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
Not on target: 28 housing projects to cost over $750m
Anish Chand The Fiji Times (No paywall)The Housing Ministry substantially missed all its national development plan targets in the 2018-2022 period, according to the Fiscal Review Committee.
As a result, the committee says it wasn’t able to provide housing to informal settlements and first time home owners “and will need $500 million to speed up works on 48 development leases”.
In its report, the committee said between 25,000 and 28,000 households — or 40,000-120,000 — people were living in informal housing in more than 170 settlements nationwide.
https://www.fijitimes.com/not-on-target-28-housing-projects-to-c…
# Hot topic International, Housing market, International, Planning and development.Airbnb listings could be contributing to the housing crisis, NSW Government examining new tax
Mark Ferguson 7 News (No paywall)A new tax is being considered on short term rental properties like Airnb and Stayz to help ease the housing crisis. 7NEWS can reveal that the tax will be considered by the NSW Government as new figures show Australia could be in for a new housing shock.
# Hot topic, Video NSW, Campaigns and law reform, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.‘Wild west’: Australia’s would-be tenants asked about tattoos and social media as calls grow for regulation
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)There are growing calls to regulate the personal information real estate agents can request from potential tenants, with renters asked to hand over 12 months’ worth of bank statements, their personal social media profiles and in one case, whether they had prominent tattoos.
Paris Zarmairian was applying for a rental at the end of May in Sydney when her agent asked her to provide 12 months’ worth of bank statements.
The sole trader works as a consultant and advocate in the disability sector, and makes enough to comfortably cover the rent.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/12/wild-west…
# Must read, Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Discrimination, Privacy and access, Personal stories.Essential workers priced out of housing near Sydney workplaces face even longer commutes
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)Essential workers in New South Wales such as teachers and nurses are being priced out of housing in suburbs near their workplaces and are facing longer commutes, new data reveals.
The data, provided by the Australian Urban Observatory and analysed by Guardian Australia, shows many essential workers are clustered in areas where housing is cheaper, but also that they face displacement from these areas as housing costs rise.
The data shows that essential workers in NSW are concentrated in LGAs with a majority of low-income households, including the Central Coast, Canterbury-Bankstown, Penrith, Liverpool and Campbeltown. These LGAs also have some of the highest rates of people living in community housing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/08/essential…
# Must read NSW, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Planning and development.The push to turn city office blocks into apartments
Carolyn Cummins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The yawning space in office towers across capital cities thanks to flexible working practices post COVID-19 has reignited the debate about whether these half-empty, billion-dollar valued skyscrapers can be converted into apartments.
With demand for housing reaching near breaking point and swaths of offices sitting idle, experts say it makes sense to revisit the issue. The premium offices are not seen as candidates, but the lower-graded C and D sites on the city fringe are considered ripe for conversion.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-push-to-turn-city-…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development.NSW is recruiting for one of the state's toughest jobs — the successful applicant faces a massive task
Ashleigh Raper ABC (No paywall)The state's new rental commissioner will need to channel Christopher Pyne's "I'm a fixer" vibes.
The former federal education minister's infamous proclamation eight years ago was in reference to how he ensured a trouble-plagued higher education package got through the senate.
The task ahead of the new NSW rental commissioner will be far more complex.
Indeed, it's looking like one of the most difficult jobs in the state.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-10/analysis-nsw-rental-commi…
# Hot topic NSW, Campaigns and law reform, NSW Fair Trading, State Government.Minister looks to rework Waterloo South
Geoff Turnbull The South Sydney Herald (No paywall)When the current stage of the previous government’s procurement process for Waterloo South ends in about a month, the new NSW government will review the proposal to see how it can be turned into something that Labor can support. This was the key message delivered by Minister Rose Jackson at a REDWatch housing forum on June 5, 2023.
Under the current stage of the procurement process inherited by the incoming NSW Labor government, interest from four potential development consortiums is to be reduced to two by mid-2023. Minister Jackson told the meeting that “we aren’t able to stop that without massive compensation to the participants in that process and potentially we want to see what comes out of it”.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/minister-looks-to-rework-waterl…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Planning and development, State Government.Fact sheet: Proposed 82 Wentworth Park Road development
Action for Public Housing Action for Public Housing (No paywall)82 Wentworth Park Road is a 35-year old public housing complex in Glebe. There are currently 17 public housing dwellings (12 one bedroom and 5 three bedroom units) on the site. More than 1500 people have signed an Action for Public Housing petition calling on the government to save 82WPR. More than 370 individuals submitted objections to the development application during the exhibition period.
https://a4ph.substack.com/p/fact-sheet-proposed-82-wentworth?utm…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.