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
‘Housing First’ Pilot Launched in New York City
James Brasuell Planetizen (No paywall)The city has started small with a “Housing First” approach to homelessness—moving 80 people experiencing homelessness into supportive housing in recent months.
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/11/119989-housing-first-pil…
# International, Eviction, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Human rights.‘A landlord’s market’: Little relief for renters amid tight vacancy rate
Kate Burke The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Tenants across Australia are struggling to find a place to call home, let alone an affordable property, as rental vacancy rates languish at record lows, new figures show.
The national rental vacancy rate held at a record low of 0.8 per cent last month, down from 1.5 per cent the previous November, Domain data shows, pushing up competition for available properties.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/a-landlord-s-market-little-…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market.Push to convert thousands of CBD parking spots into green space
Cara Waters The Age (No paywall)Ten thousand parking spots in Melbourne’s CBD would be turned into green spaces under a plan by RMIT researchers who say replacing asphalt with trees could bring people back to the city and kick-start its post-COVID recovery.
The research, published in the journal npj Urban Sustainability on Wednesday, found that if the City of Melbourne converted on-street parking spots into green space it would deliver enough tree canopy to cover 30 MCGs and would help protect the city from flooding and heatwaves.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/push-to-convert-thou…
# Australia, Climate change, Planning and development.Lismore flood victims in grip of housing crisis still as report urges change to cope with disasters
Bruce MacKenzie ABC (No paywall)Kerry Storton reckons she has slept in 20 different beds since her house at Wardell was damaged in the floods that ravaged the Northern Rivers region almost nine months ago.
"I live out of tubs," she said.
"I've stayed with five sets of friends and I've had something like 20 different beds (if I include) house sitting and weekends away."
Read more on the report covered in this article: https://www.tenants.org.au/news/research-northern-rivers-floods-expose-flaws-nsw-housing-system
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-24/lismore-flood-rental-hous…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Research alert NSW, Housing affordability.Tenancy advice requests quadruple in Community Legal Centres
Francisco Silva Law Society Journal (No paywall)Inflation and low tenancy rates are driving up rental prices across the state, causing many to seek help and advice from their local legal centres.
With the rental crisis hitting most suburbs in NSW, local legal centres are seeing a steep rise in enquiries and requests for help from tenants facing prohibitive rent increases. According to industry analysts, rents rose over an average of 10 per cent in the past year, with some suburbs registering increases of up to 30 per cent. It’s a case of a perfect storm, partially driven by some of the lowest vacancy rates on record but also by pressure from higher interest rates and inflation.
https://lsj.com.au/articles/tenancy-advice-requests-quadruple-in…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, Community Legal Centres, No-grounds evictions, Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services.Tenants forced to make sacrifices as Wollongong rents continue to surge: Everybody's Home data
Grace Crivellaro Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Wollongong tenants are paying up to more than $70 more than they did a year ago, new data has revealed - a situation which has choked the budgets of many.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7996414/this-is-how-mu…
# NSW, Housing affordability.‘Own goal’: Plan to clear bushland for new homes divides government MPs
Andrew Taylor and Natassia Chrysanthos The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Two senior government ministers are privately furious about plans to build hundreds of new homes in Sydney bushland, setting up a fresh political battleground for independents seeking to win the Liberals’ heartland northern beaches seats in the March state election.
As the Coalition prepares to campaign on its environmental credentials to stave off the “teal” threat in next year’s poll, a growing stoush over plans to clear bushland and build 450 homes at Lizard Rock in Belrose, progressed under new planning rules championed by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, will give local fuel to an independent campaign.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/own-goal-plan-to-clear-bushl…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.NSW family of seven stuck living in a tent amid housing crisis
Rhiannon Lewin 7 News (No paywall)or four weeks, Patricia Thompson bore the full brunt of Australia’s escalating housing crisis.
She, her partner and their five children were crammed inside a torn, old tent as they waited helplessly for a house to live in.
The tent wasn’t a long-term solution for the family-of-seven, with a strict deadline approaching for them to be evicted from the caravan park they were camping in.
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/nsw-family-of-seven-stuck-living-…
# Video NSW, Eviction, Housing affordability.