Housing

Michael Fotheringham, the director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, says the number of corporate landlords is increasing and should “in theory’” offer more stability to tenants.

“Institutional investors behave slightly differently [to small-scale investors], in that they’re more focused on rental yield and the longer term, and therefore tend to be more friendly to longer leases,” he says. “And because they’re often partners in the development of sites, [the buildings are] often higher quality.”

But because corporate landlords are “regulated exactly as well as small-scale investors”, there is no more protection for renters that would ensure “a guarantee of good behaviour”, Fotheringham says.

The executive director of advocacy organisation Better Renting, Joel Dignam, says Victoria should pull itself into line with the ACT and expand its rental protections to also ban no-grounds evictions after the first 12 months of a lease.

“[Forcing people out of a rental is] really hard to justify for a corporate landlord,” Dignam says. “They’re clearly not moving in, they’re not selling the property.”

The situation is particularly dire for people on low incomes, with a single person on jobseeker having to spend at least 78% of their income to rent a one-bedroom apartment in any capital city. In Sydney, a one-bedroom apartment would on average cost 137% of their $22,100 annual income, making it the least affordable place in the country.

A single pensioner would need to spend 50% of their income to rent in all capitals except Adelaide and Hobart and at least 32% of their income in regional areas.

Here's how policymakers from the past thought about housing and citizenship and economic rights:

   "We consider that a dwelling of good standard and equipment is not only the need but the right of every citizen – whether the dwelling is to be rented or purchased, no tenant or purchaser should be exploited for excessive profit."

That was written in 1944 by the Commonwealth Housing Commission.

[…]

It said we had to get Australians into homes, and those homes should be affordable and adequate — not sites of exploitation for profit.

Does any of that feel familiar?

Well, last week the NSW Housing Minister, Rose Jackson, said we'll have to treat housing as a "fundamental human right" if we're to fix our current housing crisis.

Commonwealth Government engagement in housing was very limited until the war of 1939-45 when the conditions were ripe for its leadership. Reviewing the nation’s social security system, Parliament concluded that housing was important in achieving a fairer society.

The Commonwealth Housing Commission (CHC) in the letter of transmittal accompanying its final report said:

We consider that a dwelling of good standard and equipment is not only the need but the right of every citizen – whether the dwelling is to be rented or purchased, no tenant or purchaser should be exploited for excessive profit (Emphasis in original) CHC 25 August 1944) 

The CHC statement summarised the aspirations that had energised housing reformers as they responded to the privations of the previous half century. The Commonwealth’s development of a public housing program was seen as a way of giving effect to the CHC’s assertion.

This paper charts the departure from that lofty ambition since 1945 revealed as a series of episodes around the periodic Commonwealth State Housing Agreements (CSHAs) from 1945 to 2000

To the Honourable Joseph Benedict Chifley, M.P.,
Minister of State for Post-War Reconstruction.

Sir,

We were appointed on the 19th April, 1943, by you with the following Terms of Reference :

To inquire into and report upon—
(a) the present housing position in Australia ; and
(b) the housing requirements of Australia during the post-war period.

A preliminary examination of our Terms of Reference convinced us that our inquiry would be a
lengthy one, but, at your request, so as to enable certain planning to be undertaken and negotiations with
the States to proceed we submitted two interim reports—the first on 21st October, 1943, and the second
on 31st March, 1944.

We have now completed our investigations and have the honour to present our final report.

Across California, [the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)] is used to fight affordable housing projects. A recent study published by Chapman University’s law school found that from 2019-2021, almost 40% of all CEQA lawsuits targeted housing projects. Jennifer Hernandez, author of that study and an attorney at Holland & Knight’s West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, explained that these lawsuits often hide behind veiled language, such as preserving the “character of a community.” A report she authored in 2022 for a nonprofit economic research group found that nearly half of California’s housing developments faced CEQA lawsuits in 2020.

“Once you define the environment to mean everything,” Hernandez said, “then it’s almost impossible not to find an environmental impact.”

When I was living in Coffs Harbour, string concertos and opera were used to torment anybody who tried to get too comfortable around the boarded-up shops on the short stretch of highway that the council considered to be the town centre.

The City of Bunbury had been playing Hot Potato on loop, in a bid to drive rough sleepers away from the Graham Bricknell Music Shell in the city's centre.

While the city initially defended its use of music as a valid public safety response, the music was switched off on Thursday afternoon after The Wiggles publicly intervened.

"The Wiggles' music is created to bring joy and happiness to children and families around the world," a spokesperson for the band said.

"We are deeply disappointed to hear that it is being used any other way."

[…] 

It's not the first time the council has used music as a deterrent at the venue, with Peter Allen's I go to Rio the song of choice in 2016.

Please nobody tell them about Coles Radio.

People leaving share houses during the pandemic lockdowns in search of more space are touted as one key reason behind the rise in low vacancy rates and high rents.

But community manager at Flatmates.com.au, Claudia Conley, said the trend is reversing.

“The volume of traffic we’ve seen in October we don’t usually see until December, indicating that demand for share accommodation is heating up well ahead of our peak season,” Conley said.

As the housing crisis continues to push people into homelessness, Everybody’s Home is calling for an ambitious plan of making one in 10 dwellings social housing over the next decade.

The latest data from the Queensland Department of Housing reveals that 546 people over the age of 80 are on the waiting list for public housing in the state.

The figures, released in August, show 25,363 applications on Queensland's public housing waiting list.

Around a third of the more than 41,000 people on the waiting list are homeless.

There were 3,608 people over the age of 65 on the public housing register, up from 2,990 in November 2019.

The average waiting time for people with "high" and "very high" needs is 19 months.

Tenant movements have already led to reforms in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, among many other expensive, renter-heavy cities. But one of the most effective tenant unions in the country is KC Tenants, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Over the last four years, KC Tenants and their political arm, KC Tenants Power, have blocked thousands of evictions in Kansas City, won tens of millions of dollars of city funding for long-term affordable housing, and grown their ranks to nearly 10,000 members. Last year, they won a "Right to Counsel" program for renters in Kansas City, ensuring that any tenant facing eviction is guaranteed free legal representation. And in June, four of the six KC Tenant-endorsed candidates for Kansas City City Council (including three incumbents) won their races. Renter Revolt, the latest short documentary from TIME, follows one of the KC Tenants organizers, Jenay Manley, as she campaigns for a City Council seat.