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
Sydney and Melbourne increasingly divided into pockets of home-owners and renters, study finds
Melissa Heagney Domain (Paywall)Sydney and Melbourne are increasingly being divided into clusters of renters and home-owners, with tenants sticking to the inner city while home-owners move to middle and outer-ring suburbs, a new study has revealed. Growing hubs in middle and outer-ring suburbs are diffusing populations away from the CBD, but are more likely to attract home-owners than renters, researchers at the University of Sydney have found.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-and-melbourne-increasingly…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.No fun at the YMCA for Meriton amid legal tussle over Sydney heritage building
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A long-running spat between Meriton and a strata committee over claims the large property company failed to adequately clean and maintain the former YMCA headquarters in central Sydney has ended up in court. After complaints stretching back more than four years, the strata committee terminated Meriton Apartments’ caretaker agreement for the heritage-listed building on Pitt Street last July.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/no-fun-at-the-ymca-for-merit…
# NSW, Strata.Support for stamp duty reforms and shift away from coal, Sydney survey finds
Pallavi Singhai The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Success in handling the COVID-19 crisis has increased optimism across Sydney for the year ahead and may have primed the state for major reforms, including changes to stamp duty and a transition away from coal.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/support-for-stamp-duty-refor…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Tax.Coronavirus stimulus grants lead to record building approvals but industry shortages emerging
Ellen Coulter ABC (No paywall)Elly Hope was not planning for her first home to be a new build, but when the opportunity arose, she grasped it. Ms Hope bought some land at Howrah Gardens, on Hobart's eastern shore, early last year. "It all happened quite quickly because I wasn't looking for land at the time," she said. Read on ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-08/covid-19-stimulus-grants-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Home ownership.Glebe public housing another luxury takeover?
Denis Doherty (No paywall)GLEBE: On November 12, the residents of the 110 units in the public housing complex between Franklyn and Bay Streets in Glebe found letters in their mailboxes saying their homes would be redeveloped – meaning bulldozed and they would be relocated. Read on ... (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/glebe-public-housing-another-lu…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing, Housing market.What happens when all the rent comes due?
Andrew Khouri (Paywall)Millions of Americans, especially low-income tenants, are accumulating debt amid the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening to create a downward financial spiral. (Los Angles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-02-02/rent-debt-worr…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Who owns the land?
Antonia Malchik (No paywall)Private land ownership is a beautiful dream gone badly wrong. It’s time to reinstate the forgotten ideal of the commons. (Aeon)
https://aeon.co/essays/is-it-time-to-upend-the-idea-that-land-is…
# International, History, Home, International.How Recycling Existing Buildings Could Solve the Urban Housing Crisis
Chaseedaw Giles (No paywall)Does the cure for housing insecurity lie in more aggressive reuse of overlooked structures? A growing number of architects and urban activists say 'Yes.' (Metropolis)
https://www.metropolismag.com/sustainability/reuse-urban-housing…
# International, Affordable housing, Heritage listings, Homelessness, Housing market.