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
We don’t want Sydney to be ‘based on what your postcode is’
Natassia Chrysanthos The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney has failed to produce enough affordable housing for its people but a renewed focus on its peripheral cities – in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong, as well as western Sydney – will provide a crucial opportunity to fix its inbuilt inequalities, according to the man charged with guiding the region’s future. Geoff Roberts, chief commissioner of the recently renamed Greater Cities Commission, said the pandemic had fundamentally changed Sydney’s future by normalising hybrid work. “We don’t see the CBD model, with everybody schlepping long distances to get to the CBD, as the way that Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong will develop,” Roberts said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/we-don-t-want-sydney-to-be-b…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.What is fuel poverty and how can landlords help?
Inside Housing (Paywall)This year’s cost of living crisis has hit social housing residents hard. Even with prime minister Liz Truss’ energy price freeze, homes will be expensive to heat this winter. Inside Housing’s Give Fuel Poverty a Voice campaign aims to raise awareness of the issue. Alternative link at: [https://www.iut.nu/news-events/what-is-fuel-poverty-and-how-can-landlords-help/]
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/sponsored/what-is-fuel-poverty-a…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas.Tenants evicted after speaking out over privacy concerns
James Stephens 9 News (No paywall)When Grace moved into a rental property in northern Brisbane six months ago with seven other tenants, she realised she was being watched. "It feels so uncomfortable because you can't feel free to leave your room," Grace told A Current Affair. Grace immediately felt uneasy when she noticed security cameras installed in the living room and kitchen of her new home.
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/brisbane-tenants-evict…
# Video Australia, Boarders and lodgers, Bond, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents, Local Government, Students.Ombudsman renews call for government apology to public housing tenants
Rachel Eddie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Barry Berih wants the government to say sorry for detaining him suddenly for weeks when COVID-19 spread through some of Melbourne’s public housing towers, treatment no other Victorian community endured in the pandemic. Trapped in his unit at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne, one of nine towers locked down at the time, he helped organise the community response through Facebook and WhatsApp to make sure families had what they needed – a task he said should have fallen to the government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/ombudsman-renews-call-f…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.Houses floating away as result of storm
ABC (No paywall)Houses are destroyed and some are floating away as [Hurricane] Ian's eyewall hammers southwest Florida.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-29/live-news-blog-the-loop-h…
# Video International, Housing market.As the government gears up for its housing summit, this Queensland mother is losing hope of having a home again
Meg Bolton ABC (No paywall)A mother who has been couch surfing with her five-year-old son on the Sunshine Coast since November, fears she "will never have a home again" after unsuccessfully applying for more than 200 rental properties. I don't feel safe anymore. I feel hopeless; every day is a struggle just not to give up," Ms Guyatt said. "I can't see myself ever getting a house again." Ms Guyatt said the situation has had a detrimental impact on her son's development and prevented her from booking NDIS-funded appointments because she had no fixed address.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-27/housing-crisis-sunshine-c…
# Australia, Disability, Homelessness.Italian prosecutors investigate 18 parties in connection with Milan cladding fire
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)Italian prosecutors have announced that 18 parties connected to the design, construction and management of a tower block which was involved in a devastating fire last August have been investigated for the crime of ‘culpable disaster’. ... In a statement issued earlier this month, the public prosecutor at the Court of Milan called the lack of any deaths in the Torre del Moro fire “miraculous” and said it was “certainly determined by the fact that it was the afternoon of a hot Sunday in late August and most residents of the condominiums were not at home”.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/italian-prosecutors-in…
# International, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Lismore Council estimates $500 million spend on retreat plan for flood-affected homes
Bronwyn Herbert ABC (No paywall)The general manager of Lismore City Council believes some low-lying homes in the flood plain may need to be compulsorily acquired by government — at a potential cost of about half a billion dollars — if people won't move. John Walker says there is community support for state government buybacks and relocation of flood-affected homes, but not everyone wants to go.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-27/lismore-council-housing-s…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, State Government.