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
'They don't stand a chance': Australia's worst-affected as rental affordability hits new low
Rashida Yosufzai SBS (No paywall)At the lowest point of her search for a roof over her head, Victorian resident Mary* says looking for a rental drove her to unimaginable depths.
“I thought you know, this is all too hard. It would just be easier to say goodbye,” the 50-year-old told SBS News.
A decade ago, Mary was forced to make a difficult decision: stay with an abusive partner, or flee the home she’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on in order to save her life.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/anglicare-report-shows-renta…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Welfare.Rent in Australian capital cities climbs record 11.7% in 12 months
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)
Rent in Australian capital cities climbs record 11.7% in 12 months
Increase equivalent to $3,200 a year for tenants, with relief ‘unlikely’ in the short term as demand continues to outstrip supply
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Mostafa Rachwani
@Rachwani91
Wed 3 May 2023 01.00 AEST
Renters in Australian capital cities have suffered the highest increase for a 12-month period since records began in 2007 as the nation’s housing crisis shows no sign of slowing down.
The combined capitals’ rental rate increased 11.7% over the past year, far above the average increase of 3.5%.
The record increase is equivalent to about $63 a week, or $3,200 a year in rent.
In the past three months alone rent in capital cities increased by 2.8%, and with vacancy rates remaining well below the average rate of 3% to 5%, rental rates are expected to continue increasing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/03/rent-in-a…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Can Labor solve the housing affordability crisis while lucrative property tax breaks exist?
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)Norma Wannell never imagined she would be homeless.
It was more than a decade ago when Ms Wannell, now 71, had been working in a hospital in community welfare but, after an accident, was forced to go onto the disability pension.
She had been renting a home in Sydney for almost 16 years but had to move out when the landlord decided to sell the property.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-01/solving-the-housing-affor…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Housing affordability.Opinion: Better Renting’s solutions for the ACT’s housing crisis
Staff Canberra Weekly (No paywall)Joel Dignam, executive director of advocacy group Better Renting, shares his views on Anglicare’s Rental Affordability Snapshot, published last week. Once again, the Snapshot showed that housing in the national capital is unaffordable for many, particularly for people on welfare – and is getting worse, even though the ACT has some of the most protective rental legislation in the country.
https://canberraweekly.com.au/opinion-better-rentings-solutions-…
# Hot topic Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Housing market.Mould, rats, bedbugs: These are some of the issues I’ve encountered during my 21 rentals
Rachel Clun The Guardian (No paywall)I have had the misfortune to have lived in three places where my bedroom developed some sort of internal water feature if it rained a bit too hard.
I’ve lived in a lightly converted office above a busy city road. A house where I needed pliers to turn the stove on. There have been roach infestations, rat problems, bedbugs, mould.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/mould-rats-bedbugs-t…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Personal stories.'Honestly, the rental market is putting me off having a baby.'
Elfy Scott Mama Mia (No paywall)About six months ago, I was caught up in a bit of a frenzy of wanting to buy a dog for the first time. I've always been an animal enthusiast and, unfortunately for my partner, I am also quite childish, impulsive, and I was just starting to earn enough money for the first time in my life for buying a puppy to become a legitimate possibility.
# Hot topic Australia, Families, Housing market, Women.Big Bird Backpackers given additional three months to sort accommodation for homeless
Antonia O'Flaherty ABC (No paywall)Vulnerable locals who were set to lose their beds today at an inner-city hostel, sheltering homeless people, have been given a three-month reprieve as authorities race to find alternative accommodation.
About 65 residents at Big Bird Backpackers, which started housing people who were sleeping rough during COVID-19, were set to lose their accommodation today after lease negotiations had broken down and the manager had been given until today to find an extra $400,000 a year to keep the doors open.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-28/vulnerable-tenants-facing…
# Hot topic Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, State Government.‘Zombie’ housing approvals, some buried for up to 40 years, are rising from the dead in NSW
Jordyn Beazley The Guardian (No paywall)Sometimes it’s not until fences appear around bushland that the South West Rocks community knows something is happening, says Larah Kennedy.
Another “zombie” is rising from the dead.
As demand for housing reaches crisis point and land values soar, developments that had laid dormant for years in the New South Wales mid-north coast town are now being revived.
The latest to recommence was approved in 1993. And due to a gap in regulation, it only has to adhere to the environment and planning standards of 30 years ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/30/zombie-ho…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Planning and development, State Government.