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
‘There’s real powerlessness’: Australian renters at the mercy of no-cause evictions
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)It was a tradesperson attending the house for another job who first alerted Natalie to the fact the wooden front stairway of her rental, a decaying Queenslander in an inner Brisbane suburb, was coming away from the wall. “The thing was cracking and breaking away,” Natalie says. “We alerted the real estate agent, and they came and wrapped warning tape around the stairs and told us not to use them. They said they’d fix it straight away.” Then the merry-go-round began. Tradespeople would turn up, assess the damage and send an email to the real estate agent, but no one ever came to fix anything. ... In November, she sent the agent an email. “I said, if you don’t give me a timeline to fix this within the next two weeks, we’ll issue a notice to remedy breach. Then six days later they sent us an eviction notice.” Natalie and the rest of her household were issued with a “no-grounds” termination – a form of eviction in which the landlord does not need to provide a reason for ending a lease. ... [Joel Dignam, executive director of the advocacy organisation Better Renting] says it’s the threat of eviction as much as the reality that causes much of the harm to renters. “That causes tenants to hold back, self-sensor and limit self-advocacy. That’s our big concern – that landlords can wield that power, even if they don’t put the eviction into effect.” Better Renting and other tenants’ advocacy groups argue the no-grounds eviction – and the end-of-lease evictions that function in the same way – ought to be abolished. “The power imbalance is that the renter is the party in the relationship whose home is at stake,” says Dignam.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/16/theres-re…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, No-grounds evictions.‘No time for politics’: Housing ministers to meet to tackle affordability and homelessness
Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The country’s housing ministers are meeting for the first time in five years on Friday, against a backdrop of high property prices, skyrocketing rental rates and rising interest rates. Housing and Homelessness Minister Julie Collins said she convened the summit so the federal and state governments can start working together to address the widespread housing challenges. ... The housing ministers will also start work on creating a national housing and homelessness plan, and Collins said having input from community housing organisations and private providers will also be important.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-time-for-politics-hou…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, State Government.Mortgages in retirement triple, outright ownership halves for most age groups
Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The proportion of Australians who own their home outright has halved over two decades for most age groups while the proportion of people with mortgages in retirement years has tripled. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that outright home ownership has more than halved for 25 to 54-year-olds between 2001 and 2021. At the same time, the number of mortgage holders and renters across all age groups has ballooned. ... Chris Martin, a senior research fellow at the City Futures Research Centre at UNSW, said some people are using their housing as security and keeping their mortgages open for other purposes, including buying investment properties. But a large part of the growth in mortgage holders was because house prices have risen, and Martin said successive government policies have helped drive that boom. Martin co-authored a recent report that found state and federal governments have spent more than $20 billion in the last decade on housing assistance through first home buyers grants and similar policies. “The general trend is that it goes into higher house prices,” he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/mortgages-in-retirement-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Storm drains and car parks become a cold reality for victims of Queensland’s social housing crisis
Joe Hinchcliffe The Guardian (No paywall)During her 14 months on Queensland’s bulging social-housing waiting list, Sarah Paasi has learned that warm places to pass a winter’s night include car park staircases, storm drains and tunnels. But the most pressing problem for the 26-year-old Brisbane woman on the nights she sleeps rough is what to do with her baby boy, Marcus. ... Paasi is one of thousands of Queenslanders approved for social housing who have no house to go to. A report released this week by Queensland’s auditor general, Brendan Worrall, found 30,922 households – more than 50,000 people – on the state’s housing register, a figure which has grown by 78% since 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/17/storm-dra…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Homelessness.Record rents are further squeezing Australian households
Angela Jackson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Cost-of-living pressures have been rising for every household around Australia, with the last read from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing prices rising by 5.1 per cent across our major capital cities. With wages only growing at 2.4 per cent over the same period, many Australians are struggling to make ends meet. ... The federal government currently supports low-income renters, most acutely impacted by the current spike in rents, through its rent assistance payment. The maximum payments for a couple with three or more dependant children is less than $100 a week, a fraction of the median rents paid by households. This means these low-income households are having to absorb all the current rental increases, putting them under even more financial stress. The federal government could look to increase the rate of Rent Assistance to provide much-needed relief to these low-income households. However, there is a risk that this will lead landlords to increase rents further, worsening the situation for those households that do not qualify for the payment and making minimal difference to those that do qualify. Long-term, a greater investment in social and affordable housing by all levels of government can induce downward pressure on market rents. The stock of social housing in Australia has fallen dramatically over the past 30 years and sits at around 4 per cent, versus the average across wealthy nations of around 7 per cent. Social housing, where rents are typically capped at 25 per cent, plays a critical role in the housing market and can make a big difference to the lives of vulnerable Australians. This includes substantially reducing the rate of homelessness experienced by tenants in social housing versus those in the private rental market.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/record-rents-are-fur…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Families, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government, Welfare.Property managers reveal brutal decision-making process when choosing tenants. Here’s what they look for.
