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
The Case for Rent Controls
Kate Shaw The Saturday Paper (No paywall)The global consensus opposing rent controls is quite remarkable, and to explain it, Columbia University-based gentrification theorist Tom Slater uses the concept of agnotology – the study of the intentional production of ignorance. Agnotology questions why humans do not know, treating some kinds of ignorance as not just the absence of knowledge but an ideological objective – think of the debates last century on the hazards of smoking that relied on research funded by the tobacco industry, or the disinformation circulating around action on climate change.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topic/2023/09/09/the…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.The politics of Rising Rents—Rent control verses the free market
Annabelle Quince ABC (No paywall)Rents in Australia have risen sharply during the past three years, and it’s become a political issue. The Greens are demanding the introduction of rent controls, but that idea has been rejected by most federal and state leaders. What do we mean when we talk about rent controls, how effective are they at controlling rising rents and what impact do they have on the rental market
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/rearvision/rear-vision/10…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent.Coffs Harbour's Argyll Estate rezoning proposal scrapped by NSW government over social housing numbers
Nick Parmeter and Charles Rushforth ABC (No paywall)The New South Wales Housing Minister has moved to scrap plans that could have created nearly 500 new homes in Coffs Harbour on the state's mid-north coast, saying the proposal did not deliver enough social housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-07/argyll-estate-rezoning-pr…
# NSW, Public and community housing.Knock down a few, build one: in NSW that counts as a gain for councils’ housing targets
Tamsin Rose and Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Luxury homes built on the site of former unit blocks in Sydney are counting towards council targets for new dwellings, even where they have reduced the available housing stock by displacing multiple properties.
A swathe of interwar apartment buildings in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and inner city face the wrecking ball, to be replaced with modern residences, as Guardian Australia revealed on Wednesday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/08/potts-poi…
# NSW, Planning and development.Hamish's landlord withheld his bond over a single cockroach. He challenged them — and won
Rosemary Bolger ABC (No paywall)Sun-damaged curtains, a single cockroach, bugs in light fittings, dust on the washing line.
These are among the reasons given by landlords making a claim on their outgoing tenants' bonds.
When his landlord made a claim for $650 for cleaning and pest control out of their $2,200 bond, Sydney renter Hamish Croser took them to the tribunal — and won.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/bond-disputes-tenants-renters-la…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Bond.Community responds to Waterloo South: 50 per cent social and affordable
Peter Hehir The South Sydney Herald (No paywall)The 1,000-plus public housing residents of the Waterloo South public housing estate have recently learned of the new government’s plans to redevelop the estate.
Critics point out the challenges of what will be a vastly denser precinct, and the government’s reluctance to guarantee affordable housing in perpetuity. Others are hopeful that developers might deliver above the minimum requirements.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/community-responds-to-waterloo-…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal.Hundreds rally, calling on NSW government to fight housing crisis
Anthony Anderson news.com.au (No paywall)Hundreds of protesters have descended on Sydney Town Hall, calling on the New South Wales government to make more commitments to public housing and fixing rental affordability in their upcoming budget.
The Rally to Fix the Housing Crisis got underway early on Saturday afternoon, with crowd largely consisting of young adults who will likely never own their own home, under current conditions, and struggle to make rent.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/politics/hundreds-rally…
# NSW, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability.Battle over density in Sydney's east: a rash of developments are housing fewer, richer people
Michael McGowan The Guardian (No paywall)Sydney property developers are buying blocks of units, knocking them down and replacing them with fewer luxury apartments or homes, a trend that is reducing dwelling numbers amid a statewide housing crisis.
Numerous developments across inner Sydney and the eastern suburbs have been approved, with more in the planning stage. In most cases interwar low-rise apartment buildings will be demolished to make way for “ultra-luxurious” homes for many fewer residents.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/06/battle-ov…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing affordability, Planning and development.