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
‘My life just went downhill’: New housing for older women facing homelessness
Lucy Cormack The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Staring down the barrel of homelessness at 55 after a marriage breakdown and a cancer diagnosis, Bee had lost everything. The once financially stable graphic designer had nowhere to go after living periodically with family, in temporary shared boarding houses and in her car. “My life just went downhill so fast and when you don’t have a job or money, no one is going to rent to you,” said Bee, now 66, who has asked not to use her real name. It is a common tale among women over the age of 55, the largest growing cohort of people experiencing homelessness. ... Responding to the crisis, the NSW government has committed more than $18 million to create 78 new dwellings in Seven Hills, Camden, Airds, Revesby, Merrylands, Peakhurst, Penrith and Maroubra. The sites will be leased to community housing providers and will be subject to a tender process for development and property management. All will exist solely for the use of older women facing homelessness. ... [Women’s Housing Company chief executive officer Debbie ] Georgopoulos said partnering with the government was a welcome step forward but conceded 78 dwellings was “a drop in the ocean. There are almost 5000 single women over 55 on the NSW housing waitlist. We know that will go up this year because of the pandemic ... ”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/my-life-just-went-downhill-n…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, Older people, State Government, Women.‘You’re throwing money away’ and other renting myths – busted
Lauren Vardy (No paywall)As more Australians choose to rent each year, a growing number of people have questions about what’s involved in the renting process. Here are nine myths we regularly hear from renters and the truths behind them. (rent.com.au)
# Australia, Rent.Housing select committee launches inquiry into quality and regulation of social housing
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... An inquiry has been launched into “concerns about the quality of social housing” and the regulatory regime by a cross-party group of MPs. ... The quality of social housing has come under scrutiny over the past year following an ongoing investigation by ITV News into the terrible conditions faced by some tenants.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-select-committ…
# International, Public and community housing, Minimum habitability standards.The pandemic never happened in Sydney’s housing market
Editiorial The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When COVID-19 sent the world into lockdown, pundits warned that things would never be the same again. That may be true in some ways but in the world of the Sydney property market it seems like Groundhog Day. After a brief dip at the start of the pandemic, house prices are again climbing to crazy levels. ... Some fear that the price rises are out of line with reality and with ordinary people’s wages. They say the bubble will inevitably burst, throwing the economy into a deep recession. Somewhat contradictorily, others fear that prices will remain too high and first home buyers will be kept out of the market forever, except for the lucky few who can access loans from the Bank of Mum and Dad.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-pandemic-never-h…
# NSW, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.'Makes my blood boil’: Sydney’s development pain to hit council polls
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)One of Sydney’s most blue-blooded areas has forced housing developments onto the local election battleground after rejecting a NSW government density push in a fiery final meeting before next month’s council polls. Ku-ring-gai Council, which last year sparked a citywide backlash against dwelling targets, has handed the baton to its next elected body to grapple with the prospect of greater development on the leafy north shore by voting to refuse a list of conditions set by the Department of Planning.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/makes-my-blood-boil-sydney-s…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development.Housing Justice in Unjust Cities
(No paywall)The Brisbane-based program Radio Reversal (4ZZZ) has had a series of episodes focused on housing justice:
18 November: Anti-Eviction Defence
11 November: Housing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part III [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-11%2009:00:00]
4 November: Housing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part II [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-04%2009:00:00]
28 October: Hosing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part I [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-10-28%2009:00:00]
https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-18%2009:00:00
# Audio Australia, Eviction, Rent, Housing market.Some Byron Bay landlords are bypassing the usual real estate channels to help locals find rentals ahead of newcomers
Bianca Healy (No paywall)Amid skyrocketing rent, some landlords in the Byron Shire are bypassing agencies and opting to offer properties to private networks through social media and word of mouth. “It’s probably an indicator of just how dramatic the changes to Byron have been…that people are starting to make their decisions in that way,” Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive of the Tenant’s Union said. Regional Australia recorded an annual rate of rental growth of 12.5% as of September 2021, the highest annual growth rate on record.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/byron-bay-landlords-helping-l…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Regional NSW.Renter told to vacate property after requesting repairs
Abbey Halter (No paywall)“As a tenant, what the owner and real estate says goes. It’s dehumanising. It’s like you’re stripped of any human rights,” said a Canberra renter. Anna [not her real name] has been living nightmare as a renter, where she feels her landlord and the real estate agency see her solely as a figure on a bank statement, rather than as a human being. From the very start of her tenancy, she said her landlord has clearly been uninterested in maintaining his asset, telling her, “if you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone”. She said that comment turned out to mean that if she didn’t ask for repairs, he would consider that in the amount of rent charged. (Canberra Weekly)
https://canberraweekly.com.au/real-estate-told-renter-to-vacate-…
# Australia, Eviction, Repairs, Housing market, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.