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
Residents challenge plans to demolish Melbourne public housing towers
Lyndal Rowlands Al Jazeera (No paywall)Melbourne, Australia – The residents of dozens of public housing towers in the southern Australian city of Melbourne heard the state government was planning to demolish their homes on the news. “Everyone found out from the TV, from the news, with the rest of Victoria,” Sara*, a resident of the first group of towers to be knocked down, told Al Jazeera. Sara’s home, among a cluster of 14-storey towers in the inner-city suburbs of Flemington, North Melbourne and Carlton, will be one of the first to go after the Victorian government last year announced its plan to demolish all 44 of the state’s remaining public housing towers. Built under public housing schemes in the 1960s, the blocks are located in parts of the city closely eyed by property developers as Melbourne’s house prices continue to soar.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/4/23/residents-question-…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.‘It’s not the 19th century’: tenants in new social housing block in Victoria say they go weeks without flushing toilets
Cait Kelly and Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)Tenants in one of Victoria’s newest community housing blocks say they have gone weeks without being able to flush their toilets and months without being able to get a signal for TV, while their concerns over cracks in the building have gone unaddressed. The $140m development in Dunlop Avenue in Ascot Value is the first development to open from the government’s Public Housing Renewal Program – now known as the Big Housing Build – and was heralded as the “most advanced” social housing project in the state when it was completed in March last year. The estate was previously public housing, managed directly by the Victorian government. Since its redevelopment, the 200-dwelling complex offers only community housing managed by third-party not-for-profit provider Evolve and rent-controlled affordable housing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/27/its-not-t…
# Must read Australia, Security and safety, Utilities water energy internet.‘It’s not the 19th century’: tenants in new social housing block in Victoria say they go weeks without flushing toilets
Cait Kelly and Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)Tenants in one of Victoria’s newest community housing blocks say they have gone weeks without being able to flush their toilets and months without being able to get a signal for TV, while their concerns over cracks in the building have gone unaddressed. The $140m development in Dunlop Avenue in Ascot Value is the first development to open from the government’s Public Housing Renewal Program – now known as the Big Housing Build – and was heralded as the “most advanced” social housing project in the state when it was completed in March last year. The estate was previously public housing, managed directly by the Victorian government. Since its redevelopment, the 200-dwelling complex offers only community housing managed by third-party not-for-profit provider Evolve and rent-controlled affordable housing.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/27/its-not-t…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Security and safety, Utilities water energy internet.Our housing system is broken and the poorest Australians are being hardest hit
Rachel Ong ViforJ The Conversation (No paywall)Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like never before. In fact, if you rely on the Youth Allowance, there is not a single rental property across Australia you can afford this week. How did rental affordability get this bad? Several post-COVID factors have been blamed, including our preference for more space, the return of international migrants, and rising interest rates. However, the rental affordability crisis pre-dates COVID.
https://theconversation.com/our-housing-system-is-broken-and-the…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Residents of Eureka seniors' village challenge rent rise — and win
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)VIDEO: Rent rises at one of Australia's largest providers of independent living units for seniors have been found to be "unreasonable" by Tasmania's regulator. Julie has lived in a senior village in Hobart for almost a year. But with the rent going up by $50 a week, she can no longer afford it. "It was just out of the question for me." On an aged pension, it left her with $300 a fortnight for living expenses, so she's moving into social housing, but fears others in the complex don't have that option.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-26/residents-of-eureka-senio…
# Hot topic, Video Australia, Rent.Wollongong pensioner evicted as housing insecurity grows among older people
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)A North Wollongong pensioner says he and his wife will have nowhere to go once they are forced to leave their apartment after their landlord decided against renewing their rental agreement. The situation facing Geoff Beasley and his wife is symptomatic of a wider problem that is pushing a growing number of older peopleinto housing stress and homelessness. Mr Beasley, 73, and his wife were served with a notice in February to vacate their home of about five years, an apartment owned by Presbyterian Aged Care NSW/ACT, by May 19. The notice seen by the Mercury said the tenancy agreement expired in 2020, but gave no further reason for the eviction. However, Mr Beasley – who admitted he was in rental arrears – said he was informed it was a ‘no grounds’ eviction: currently legal in NSW, but which the state government committed to ending.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/8595261/wollongong-pen…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent.The man behind the housing towers heritage bid grew up in them. To him, they’re no eyesore
Royce Millar The Age (Soft Paywall)Melbourne’s public housing towers are often described as eyesores. But not by Christopher Lee, who grew up in the Lygon Street towers in Carlton, after his parents moved to Australia from Vietnam and Hong Kong in the 1970s. He recalls spacious and light-filled rooms; windows facing the internal lobbies and enhancing a sense of neighbourhood; bold, strong architecture; and fond childhood memories. In fact, Lee likes “the flats” so much that he is trying to have one heritage listed – and save it from the state government’s plan to demolish and rebuild the city’s public housing blocks. “I always had a soft spot for the towers,” he says. “I know that there were issues, but at their core, they were a very bold, strong architectural statement and, if they’re looked after, they can be great places to live.”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-man-pushing-for-…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.When Phillipa applied for housing, government lawyers summoned details about her assault
Amber Schultz The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Federal disability agency lawyers have been accused of invading the privacy of an NDIS funding recipient by requesting a decade’s worth of notes from the woman’s psychiatrist when she challenged a housing decision. As the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) attempts to reduce its cost blowout, its legal expenses continue to grow, reaching $72.2 million in 2022-23, up from $58.7 million the year prior. Phillipa Camilleri is a sexual assault survivor with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, an autoimmune disease and mobility issues, who receives funding through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
https://www.smh.com.au/national/when-phillipa-applied-for-housin…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Discrimination.