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
Aged care homes star rating system needs transparency overhaul, ombudsman says
Henry Belot The Guardian (No paywall)Families who feel misled by the federal government’s star rating system for aged care homes have welcomed the commonwealth ombudsman’s call for it to be overhauled. The rating scheme was introduced to help families make informed decisions about where they send loved ones, but two former advisers have told the aged care royal commission the scheme is flawed. Almost 150 aged care homes that did not meet minimum standards for safety and care were awarded four-or five-star compliance ratings last year. Some homes with more than three stars did not meet basic standards of accreditation.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/06/aged-care…
# Must read Australia, .Rhonda Fahey evicted out of social housing by the Queensland Department of Housing
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)Rhonda Fahey felt scared and confused when she received a knock on the door from two police officers who had come to evict her into homelessness. Ms Fahey has been sleeping in her car and couch surfing since being evicted from her social housing home in Gaythorne about three weeks ago. Ministerial correspondence provided to the ABC shows Ms Fahey was evicted due to the "unhealthy housing situation" she was living in due to hoarding tendencies. Ms Fahey said she could not understand why the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works evicted her from her home. She said she had written messages to the department on her boarded-up door, begging to be allowed back in.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-31/brisbane-woman-rhonda-fah…
# Must read Australia, Eviction.How an explosion of Airbnb’s in Launceston and Hobart is impacting state’s housing crisis
Stephanie Dalton Mercury (Paywall)Swathes of rental properties are being taken away from residents as the number of short-term rentals in Launceston has ballooned by 60 per cent over two years. According to the state government’s latest figures from the Short Stay Accommodation Act data collection, short-stay platforms like Airbnb and Stayz are removing dwellings from local renters — and affecting future housing supply. The report found a 41 per cent increase in short-term rentals in Hobart over the same period. Tenants’ Union of Tasmania principal solicitor Ben Bartl said it was clear that the increasing numbers of short-term rental properties in Hobart and Launceston disproportionately impacted the availability of homes for local people needing to rent.
https://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/how-an-explosion-of-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Six-storey units vs 'no gentrification': What should Bellambi look like in the future?
Kate McIlwain Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)A discussion about what Bellambi – particularly its beachside waterfront public housing – should look like in the future has been kicked off by the NSW Government. Already, there are diverse views about what should be done as the government tries to address the urgent need for more social housing, aged care and private homes. For instance, the secretary of one local resident group says there should be apartment blocks of four-to-six storeys built to take advantage of the high-value land.But Bellambi Neighbourhood Centre cooridnator Cathy Daly, who has already been a part of the consultation, says it’s most important that existing social housing residents are allowed to stay in the suburb, and are not displaced during or after the renewal.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/8800799/homes-nsw-asks…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.It’s “Open Season” on the Unhoused. We Must Oppose It.
Kelly Hayes Truthout (No paywall)“We don’t have a housing system, we have an unhousing system,” says author and organizer Tracy Rosenthal. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Rosenthal and host Kelly Hayes examine the impacts of the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing municipalities to criminalize the act of sleeping outside. Rosenthal and Hayes also examine the larger terrain of criminalization unhoused people face, why cities are working to expel unhoused populations, and how communities can defend their unhoused neighbors.
https://truthout.org/audio/its-open-season-on-the-unhoused-we-mu…
# Audio International, Public and community housing, Rent.Revised targets come too late for a generation locked out of housing
Social Democrats (No paywall)Revising housing targets on your way out the door is of little use to people struggling to put a roof over their head, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s spokesperson on housing, said: “We have known for some time that the Government’s Housing for All targets were not nearly ambitious enough to meet demand. “Clinging on to these low targets for this long was an act of self-delusion. “Today’s revised targets are an acknowledgement of huge unmet housing need. However, the reality is that people cannot live in a target – there must be a practical plan in place to turn these targets into homes.
https://www.socialdemocrats.ie/revised-targets-come-too-late-for…
# Must read International, Public and community housing, Rent.Singles can’t afford to rent in New Zealand
Rowan Crosby Elite Agent Magazine (No paywall)Singles in New Zealand are not living the ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ life, with new analysis showing that no region in New Zealand meets the affordability threshold for single renters. Ray White Group Senior Data Analyst, Atom Go Tian, has replicated The Economist’s ‘Carrie Bradshaw Index’ for New Zealand, comparing median weekly incomes to rental costs across the country. “Not a single region in New Zealand meets the affordability threshold for single renters,” Mr Go Tian said. “The West Coast Region comes closest to affordability, with a weekly income gap of just $117 between the median income ($1,050) and what’s needed for affordable rent ($1,167).”
https://eliteagent.com/singles-cant-afford-to-rent-in-new-zealan…
# International, Rent.Housing on the ballot: Harris, Trump push different plans for tackling housing affordability crisis
Sally Ho and Alex Veiga ABC (USA) (No paywall)Millions of Americans can’t afford to buy a home or rent a suitable apartment, making housing a central issue for voters in the upcoming presidential election. The biggest single reason homeownership is out of reach for many is there aren’t nearly enough homes for sale to balance out the market between buyers and sellers. The shortfall, which some economists say ranges from 1 million to around 4 million homes, has for the better part of the last decade fueled bidding wars that boosted the median sales price of a previously occupied U.S. home to an all-time high of $426,900 in June — even as home sales have been in a deep slump for more than two years.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/housing-ballot-harris-trump-…
# Must read, Hot topic International, .