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
Why renters hold the power at the polling booth
James O'Doherty Daily Telegraph (Paywall)Crucial marginal seats around the state could be won or lost based on what the major parties are promising to do to help renters.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/renters-could-decide-…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Utilities water energy internet, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change, State Government.Share houses make comeback as rental crisis continues and people lease out spare rooms
Emilia Terzon ABC (No paywall)The demand for share houses is back to pre-pandemic levels as vacancy rates sit at historic lows, according to data from a flatmates listing service owned by property website REA Group.
But the data also shows that in many key suburbs, moving in with a flatmate is not a cheap alternative to living alone. And there are concerns rent will keep rising this year.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-20/share-house-costs-rents-p…
# NSW, Share houses, Housing affordability, Housing market, Sub-letting.Battle for Byron’s soul: the debate over holiday rentals in the NSW coastal town is an existential one
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)Is Byron Bay a tourist town or a town tourists want to visit?
That question was the subtext of two days of public hearings this week by the NSW Independent Planning Commission over a proposal to change the regulations around short-term rental accommodation.
Byron Shire Council has proposed to reduce the number of days short-term accommodation can be made available for rental in large parts of the shire from 180 to 90 days a year.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/25/battle-fo…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Local Government, Planning and development, Short-term holiday letting, Strong communities.Compo push for no-fault evictions of older tenants
Luke Costin The Advocate (No paywall)Some tenants should be paid relocation costs when turfed onto the street through no-fault evictions, a new report into older renters says.
The measure, which one body estimates would be about $4000 each, would protect low-income tenants from the significant cost of eviction and would be an appropriate stop-gap until governments can significantly boost social and public housing stock, Anglicare Sydney says in a report released on Tuesday.
https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/8084321/compo-push-for-no-f…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Homelessness, Older people, State Government.Inquiry lays bare homelessness crisis facing older women in NSW
Heath Parkes-Upton ABC (No paywall)They spent their lives hard at work and raising families, earning less than their husbands but confident of a secure future.
Now, when they're supposed to be enjoying their golden years, data shows thousands of older women are instead struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
Like many in her generation, Marie Sillars was a homemaker who didn't work while raising children.
When her marriage ended at 50, she had little savings and no superannuation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-26/homelessness-older-women-…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Housing affordability, Older people, State Government.Why tenants will decide NSW's next leader
John Rolfe Daily Telegraph (Paywall)Soaring rental costs and and decade-low vacancy rates will see tenants hold the power at NSW’s state election — especially in Western Sydney, new analysis has revealed.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/state-election/wester…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents, State Government.Having a roof over your head is a basic human need. Renting in Australia should be treated like an essential service
Leo Patterson Ross The Guardian (No paywall)Day after day, the calls don’t stop coming in to Tenants Advice services as renters face rent increases alongside the difficulty in finding and keeping a home that lets them live safe, healthy and dignified lives. Advocates across the state are telling me weekly how difficult it is to help everyone who needs it. Calls about rent increases have increased from hundreds each year to thousands. The TikToks and Facebook threads aren’t stopping either.
It’s clear that Australia has a problem with how we provide homes and the prices we are forced to pay. Far from this just being a city problem or a Sydney problem, many of those hardest hit are regional areas facing new rent increases of more than 35% in the last 12 months amid the national vacancy rate staying below 1.5% for an unprecedented 12 months.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/28/having-a-r…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Home, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents, Renting culture.Renting and housing not ‘recognised as an essential service’
Erin Molan Sky News (No paywall)Tenants’ Union of NSW’s Leo Paterson Ross says there aren’t enough homes available for people “at prices that they can afford”.
“And really the reason for that is we haven’t recognised renting and housing as an essential service that we make sure the government has a responsibility for, that industry joins in as a partner to make sure there are homes available for the community when and where they need it,” he told Sky News host Erin Molan.
https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/erin-molan/renting-and-housin…
# TUNSW in the media, Video Australia, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government.