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
Another rental increase could leave Shane, and his two beloved dogs, homeless
Allanah Sciberras 9 News (No paywall)Shane Channing worries another rental increase might leave him and his two dogs homeless.
He has lived in his apartment in Whyalla, about 385 km from Adelaide for about five years while receiving welfare payments.
"I understand a lot of people are worse off than me and most people these days are struggling with the rising cost of living, it's very disruptive to my life and doesn't help my mental health," Channing told 9news.com.au.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/exclusive-australian-rental-cr…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Homelessness.Solar panels could be a lifesaver for public housing tenants grappling with Australia’s soaring energy costs
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)Natalie Rabey doesn’t know how much time she has left. But she knows what she wants to do with it.
“While I’m still breathing, I’d like to get some action on solar panels for people in public housing, because it’s just terrible at the moment,” she says.
The 73-year-old public housing resident has spent more than a decade advocating for improved living conditions for public tenants in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. She says with the cost of living soaring, she has never seen so many people doing it so tough.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/03/solar-panels…
# Hot topic Australia, Utilities water energy internet, Housing affordability, Personal stories.Greens MLA calls on ACT government to regulate short-term accommodation market as rental crisis continues
Georgia Roberts ABC (No paywall)A Canberra Greens politician says short-term accommodation companies like Airbnb and Stayz are keeping Canberrans from finding affordable rentals.
ACT Greens MLA Johnathan Davis brought forward a motion today in the Legislative Assembly, proposing a cap on the number of short-term rentals in Canberra.
In a statement, he said the motion aimed to "acknowledge and respond" to evidence that short-term rental accommodation was negatively impacting the supply and price of long-term rental properties in the capital.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-30/short-term-accomodation-k…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing market, Renting culture.Australian renters face surging costs after end of national affordability scheme
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)‘It’s quite frightening,’ says a tenant who lost her rent subsidy. As debate stalls over the housing future fund, she’s not the only one who’s frustrated.
Ruth Johnson was afraid her rent would surge when it was no longer covered by a federal government subsidy program. She was right.
For three years, Johnson was one of 32,000 renters benefiting from the National Affordability Rental Scheme (NRAS), a Rudd-era program that paid property owners a subsidy in exchange for them keeping rents on new homes below market rate for a decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/31/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, State Government.Inheritance taxes, resource taxes and an attack on negative gearing: how top economists would raise $20 billion per yea
Peter Martin The Conversation (No paywall)Asked to find an extra A$20 billion per year to fund government priorities like building nuclear submarines and responding to climate change, Australia’s top economists overwhelmingly back land tax, increased resource taxes, an attack on negative gearing and extending the scope of the goods and services tax.
The 59 leading economists surveyed by The Conversation and the Economic Society of Australia were asked to pick from a list of 13 options (many of them identified in the government’s 2022-23 Tax Expenditures and Insights Statement) and reply as if political constraints were not a problem.
https://theconversation.com/inheritance-taxes-resource-taxes-and…
# Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Mouldy Rental Horror Story A Warning For Other Renters
Georgie Tunny The Project (No paywall)It's no secret the rental market is a nightmare, with the odds stacked against those desperate for a place to live. But Maddie's mouldy rental horror story shows that if you are prepared to fight, you can still win.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=231824412714221&extid=CL-UNK-U…
# Hot topic, Video Australia, Share houses, Tribunal NCAT, Mould.International students resorting to pitching tents in living rooms as rental shortage bites
Wing Huang ABC (No paywall)When Zoe Jiang was at home in China, packing her bags to stay in Sydney, she did not think to bring an item that would prove essential — a tent.
The 27-year-old finance student arrived in Australia in January, only to find rental prices so high that she had to rely on short-stay accommodation.
At one of the short stays, Ms Jiang had no room of her own. She had to pitch a tent in the middle of the living room so she could have some privacy from her housemates who came home late.
It cost $300 a week in rent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-04/international-students-re…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Housing market, Personal stories, Students.Sydney rental crisis could worsen
Charles Croucher 9 News (No paywall)Sydney's sky high rents are here to stay with warnings the crisis could actually get worse.
https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/sydney-rental-crisis-co…
# Hot topic, Video NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.