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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
Melbourne public housing towers demolition to go ahead despite residents’ class action
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)The Victorian government is forging ahead with plans to demolish three public housing towers subject to a class action seeking to stop the redevelopment. The move was described by a lawyer for residents as an example of them being “treated as an afterthought”, after the supreme court ordered the class action could proceed to a two-day trial this month. Inner Melbourne Community Legal said it was notified by the Victorian government solicitor’s office that Homes Victoria – the body that oversees social housing in the state – would sign a contract for demolition works to commence “on or after 19 July”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/18/m…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Women and children 'bearing the brunt' of Tasmanian housing crisis, report finds
Bec Pridham ABC (No paywall)Caught in a violent relationship and a housing crisis, Cody* faced an impossible decision. "It was a choice of either stay or be on the street," she said. "I was stuck, I couldn't get out, I couldn't leave." Living in Tasmania's north-west, she searched extensively for properties, trying to flee with her children. "There was really nowhere to go, single mother with four kids and a dog, no one was willing to look at me," she said. "People say we stay for our kids … that is the truth, because we don't want to uproot them, we don't want to make their lives more miserable than they already are, and we want to protect them.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/women-housing-tasmania-do…
# Must read Australia, Discrimination, Domestic violence, Rent.The future of rental affordability
AHURI (No paywall)Over the last 25 years affordability of rental homes has been steadily eroding. Recent AHURI research found that more households with high incomes are renting – worsening the shortage of affordable private rental homes for very low income households. With this trend set to continue, what does this mean for rental policy in Australia?
# Hot topic, Video Australia, Rent.Two of Trevor’s friends died sleeping rough. He wants Australia’s homelessness deaths investigated
Christopher Knaus and Adeshola Ore The Guardian (No paywall)Trevor Brown feels like he’s slowly drowning. Brown has been homeless, on and off, for more than a decade, after his life spiralled out of control on the back of a failed business, health problems and depression.
Recently, he’s been sleeping on a tent on top of his broken down Subaru in the bush near Cockatoo, just past Melbourne’s easternmost suburbs. He’s given up on rentals. Owning a place of his own is a fantasy.
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/21/t…
# Must read Australia, Discrimination, Security and safety.‘No apologies’: Govt buys 85 beach cabins for social housing
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)The Queensland government has tapped into its $1bn Housing Investment Fund to buy and convert 85 beach cabins into social and affordable housing for struggling families. Housing minister Meaghan Scanlon said the Miles Government helped purchase Barney Beach Accommodation in Gladstone for long-term housing needs – part of a plan to deliver one million more homes including 53,500 for social housing needs.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/no-apologies-govt-buys-85-bea…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.For most young Australians, the dream of owning a home has moved into the realm of fantasy
Rebecca Huntley The Guardian (No paywall)Home ownership has always been deeply embedded in the Australian psyche. For decades, it has been considered the ultimate emblem of financial and personal security and independence. Today, however, the housing market has become a subject of dread for young Australians. They’ve watched housing prices and rents boom at a time when wages have been flat and there are no signs of respite. This is a bit more serious than an unjustified lament from the so-called “smashed Avocado” generation.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/24/yo…
# Hot topic Australia, .NSW to trial prefabricated ‘modular homes’ to address housing crisis
The Guardian (No paywall)Pre-built modular homes will be trialled in New South Wales to boost social housing, as research shows new-home construction targets will not be met. Sites in Wollongong and Lake Macquarie have been selected to trial modular social homes under a state government trial to speed up the delivery of new homes. The government is still working through regulatory barriers for modular housing, which has not been rolled out at scale before.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/22/n…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing.You Can Rent A Claustrophobic Nightmare In Sydney For Just $250 A Week So Things Are Looking Up
Rachel Choy Pedestrian (No paywall)We’re officially in the darkest timeline. A hotel has just advertised a place for rent in Sydney that seems like a dream – $250 a week for your own space, with “cost-effective living” in the heart of the city. The only catch? It’s a CAPSULE. The rental listing on Domain is honestly horrific, with the marketing manager spinning a windowless, claustrophobic nightmare as “private, tech-savvy and secure”.
For the low price of $1086 per month, you also have access to “air ventilation” in your c̶o̶f̶f̶i̶n̶ capsule, and you have the pleasure of sharing a kitchen and bathroom with hostel guests.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/home/sydney-rental-crisis-capsule/?fbc…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.