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
Budget 2024: NSW adopts holistic focus for First Nations policies
Melissa Coade The Mandarin (No paywall)Any policy for funding and investment that impacts First Nations communities in New South Wales will be subject to a new budget model that aims to take a community-led approach to the assessment, evidence and reporting of government decisions. Together with its First Nations budget model, NSW boasts being the only jurisdiction to regularly report data on Indigenous expenditure. A total of 34.5% of Australia’s First Nations people live in NSW, comprising about 4.2% (approximately 340,000 people) of the state’s overall population. In the 2023-24 budget, 1% ($1.2 billion) of total NSW government expenditure was invested in First Nations specific programs and services.
https://www.themandarin.com.au/247623-budget-2024-nsw-adopts-hol…
# Must read, New policy announcement NSW, Aboriginal renters.Two broken gas meters in seven months before deadly Sydney house explosion at Whalan
Tamsin Rose The Guardian (No paywall)The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has indicated there could be more money on the way for social housing stock and repairs in this month’s budget after a woman died when a townhouse with a history of suspected gas leaks in Sydney’s west exploded. Mhey Yumol Jasmin’s body was found in the rubble on Monday morning after two days of searching at the Whalan social housing complex, where two gas meters were found to be damaged in recent months. The housing minister, Rose Jackson, has vowed to closely monitor the department investigation into the incident after being made aware of reports that residents living in the townhouse complex had “raised the issue of the smell of gas within the last 12 months”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/03/w…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Public and community housing.Northern Rivers homeless struggle after floods with lack of affordable housing, cost-of-living crisis
Joanne Shoebridge ABC (No paywall)A pair of black shoes stands upright against the wall of a public toilet block, drying in the sun. Nearby, a swag and three tents just fit under an open-sided shelter. It would have provided next-to-no protection in the previous night's violent storm but at least there's a concrete slab to keep the bases dry. It's early Saturday morning. I wait for the occupants to wake. A man around 40, rifles through bins looking for bottles and cans to recycle. He tells me he had been living in Lismore in the 2022 floods and had been homeless ever since. He tells me he hasn't been able to get his life on track.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-01/ballina-homeless-floods-l…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Public and community housing.NSW social housing residents say maintenance requests slipping through the cracks
Sarah Gerathy and Millie Roberts ABC (No paywall)For the past eight months, Andrew Grant has noticed the distinct smell of gas next to his home. Every time he goes out for groceries, it wafts in the air, emitted from townhouses in his social housing complex in Sydney's inner-city suburb Redfern. He said neighbours had reported it, but as far as he knew no-one had come out to investigate so far. A townhouse that was part of a social housing complex in Western Sydney exploded earlier this week, killing 30-year-old woman Mhey Jasmine. A gas leak is suspected to be the cause. Neighbours had reported smelling gas in the weeks leading up to the explosion, something Mr Grant said "struck a chord" with him because of his own experience in Redfern. The gas smell is one of a handful of problems he said had been left unaddressed.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-05/nsw-social-housing-lackin…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Repairs, Security and safety.Hundreds more homes ready for NSW families under social housing scheme
Mikala Theocharous 9 News (No paywall)Hundreds of new social housing dwellings are ready for families to move into in New South Wales, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. Approximately 277 previously derelict homes have been renovated to provide social housing for over 700 people. The homes include 165 cottages, 30 townhouses, seven villas and 75 units. A further 13 homes will be ready by the end of June. From a new public home in Sydney's Inner West at Russell Lea, Albanese said the renovation scheme is a way to get families into homes quickly. "Places like this were derelict, at a time where Australians don't have enough homes they were left to waste," he said.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/hundreds-more-homes-ready-for-…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing.Gas leak reported six weeks ago at exploded Whalan housing complex, odour lingers at site
Lachlan Leeming, Inasha Iftekhar & William Tyson Daily Telegraph (Paywall)Emergency crews have returned to the scene of a Western Sydney building explosion that killed a young woman after reports nearby residents could still smell gas. NSW Fire and Rescue crews were at the Whalan scene on Tuesday morning to investigate reports of a gassy odour in the area. Firefighters said they had not yet detected traces of flammable gas with their official gas readers but did confirm they could smell the odour in the air. Jasmin Mhey was visiting her mother’s unit on Waikanda Cres on Saturday afternoon when the top floor of the building suddenly exploded. Ms Mhey, also known as Mhey Yumol Jasmin, was found amid the rubble of the ruined townhouse at Whalan at about 3.20am on Monday, following more than 36 hours of painstaking searching by emergency services crews.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/gas-leak-reported-six…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media NSW, Disasters, Public and community housing, Repairs.MASSIVE ADVOCACY WIN: Ambitious housing targets for local councils
Sydney Yimby (No paywall)Premier Chris Minns today announced a new round of housing targets for local councils- setting out where the government expects the 377,000 new homes to be delivered in NSW over the next five years. This is a really big deal. Housing targets are the single most powerful tool that the state government has to encourage more homes in the places that people want to live. Combined with recent reforms such as the Transport Oriented Development and the Diverse and Well Located Homes programs, these targets will force councils across the city to rewrite their planning rules, helping to deliver the housing that we need to achieve an affordable, sustainable and liveable Sydney. Let’s dive into this announcement in detail.
# Hot topic, New policy announcement NSW, Rent.Revealed: The number of new homes coming to your Sydney suburb
Michael Koziol, Michael McGowan and Anthony Segaert The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Parts of inner Sydney will be required to triple the number of new homes they deliver over the next five years in a long-awaited and ambitious rewrite of the city’s housing targets that shifts the focus from west to east and aims to address the supply crisis. Ku-ring-gai’s five-year target has increased from 3000 to 7600, while Woollahra’s has nearly quadrupled from 500 to 1900. North Sydney, the Northern Beaches and Fairfield have all doubled from 3000 to 5900 each.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/revealed-the-number-of-new-h…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.