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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Understanding what attracts new residents to smaller cities
Akshay Vij, Ali Ardeshiri, Tiebei Li, Andrew Beer and Laura Crommelin AHURI (No paywall)A new report released today, undertaken by researchers from The University of South Australia, RMIT University and The University of New South Wales, examines key drivers of migration flows and settlement patterns across Australia, and identifies key barriers to and opportunities for greater population decentralisation. Migration and settlement patterns in Australia are driven by a combination of factors relating to population size, location, economy, amenities and the environment. In the next 50 years, Australia’s population is predicted to double. Much of this growth is expected to be concentrated in major metropolitan centres that are already struggling to provide the requisite infrastructure needed to support their populations. More dispersed population growth strategies could help alleviate some of these urban pressures. Check out the AHURI News at: [https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/Extreme-weather-events-impacting-where-people-choose-to-live-report]. Check out the AHURI Brief at: [https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/brief/Floods-and-the-future-for-housing-insurance]
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/375?utm_source=Z…
# Research alert Australia, Health, Planning and development.‘Tackling the climate crisis could lead to less social housing,’ warns NHF boss
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Kate Henderson told the NHF’s Housing Finance conference in Liverpool last week that while the financial and development challenges posed by the climate crisis could lead to less social housing, “nobody wants that to happen”. Speaking on Thursday during a session on the need to embed climate and nature-related risks and opportunities in all financial decision-making, the NHF chief and other panellists discussed the need to reduce emissions, fuel poverty and investing in homes and neighbourhoods to improve the health and well-being of residents. Despite the challenges ahead, Ms Henderson described it as “a massive opportunity”.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/tackling-the-climate-c…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Health.‘We’ve got no dignity’: life in poor-quality temporary accommodation
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... New figures obtained by 'Inside Housing' reveal the proportion of homeless families in London placed at risk because of hazards in their temporary housing. Lucie Heath meets the people struggling and explores what councils plan to do about it.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/weve-got-no-dign…
# International, Homelessness, Personal stories.Here's how Australia's housing market was reshaped by the pandemic
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)Australia's housing market has been reshaped dramatically by the pandemic. The decision to close our cities at the start of the pandemic, to cut interest rates to lows never seen before and to pump the economy with stimulus had a huge impact on property prices. It led to a new-found popularity for regional areas, and much stronger preferences for detached housing over units. Government home-buying incentives also changed the composition of buyers, with more first-home buyers entering the market. Eliza Owen, the head of research at CoreLogic, has outlined six of the major impacts on the Australian housing market two years on ... [including] rents surged to record highs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-24/six-ways-pandemic-reshape…
# Australia, Rent, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market, Regional NSW.Report into abuse of aged care residents delayed as bureaucrats discussed ‘strategic narrative’
Tony Shepherd The Guardian (No paywall)A report into thousands of incidents of abuse and neglect of aged care residents that was expected to be completed by the end of last year has not been released, as bureaucrats discuss the need for a “strategic narrative”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/25/report-in…
# Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Victorian Liberal MP Wendy Lovell chastised for saying children in social housing ‘cannot mix’ in wealthy areas
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)The Victorian Liberal MP Wendy Lovell [and former housing minister] has come under fierce criticism for saying there is “no point” in having social housing in wealthy areas “where the children cannot mix with others”. Lovell, who pointed to low-income families’ inability to afford “the latest in sneakers and iPhones” as a reason children would struggle to fit in, made the comments on Wednesday during debate in the state parliament’s upper house about a Greens bill to set a target to end homelessness in Victoria by 2030.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/24/victorian…
# Australia, Public and community housing.Landlords may need to dispose of homes where retrofit is not financially viable
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Housing associations may need to dispose of homes where it is not financially viable to retrofit and make more energy efficient, the financial services director at a large G15 landlord has said. ... Maame-Yaa Bempah, financial services director at Notting Hill Genesis, told Inside Housing’s Retrofit Challenge Summit in London yesterday that there is a need to look at offloading older properties that could cost up to £100,000 to retrofit.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/landlords-may-need-to-…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change.New homelessness strategy launched in Northern Ireland
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has published a new homelessness strategy for the next five years. The ‘Ending Homelessness Together’ strategy covers 2022 to 2027 and has three strategic priorities: prevention, supporting people to make the transition from homelessness, and providing and sustaining settled and appropriate accommodation. It includes a commitment to getting those who have experienced homelessness more involved in service design and delivery. It emerged this month that the number of households in temporary accommodation in Northern Ireland has increased by 74% in the past three years.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/new-homelessness-strat…
# International, Homelessness.