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
Cost of Australia’s aged care system to taxpayers could double, experts warn
Christopher Knaus The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s aged care system is fast becoming unsustainable due to financial losses faced by aged care providers, the worsening workforce crisis and an ageing population that will double the cost to taxpayers within 40 years, a new report warns.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/17/cost-of-a…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Low income renters face long waits for public housing. What happens to those who can't wait?
Brittany Wentzell (No paywall)From Nova Scotia, Canada ... This story is part of a series from CBC Cape Breton called The High Cost of Getting By. In the series, reporters examine how the rising cost of daily living is affecting people on the island. For the last several months, reporters from our newsroom spoke with people who are struggling because of the high costs of basic necessities like housing, food and home repairs. Tenants say long waits for public housing and bad landlords are keeping them in unsafe housing. (CBC)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/low-income-renters-lo…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs, Landlords and agents.Australia's cold houses could be making us sick
Max Chalmers ABC (No paywall)As the temperatures plummet and energy prices soar you'll be finding it harder to keep your house warm this winter. Experts say you're probably not being helped by the way your house is built, with many Australian homes designed to deal with hot summers, without much thought given to winter. (Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australi…
# Audio Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Local Area Analyses
NSW Land and Housing Corporation (No paywall)The NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) is developing new tools to support its long-term view across our property portfolio. These tools help provide a framework and direction to deliver the LAHC Portfolio Strategy. Our purpose is to ensure we have a housing portfolio that reflects the needs of people across NSW. Place-based strategies, such as the Local Area Analyses and Regional Area Analyses, help us better understand what stock we have, where it is located, its condition, and what opportunities are available for redevelopment, sale or long-term retention. This analysis considers the current state of the portfolio, where opportunities lie, and the changing needs of our community over the next 20 years. Taking a long-term view of local government areas across the State, we are able to make better decisions on how best to manage not only our portfolio but support the communities that live in them.
https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/land-and-housing-corporation/plans-a…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Planning and development.Sydney house prices still 20% above pre-pandemic levels despite rising interest rates
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)House prices in Sydney remain more than 20% above pre-Covid levels despite rising interest rates, as economists warn housing affordability has “never been worse”. ... [Digital Finance Analytics’s Martin North said] “There is almost no possibility of home prices performing again as they have over the last 18 months. At very best they might wobble a bit and go sideways, but the most likely scenario is a fall of between 15-20% over two years. Obviously, it varies by location and property but 15-20% is feasible.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/17/sydney-ho…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.Small apartment buildings should be exempt from planning NIMBYism
Michael Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When your kids grow up, where are they going to live? Being a new dad myself, it is a question that seems particularly uncertain. If you have teenagers, it’s probably only a matter of time until your kids will want their own space. But if they choose to stay in Melbourne where exactly would they be able to afford? With Australia’s ongoing housing crisis, the answer is likely one of three possibilities: the outer suburban fringe, a small city apartment or living with you indefinitely. Virtually everything else has become too expensive for young singles and families to afford.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/small-apartment-buildin…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Planning and development.How a young couple turned a ‘crap’ old caravan into a luxury family home
Nell Card The Guardian (No paywall)In January 2021, Hannah and Dave Bullivant posted a leaflet through every letterbox along the main road in their village. The note asked the residents of Oare in east Kent if they could move their cars on a particular day to make way for a wide load that would be travelling through the village to a field behind their friends’ house. ... Hannah and Dave would buy and renovate a static caravan and live rent-free on their friends’ land, during which time they hope to save for a mortgage deposit. At the end of the two years, the Bullivants would move out and the lodge would become guest accommodation for visiting friends and family. ... “There’s enough separation and space between us, so we don’t ever feel like we’re living on top of each other,” says Hannah. “But we are able to live quite communally – we grow veg and garden together, we eat together a couple of times a week in their house or in the field. The children go to school together, so we share childcare and school lifts. In summer there are lots of kids running around in the field that overlooks the sea and the marsh. It’s idyllic, really.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jun/18/how-a-young…
# International, Land lease communities, Share houses.Poverty can happen to anyone at any time – it’s in my every waking and sleeping thought
Angela Finch The Guardian (No paywall)It started in July 2020. My relationship was over; it was brutal and public. We had no home, no school, no playgroup, and no doctor. We stayed with my parents 200kms away from all our belongings and where our life once was; I do not know what we would do without them. I am now a sole parent to three daughters. I study full-time. I want to be a social worker; but right now, that is on hold. I share mine and my children’s story because it happens in a moment. I tell it because it can happen to anyone, at any time. ... I pay the rent every second week. For the last two months I haven’t been able to pay my rent in full and I know that if I was with a real estate agent, I would have been evicted weeks ago. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/16/poverty-ca…
# Australia, Families, Personal stories, Welfare, Women.