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
Mind the gap: why we need to think about housing oversupply when looking to solve undersupply
Andrea Sharam The Fifth Estate (No paywall)While housing under supply puts upwards pressure on prices, oversupply can be disastrous. So where is the Goldilocks zone?
According to current thinking reflecting economics 101 undersupply of housing is the root cause of rising house prices and rents. Addressing undersupply therefore is key to fixing our housing affordability problem.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/mind-the-…
# Australia, Planning and development.Perth real estate agent suspended after racist email to tenants
Natasha Kaul SBS (No paywall)The Western Australia State Administrative Tribunal has suspended a real estate agent's licence for eight months after she sent an email to tenants comparing the cleanliness standards of Australia and India.
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/hindi/en/podcast-episode/perth-r…
# Australia, Discrimination, Landlords and agents.Rick can’t find a rental near work, so he’s commuting six hours a day
Melissa Heagney-Bayliss The Age (No paywall)Rick Gned has applied for about 50 rental properties in Melbourne and has been rejected from all of them.
After being forced to leave his Carnegie rental late last year, the 50-year-old moved in with family in Gippsland and commutes about six hours a day to his job in professional administration in Melbourne’s inner east.
https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/rick-can-t-find-a-rental…
# Hot topic Australia, Starting a tenancy, Housing affordability.It took two years for Scott’s landlord to fix the mould. Now, he’s being evicted
Jim Malo The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Scott Hudson wasn’t even supposed to move into his Chadstone rental. In a sliding doors moment, the tenants selected by the landlord turned down the lease and he and his partner were offered the home instead.
At the time, he felt lucky; now, he’s not so sure.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/it-took-two-years-for-scott…
# Australia, Eviction, Repairs, Mould.How much are short-term rentals really impacting Australia's housing crisis and what are the proposed solutions?
Nadia Daly ABC (No paywall)he rise of short-term holiday rentals like Airbnb and Stayz have changed the way we travel, but they're also blamed for driving up rents and exacerbating housing shortages in cities around the world.
Many places have begun to regulate short-stay rentals to encourage owners to return their properties to the long-term rental market for residents, instead of leasing them to tourists.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-07/airbnb-short-term-rentals…
# Hot topic Australia, Short-term holiday letting.Flawed Foundations
Peter Mares Inside Story (No paywall)"The federal government needs more than conventional wisdom to craft a national housing strategy"
We sit on plastic chairs under strips of fluorescent lighting. Spread across the tables are large sheets of butcher’s paper, sticky notes and a paper cup full of pens. Twenty-one of the thirty people who registered to attend are here in East Geelong to talk about housing.
Greens vow to ‘keep fighting’ on housing as party takes aim at Labor’s help-to-buy scheme
Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)Labor’s “help to buy” shared equity scheme will be the next housing bill in the Greens’ sights in the minor party’s push for a cap or freeze on rent increases.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has vowed to “keep fighting” despite the minor party agreeing to pass Labor’s $10bn housing Australia future fund (Haff) bill in return for a further $1bn for public and community housing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/13/greens-ho…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Campaigns and law reform.Housing Australia Future Fund set to pass parliament after deal with Greens
Georgia Roberts ABC (No paywall)The federal government's key housing policy is set to pass parliament after a deal brokered with the Greens.
Under the proposal, the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) includes 30,000 new and affordable social homes to be built in its first five years.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-11/housing-australia-future-…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.