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
NSW rent reform delayed, referred to inquiry due to rent bidding concerns
Jessica Wang news.com.au (No paywall)NSW’s first suite of rental reforms has stumbled at the first hurdle and will undergo a parliamentary inquiry over concerns it could increase rent bidding despite clauses to explicitly ban the act.
While the Bill introduced to parliament earlier this month aimed to end solicited rent bidding, it also required agents to notify all applicants if they received a bid higher than the advertised price.
The Bill will now be referred to an inquiry after crossbenchers, including Greens MP Jenny Leong and Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, expressed concern that it could inadvertently “entrench” a system of rent bidding.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/nsw-rent-ref…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, State Government.Fight brews over NSW first-home buyers' scheme reform
Samantha Lock and Luke Costin AAP (No paywall)A NSW government proposal to reform first-home buyer subsidies that would exempt the majority from paying stamp duty is already on shaky ground.
Premier Chris Minns says the new system will be fairer, simpler and mean five out of every six first-home buyers will pay no tax or a reduced rate.
"This is just part of the jigsaw puzzle of reforms that we're bringing in as part of what we acknowledge is a housing crisis in NSW," he told reporters on Monday.
https://thewest.com.au/news/urban-planning/death-knell-for-nsws-…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.NSW Labor eyes vacant offices as option to boost social housing stock
Tamsin Rose and Jonathan Barrett The Guardian (No paywall)The New South Wales government will explore converting empty offices and unused government buildings into much-needed social housing, as commercial building owners grapple with a surge in vacancies.
The NSW housing minister, Rose Jackson, told Guardian Australia that providing incentives to developers to convert surplus office space presented a “good opportunity” for the state as it struggles with a soaring social housing waitlist.
While buildings in Sydney’s city centre might be too expensive, smaller commercial centres and underused government properties could be explored, the minister said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/18/nsw-labor…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Planning and development, State Government.Sydney families are being priced into apartment living – but even then, their options are limited
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)Matthias and his wife, Nicole, want to have another baby, but their plans have been stalled by Sydney’s housing crisis.
The couple, who asked to remain anonymous, have one child and are thinking of having another, but feel limited by the lack of options for families seeking larger apartments.
“There are no apartments of that size,” Nicole says, adding that most of the three-bedroom apartments they find available are penthouse-style units. “And it’s definitely been a factor in how we’ve thought about whether we would grow our family or not.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/20/sydney-fa…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Families, Housing affordability, Sydney.Priyanka was homeless at 18. Now at university, she’s one of the lucky ones
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Young women like Sydney law student Priyanka are the group of Australians with the fastest growing rate of homelessness.
You may have heard that women over the age of 55 are the fastest growing group, but based on the latest data it’s actually women under 20.
The 2021 census figures reveal a growing national crisis with child and youth homelessness for both sexes. The biggest increases are among girls and young women.
https://amp-smh-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.smh.com.au/nat…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Sydney.Minns has changed his tune on NIMBYism, but will his flock follow?
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)What a difference an election cycle makes. Before the 2019 poll, Chris Minns – then the humble MP for Kogarah and Labor’s water spokesman – sent a letter to the Berejiklian government urging it to stop a 19-storey “overdevelopment” above Kogarah train station.
Kogarah had been “inundated with major residential developments right along the rail corridor”, Minns complained, and it was wrong to force residents to deal with “the negative externalities of such an increase in population”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/minns-has-changed-his-tune-o…
# Hot topic NSW, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, State Government.Clover Moore warns NSW government against sale of state-owned land
Tamsin Rose The Guardian (No paywall)Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has called a plan to rezone and develop underused state land as “really disappointing” despite the New South Wales premier Chris Minns’ insistence that the government housing scheme did not amount to privatisation.
Moore said the state government should instead be focused on genuine investment in social and affordable housing, while thinking carefully before making any decisions to sell off land.
“Once public land is sold, it’s gone,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/19/clover-mo…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Local Government, Planning and development.Behind the scenes of Australia's rental crisis: How decisions are made by landlords and property managers about what you pay
Maani Truu ABC (No paywall)Each time real estate agent Elizabeth Sargood sees a headline about a tenant being slapped with another massive rental increase, she braces.
The property manager of more than 20 years runs an agency in Sydney's eastern suburbs, showing properties, securing tenants and managing maintenance requests.
But recently something else has been taking up her time. Whenever there's a story about another tenant hit with an increase in the hundreds of dollars a week, she returns to work on Monday to a backlog of calls.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-23/behind-the-scenes-of-rent…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.