s third-most expensive city, now just behind Canberra and Sydney. She said it has been a hard search, and she has been turned back several times. One barrier: rent bidding. Some forms of rent bidding are banned in Queensland, but Dirks said she has turned up to properties where a real estate agent had jacked up the advertised price on the spot. “I had one agent say ‘Oh just so you all know the rent’s gone up $70, from $470,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/22/in-queens…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Australia's housing crisis has become a fierce political battle that could have major implications for the next federal election
Patricia Karvelas ABC (No paywall)A fierce battle over housing is set to intensify and define the next federal election as Labor, the Coalition and the Greens target a growing cohort of voters who believe they've been locked out of home ownership for life. The great Australian dream of owning your own home has been fading for a long time — there's nothing new about this. But the crisis is now baked in — and it has arguably become the big generational disrupter, changing votes and threatening to hurt the government at the next poll. The Greens have successfully put housing on the mainstream political radar. Now the Liberal Party — who are strategising about how they can become relevant and attractive to the younger voters they've been losing in swathes — are joining the debate after privately acknowledging they've been missing in action on this pivotal issue.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-25/australia-housing-crisis-…
# Must read, Legal significance Australia, Rent.What do land tax, Monopoly, and Australia have in common?
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)What do land tax, Monopoly, and Australia have in common? Last week I wrote a piece about land tax and some economists who say we should tax land more so we can cut taxes on business and labour income. Today, let's read a bit more about Henry George (1839-1897), the once-famous American who made similar arguments more than 100 years ago, and who has inspired those economists. It's a fascinating story with Australian links, and ties to a famous boardgame.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-31/land-tax-monopoly-austral…
# Hot topic Australia, .Cameron Murray’s ‘terrifically unfair’ answer to our housing woes resembles a lottery, not the serious reform we need
Elizabeth Baldwin & Brendan Coates The Conversation (No paywall)With 120,000 people homeless each night and one in five low-income private renters spending more than half their income on rent, it is clear Australia urgently needs a housing policy change. A new book by economist Cameron Murray, The Great Housing Hijack, claims to provide a guide for just that. Murray is spot on about one thing: the housing policy debate has been hijacked. As he notes, the breathless reporting of every fluctuation in the market is unenlightening. People with a stake in property markets flood the debate with spurious claims. Unfortunately, Murray’s book only adds to the cacophony. His analysis is inconsistent with the evidence, and his proposed solution yet another distraction.
https://theconversation.com/cameron-murrays-terrifically-unfair-…
# Hot topic Australia, .