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
Queensland heads off crisis talks with doubling of social housing spend
Matt Dennien The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An extra 5600 social and affordable homes will be built by the Queensland government over the next five years in a previously floated move made to preempt crisis talks. But the number is still short of what the sector says it needs. The state government will pour an additional $1 billion into its housing fund, doubling its size and the number of homes built from its investment returns by 2027.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/queensland-heads-off-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, State Government.The IUT Paris declaration – The situation is unbearable
International Union of Tenants (No paywall)The IUT board met in Paris on 27 October 2022. Discussing the situation for tenants in their respective countries, it became evident that tenants across Europe are facing severe consequences of the cost-of-living crisis. Rent increases following indexation coupled to inflation, and the soaring energy prices are making the situation unbearable for low- and middle-income households. Facing similar challenges in Europe, and elsewhere, the IUT board is making this declaration to call for governments to act. [Read IUT's demands]
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/the-situation-is-unbearable-iut-c…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change.Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen review – damning account of deregulation
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)In writing that is clear and moving, Peter Apps shows how decades of rhetoric against ‘red tape’ set the scene for the fire that killed 72 people – and how some lessons have yet to be learned. ... The 30-year pursuit of deregulation in the building industry demonstrably contributed to the killing of 72 people in their homes. It helped lead to the moment when a two-year-old boy died coughing and crying in his mother’s arms while she was on her phone to a firefighter, shortly before she too died.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/30/show-me-the-bodies…
# History International, Public and community housing, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.1 million homes target makes headlines, but can’t mask modest ambition of budget’s housing plans
Hal Pawson The Conversation (No paywall)Housing took centre stage in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s first budget this week. Relatively modest but positive steps were made towards tackling Australia’s worsening shortage of affordable social housing, as well as the broader challenge of housing affordability. But parts of the package cast some doubt on the new government’s analysis of the problem and its ambitions to tackle it. The most substantive aspect of budget housing plans was the confirmation of promised funding for 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes over five years via the new Housing Australia Future Fund. This will involve a A$10 billion, debt-funded, equity investment. Resulting annual returns will be ploughed into building subsidised housing available at below-market rates. ... The real problem here is that the budget and Labor’s election platform focused solely on the supply side of the market. They turned a blind eye to the policy settings that affect housing demand such as migration, tax, social security and financial regulation. It would be hoped the more holistic analysis of Australia’s housing problems and solutions that’s essential to address these issues will underlie the government’s forthcoming National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
https://theconversation.com/1-million-homes-target-makes-headlin…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Ron's Story
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Ron is an active community member, volunteer, and disability pensioner on the Mid North Coast who was issued with a 90-day no-grounds termination notice in mid-2021. He has since sought advice from his local Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service and the Tenants’ Union and has managed to sustain his tenancy. However, his housing circumstances remain rocky and uncertain. Ron has shared his story with the Make Renting Fair campaign in the hopes his story can help show how unfair the system can be for renters, and encourage other renters who are being treated unfairly to reach out for help and campaign for change. (Make Renting Fair)
# NSW, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions, Personal stories, Regional NSW, Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services.Northern Rivers flood buyback scheme offered to those with destroyed and damaged homes
Bruce MacKenzie and Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)Residents in the Northern Rivers region of NSW whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged during unprecedented floods earlier this year may now be able to move to higher ground. A voluntary buyback scheme for about 2,000 homes is one of three options in a $800 million program announced in a joint statement by the state and federal governments on Thursday. "We know that disasters are expected to become more frequent, and more severe due to climate change, and that's why we're working with the NSW government to develop practical solutions to protect lives and livelihoods," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Buybacks will be available for residents in "vulnerable areas where major flooding would pose a catastrophic risk to life". The program will also include assistance for up to $100,000 for house raising and $50,000 for retro-fitting to better building standards. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the package provided options, but warned "we cannot continue to build back as we have in the past". Also, read Alexandra Smith's article entitled: '$800m buyback scheme for home owners in flood-hit Northern Rivers' on 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/800m-buyback-scheme-for-home-owners-in-flood-hit-northern-rivers-20221027-p5btm5.html] Read Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'Flood-prone northern NSW homes to be targeted under $800m buyback scheme' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/27/flood-prone-northern-nsw-homes-to-be-targeted-under-800m-buyback-scheme]. REad Tamsin Rose's article entitled: 'Lismore residents can take their homes with them under $800m buyback program' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/28/lismore-residents-can-take-their-homes-with-them-under-800m-buyback-program]. Read the article by Hannah Ross and Lucy Thackray entitled: 'Home buyback scheme for high-risk flood zones in the NSW Northern Rivers explained' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-29/nsw-northern-rivers-flood-house-buyback-scheme-explainer/101590410].
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-27/northern-rivers-flood-hou…
# NSW, Federal Government, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.You would not believe what questions real estate agents are asking tenants now!!
First Dog on the Moon The Guardian (No paywall)Do you understand that all your personal information will be stored on Lorraine's computer at the estate agent's reception desk with the password on a Post-It next to the keyboard? [Any lots more]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/28/you-would-…
# Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, Landlords and agents.Federal budget promises 1 million affordable homes – but is supply the answer?
Rose Mary Petrass The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Treasurer Jim Chalmers has delivered Labor’s federal budget for 2022, offering a plan for the severe housing pressures and lack of affordable housing across the country. An “aspirational” target of 1 million affordable homes has been announced – but how do we actually get there? And will supply solve the crisis? ... Executive director of non-profit Better Renting, Joel Dignam, said that there needs to be a fundamental shift around the way we view housing. “Instead of fulfilling this responsibility [to deliver affordable housing], this budget dodges it and tries to shift it to the private sector – the same financial institutions that were complicit in creating this problem and that have shown no appetite for doing something meaningful about it. “Our problem is a commodified housing system. Housing has been turned into assets that are bought and sold not for their value as a home, but their value just as an investment.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/housing-2/federal-budget-promises-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Landlords and agents, Planning and development, State Government.