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
‘The worst I’ve seen’: Country towns recording rises in homelessness
Jewel Topsfield and Benjamin Preiss The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Australia’s country towns are experiencing rising homelessness as rents skyrocket, vacancy rates plummet and people on low incomes find themselves unable to afford a home.
The 2022 Australian Homelessness Monitor reveals a rapid growth in homelessness in regional Australia over the past four years.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-worst-i-ve-seen-country-town…
# Research alert Australia, Homelessness, Regional NSW.Queensland government housing crisis intiatives criticised for lack of 'long-term plan' for those needing social housing
Rachel Riga ABC (No paywall)A highly anticipated report on the outcomes of a state-wide housing summit has been criticised for a lack of long-term solutions to tackle the crisis.
The report contains a series of initiatives the Queensland government will action to address housing strain and supply issues after a summit was held in October with 200 people across all levels of government, the private sector and stakeholder groups.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-01/qld-housing-summit-fundin…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Housing market.ACT government must do more to help Canberra renters
Joel Dignam Canberra Times (Paywall)This week, the ACT government introduced its latest bill to reform tenancy laws. This bill builds on many changes made over the past four years.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8001808/positive-changes-…
# International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.The solution to Australia’s rental crisis is more regulation and fewer landlords
Matt Lloyd-Cape The Guardian (No paywall)When it comes to regulating an industry that provides homes for millions, the wishes of landlords trump safety and security concerns of renters
Victoria has seen rents increase by 20% on average this year, but in some cases by up to 150%. These slightly terrifying statistics were revealed at a recent conference on the state of Australia’s rental market.
Such rental increases should concern policymakers even more than the recent rapid increase in house prices, since they disproportionately impact lower income households who are more vulnerable to housing stress.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/05/the-soluti…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Jump in homelessness as Australia’s rental crisis pushes ‘overwhelmed system to breaking point’
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)Vulnerable people and regional areas hardest hit, report shows, as experts demand urgent action to increase affordable housing
When Brooke escaped domestic violence in 2020, she didn’t expect her biggest problem would be finding secure housing for her and her three children.
Brooke has worked in disability and aged care for almost a decade, and never previously had a problem with rental security. But for two years she’s been in crisis accommodation in Melbourne, facing knock-back after knock-back for a permanent home.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/05/jump-in-h…
# Must read Australia, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.Proposals to tackle Australia's rental crisis
Katherine Gregory ABC (No paywall)The World Today: While much of the interest rate focus is on borrowers, renters are also enduring stress and uncertainty.
Some policy experts say many renters are left feeling insecure and dismissed.
Experts believe the solution is more than just building more housing: instead, they say, renters need immediate protections and the market should be better regulated.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/proposals-to-ta…
# TUNSW in the media, Audio Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Federal Government, Local Government, State Government.Global models of social housing worth looking at: Mercer
Mark Eggleton Australian Financial Review (Paywall)Australia could learn from the experience of the United Kingdom in the social infrastructure space, says Mercer’s Global Head of Infrastructure, Amarik Ubhi.
Citing the UK as one of the pioneers of the public-private partnership model, he says the results have been mixed, with question marks over whether value for money was achieved and the direction the UK government has taken on procuring some of the projects. But overall, there were some good lessons, he says.
https://www.afr.com/companies/infrastructure/global-models-of-so…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing.Folk Economics and the Politics of Housing
Christopher S. Elmendorf, Clayton Nall, Stan Oklobdzija City Journal (No paywall)Political elites don’t agree on much nowadays, but they do see eye to eye on two broad points: housing is too expensive, and restrictive land-use regulations make it so. New York’s leftist firebrand Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants cities to liberalize zoning; so, too, does Indiana’s conservative Senator Todd Young, whose YIMBY Act would encourage zoning reform. Opinion leaders across the political spectrum have joined the bandwagon, from the socialists at Jacobin to the libertarians at Reason, from the institutional liberals at the New York Times to their conservative counterparts at National Review.
https://www.city-journal.org/majorities-are-skeptical-of-zoning-…
# Research alert International, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development.