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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. 

Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.

See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.

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Archive

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Key topics

Knives out for Commissioner Chandler

Jimmy Thompson
(No paywall)

This week’s Flat Chat Wrap has a look at something we predicted a few weeks ago – that the knives would soon be out for Building Commissioner David Chandler ... Why? Maybe because he’s been a bit too successful at doing exactly what he was asked to do – get rid of of a crooks and shonks in the property development industry. (Flat Chat)

https://www.flatchat.com.au/podcast-knives-out/

# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.
 

Where are the 300,000 empty homes in NSW

Caitlin Fitsimmons
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

Sydney recorded tens of thousands of empty homes on census night, with the Delta lockdown and hard international border closure pushing vacancies higher than 2016. Meanwhile, in traditional seaside holiday towns, up to a quarter of dwellings were unoccupied despite the severe housing crisis. Figures from the 2021 census, sorted for The Sun-Herald by local government area, show the location of nearly 300,000 unoccupied homes across NSW. You will find useful maps in this article. Also, read Rachael Dexter's and Craig Butt's article about Victoria entitled: 'Silent suburbs: where are our state’s 300,000 empty homes?' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/silent-suburbs-where-are-our-state-s-300-000-empty-homes-20220706-p5azk7.html]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/where-are-the-300-000-empty-…

# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.
 

Addressing the affordable housing crisis

Judy Skatssoon
(No paywall)

Local government can play a role in addressing the national housing crisis by introducing incentives and requirements for new developments to include affordable and low-cost dwellings, a new report says.

https://www.governmentnews.com.au/addressing-the-affordable-hous…

# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government.
 

Mother of eight struggles to find new rental as prices spike across South Australia

Josephine Lim
ABC (No paywall)

Inside Natasha Malone's three-bedroom rental home are three beds in the front lounge room — for herself and two of her eight children. The single mother has been told she will need to find a new rental by December because her current place will soon be up for sale. In the meantime, her landlord has increased the weekly rent from $360 to $500. "I now have to say what's more important, having a house or medication? And currently it's having a house." ... She has applied for 46 new rentals in the past four months but has been rejected for every single one. "What the real estate agents are saying is that everyone's offering more, like $100 more a week, and if you're not in a position to be able to do that, it makes it really defeating," she said. "I'm worried that we're going to end up on the street and have nowhere to go."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-07/sa-mother-struggles-to-fi…

# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Health, Homelessness, Welfare, Women.
 

'Perfect storm': new housing data reveals regional areas in strife

Neve Brissenden
Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)

Everybody’s Home, a housing solution campaign group, found in regional Victorian areas, rents had increased between six and 14 per cent, while vacancies dipped below one per cent. ... spokesperson Kate Colvin said as mortgage interest rates doubled many landlords would seek to pass the cost on to tenants. “Renters are in for a seriously difficult time as landlords capitalise on historically low vacancy rates to shift the rising cost of interest rates on to their tenants,” she said. “While the Victorian state government has invested in social housing, we will only start to see significant change once we see a significant promise from the federal government as well.”

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7808703/perfect-storm-…

# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market.
 

'Chernobyl' green lawn in real estate ad for Adelaide house sparks questions about truth in advertising

Eugene Boisvert
ABC (No paywall)

An advertisement for an Adelaide house with an unnaturally green lawn has amused many online, but has also sparked questions about how much enhancement is too much when it comes to real estate sales.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-06/adelaide-real-estate-ad-w…

# Australia, Landlords and agents.
 

Kalorama residents unable to rebuild after land deemed uninhabitable

Virginia Trioli
ABC (No paywall)

Kalorama resident Natalie Guest lost her family home more than a year ago when storms tore through Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges. She's spent the past 13 months cleaning her land and meeting consultants as she planned to rebuild. But in a devastating blow, Yarra Ranges Council has declared her block is too dangerous to live on due to landslip concerns. (BC Radio Melbourne)

https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/mornings/kalorama-land…

# Audio Australia, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.
 

Developer blames pandemic lockdowns for collapse of six companies

Simon Johanson and Rachel Eddie
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

A large private developer has blamed government rent relief measures and the COVID-19 pandemic for the collapse of six of his companies that rely on rental income from commercial and residential tenants. ... “These companies were heavily impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and [by] government policy, including rent relief measures for tenants,” Chen said. In a bid to limit the economic fallout from COVID-19, governments across the country banned landlords from evicting tenants suffering financial stress, instead requiring them to give rent relief and defer lease payments.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/developer-blames-pande…

# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.
 

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