Rhiannon Lewin (No paywall)From the clothes you wear to how dirty your car is, real estate agents are paying more attention to you than you may think when you inspect a rental property. But this hasn’t always been the case, with experts saying the rental crisis has led to a shift in approach by many agents. ... While this level of detail might seem like common practice for property managers and agents, Tenants’ Union of NSW CEO Leo Patterson Ross told 7NEWS.com.au it hasn’t always been the case. “There’s no question it’s becoming stricter and a tougher process,” he said. “The introduction of questions like whether the tenant has been to the tribunal seems to be about 10 years old, but some more recent changes have been some agencies starting to ask about social media profiles.” (7 News)
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/real-estate/property-managers-rev…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Landlords and agents.‘Ridiculous prices’: Regional rents in NSW up 30 per cent since start of pandemic
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Some tenants in regional NSW are facing displacement and homelessness due to rents spiking 30 per cent since the start of the pandemic. The majority of council areas outside Sydney posted double-digit percentage point increases in median rents in the past 12 months to June, the latest Domain Rent Report, released on Thursday, showed. ... KPMG demographer and urban economist Terry Rawnsley also said skyrocketing regional rents were a hangover of the pandemic. He said tenants with city incomes have pushed up rents rapidly and have snapped up the historically low levels of rental supply in the regions. ... He said the rental crisis is no longer about affordability, but availability, as locals are displaced from their communities and face homelessness in some cases. ... “It’s creating social dislocation and the knock-on effects of insecure housing and homelessness, which a lot of regional communities haven’t seen in generations to this extent,” he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/ridiculous-prices-regional-…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW.Australia’s rental crisis worsens as record price hikes leave tenants desperate
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)The latest Domain Rent Report for the June quarter 2022 shows the rental crisis has deepened across the nation, making Australia’s renters even more apprehensive. Both house and unit rents over the combined capitals have recorded their longest continuous stretch of rental price growth, with house rents rising for the fifth consecutive quarter and unit rents for the fourth. ... At National Shelter, there’s continuing concern about those who simply can’t make ends meet with such a strong surge in rents. “I think there currently exists sustained pressure on private renters,” said chief executive Emma Greenhalgh. “It also demonstrates the importance of continued and sustained investment in affordable and social housing, and rental reforms for tenants." Also, read Jocelyn Garcia's article entitled: '"A landlords’ market": Brisbane records steepest rent rises in city’s history' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/a-landlords-market-brisbane-records-steepest-rent-rises-in-city-s-history-20220713-p5b19v.html]. Read Melissa Heagney's article entitled: '"Renters are getting smashed": Melbourne house rents reach record highs' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/renters-are-getting-smashed-melbourne-house-rents-reach-record-highs-20220712-p5b0yr.html]. Read Elizabeth Redman's and Tawar Razaghi's article entitled: '"Gone up astronomically": Rents spike in regional Victorian towns' in 'Domain' at: [https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/gone-up-astronomically-rents-spike-in-regional-victorian-towns-20220714-p5b1hl.html]. Read: Read Josh Taylor's article entitled: '"A landlord’s market": rents hit record highs across Australia’s capital cities' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/14/a-landlords-market-rents-hit-record-highs-across-australias-capital-cities] Read Matthew Elmas's article entitled: 'Tenants squeezed as rents rise at fastest pace in seven years' in the 'New Daily' at: [https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/07/15/rents-housing-prices/].
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australias-rental-crisis-worsens-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market.