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.
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.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Why it's 'rubbish' to blame migrants for Australia's rental crisis
Madeleine Wedesweiler SBS (No paywall)A conservative-leaning think tank says migration and international students are to blame for Australia's rental crisis, but economists have countered this claim as misleading and poorly backed up.
The Institute of Public Affair (IPA)'s report is "rubbish" and doesn't mention key factors that have led to chronic rental unaffordability, managing director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Michael Fotheringham, told SBS News.
"Migration is one of the ways we've actually built up our residential construction workforce and could, theoretically, help to increase the number of new properties and ease rental prices slightly," he said.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/why-its-rubbish-to-blame-mig…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Yes in my back yard! Sydney and Melbourne activists demand ‘soft density’ to ease housing crisis
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Disparate groups frustrated by lack of affordable properties are taking the fight to Nimbys as they campaign to relax planning curbs and reinvigorate suburbs.
They are fed up with a lack of new housing, they’ve read up on the technicalities of zoning and heritage protections – and they’re coming to a local council meeting near you.
Historically low building approval rates as Australia stares down a worsening housing crisis have led to a chorus of housing activists and economists rebelling against the traditional opposition to any proposals to increase density from nimby (not in my back yard) residents.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/15/housing-c…
# Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Planning and development.Leaking sewage and no water: Victorian renters’ compensation claims stall in tribunal backlog
Cait Kelly and Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)When David*, his partner and young daughter moved to a regional Victorian property close to two-and-a-half years ago, they just wanted a tree-change. What they got was a nightmare rental experience, a hole in their bank account worth more than $20,000 and a prolonged dispute that is still without resolution.
David, who asked that his surname not be used, is just one of nearly 13,000 people waiting for his bond and compensation application to come before the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal (Vcat), where backlogs still persist and the median wait time is more than nine months.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/18/leaking-s…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.Ten charts that explain the rental crisis in Australia
Nigel Gladstone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australian renters are battling an unholy trinity of soaring prices, increased competition for places and a broken housing market that limits supply and prioritises investor landlords.
So just how did the situation deteriorate so badly, and what can be done to ensure the growing number of renters are treated fairly?
More than three in 10 Australian households now rent from private landlords and the fastest growth is at the top end of the market, including luxury apartments and detached homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/ten-charts-that-explain-the-rent…
# Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Rent, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Calls for property websites to list accessibility features as people with disabilities struggle to find rentals
Scout Wallen ABC (No paywall)Rachel Kayrooz needs to move from her newly marked-up rental in Queensland's south-east, but can't find anywhere accessible to go.
The community worker has functional neurological disorder (FND), which makes her susceptible to seizures, and needs a home with space to manoeuvre her walker.
It also needs to be affordable.
The rent for the home she shares with her 20-year-old daughter has gone up $110 a week, and she has had to cut back her work hours because of her condition.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-19/rental-accessibility-for-…
# Hot topic Australia, Disability, Families, Personal stories.Milly’s rental application was successful. Until this question was raised
Jim Malo The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Milly McMurray applied for an aged two-bedroom flat in Coburg North. They’d been accepted, paid the rent and bond, and thought there would be no harm in asking a question.
“I understand that there isn’t a heater that meets minimum standards at the property and that there will be a split system put in,” they emailed. “I’m wondering what the timeline of this maintenance is? Can I expect there to be a heater by the time I move in?”
After the property manager insisted the heater was up to standard, which the previous tenant, McMurray’s friend, had informed them it wasn’t. McMurray disclosed they had a chronic health condition, exacerbated by the cold.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/milly-s-rental-application-…
# Hot topic Australia, Landlords and agents, Personal stories, Young people.Renters worse off as landlords begin evictions to skirt new Queensland laws, tenants group says
Andrew Messenger The Guardian (No paywall)Landlords seeking to avoid new Queensland laws limiting rent increases to once a year have left numerous renters worse off, according to the state’s tenants’ rights service.
The Palaszczuk government on Thursday said it would review the laws – just two weeks after they took effect – amid reports landlords had evicted tenants in order to get around the regulation.
The housing minister, Meaghan Scanlon, released a discussion paper proposing changes to ensure rents couldn’t be increased more than once a year, even if a tenant left and was replaced.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/14/renters-w…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market.The housing crisis is pushing more Australian renters into poverty. We need urgent change
Brian Howe The Guardian (No paywall)Not a day goes by without a new headline on the rental housing crisis. But let’s not pretend that rental affordability is a new issue or that short-term tactical responses will stand in the place of a comprehensive housing strategy with sustained effort from every tier of government.
I was Australia’s 20th federal housing minister and believe that there is a sound case to investigate some form of intervention in the private rental market which is clearly failing too many renters. Disturbingly, one in five of these renters live in poverty compared with less than one in 10 people who own or are buying their homes.
While rental policy is primarily a state issue, the federal government does have an interest in the regulation of surging rental prices. Canberra is required to provide housing subsidies to low-income renters largely through Commonwealth rent assistance — a program of payments now worth more than $5bn a year.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/14/the-tradit…
# Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Housing market.