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
Aged care isn’t working, but we can create neighbourhoods to support healthy ageing in place
Melanie Davern and others The Conversation (No paywall)In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed issues and inequities across society. How we plan for ageing populations and older people is one critical issue that has been neglected for decades. ... If Gandhi is right, and the true measure of a society can be found in how we treat the most vulnerable, then Australia has a lot to learn from the 683 deaths from COVID-19 in residential aged care this year. Australia needs a radical shift to policies that better support ageing in place — that is, in their own homes — rather than relying so heavily on underfunded and poorly resourced residential aged care.
https://theconversation.com/aged-care-isnt-working-but-we-can-cr…
# Hot topic Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Older people.A more humane, less costly solution for aged care: stay at home
Pru Goward The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)... living longer at home is a solution to the challenge of caring for our frail elderly that could, for once, please everyone.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-more-humane-less-costly-soluti…
# Australia, Older people, Public and community housing.As a rent crisis looms, councils have a plan – the government should take note
Gaby Hinsliff The Guardian (No paywall)United Kingdom: Buying up cheap housing could provide a safety net to millions who may struggle to pay the bills as the pandemic continues
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/30/rent-crisi…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.I tried, and failed, to solve homelessness in Westminster. Here's what I learned
Robert White The Guardian (No paywall)United Kingdom: For almost seven years, I worked for Westminster city council to “reduce rough sleeping” – a task that was a lot harder than I had originally anticipated... There’s still some way to go, then.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/31/solve-home…
# International, Homelessness, Coronavirus COVID-19.Real Estate Defaults Are Coming. Don’t Waste Them
David Abromowitz and Andrew Jakabovics (No paywall)United States: What the federal government should do to grab the opportunity to create affordable housing. ‘Evidence of tremendous strain on tens of millions of renters across America continues to mount. Among renters in so-called Class C properties—rental properties that cater to lower-wage workers and families hit particularly hard by the pandemic—the percentage paying in full has dropped off from 46 percent to 24 percent since April, with only 12 percent of such renters paying in full on the first of October.
https://shelterforce.org/2020/10/20/getting-ahead-of-the-next-ho…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.Federal Government handed almost $1m in contracts to controversial aged care executive Gary Barnier
Dan Conifer and Michael Atkin ABC (No paywall)The Federal Government handed almost $1 million in contracts to a controversial aged care executive without contacting any other potential suppliers. ... Mr Barnier resigned from Opal in 2017 after 7.30 highlighted Opal's neglect of some residents and raised concerns about his personal behaviour towards customers and their families.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-01/government-gave-almost-$1…
# Australia, Older people, Federal Government.Australian measure of poverty unnecessary because welfare is “comprehensive and targeted”
Luke Hendriques-Gomes The Guardian (No paywall)Australia does not need an official poverty measure because its welfare system is “comprehensive” and “targeted”, according to the social services minister.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/28/australia…
# Australia, Welfare.'Let it die': Whistleblower alleges agency boss didn't act on $20m 'rort'
Carrie Fellner The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The head of a NSW government agency allegedly told a whistleblower not to act after he uncovered a major rort in the building industry bleeding up to $20 million a year in public money because it would make her "look bad" to the minister.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/let-it-die-whistleblower-all…
# Hot topic NSW, Planning and development, State Government.