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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. 

Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.

See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.

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Archive

Publish date
Key topics

No puppy love: post-lockdown lifestyles and cost of living are driving Australians to surrender their pets

Adeshola Ore and Emily Wind
The Guardian (No paywall)

The end of Covid lockdowns and the spiralling cost of living have left animal shelters overflowing, with organisations now forced to host adoption drives and slash their fees in an effort to get more animals out of shelters and into their forever homes. Also, read Charlotte Gore' article entitled: 'Canberra Pet Rescue struggling to find homes for rising number of surrendered animals' at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-20/act-canberra-pet-rescue-abandoned-animal-rehoming/101352740]. Read Rebecca Le May's article entitled: 'Perth pet owners face surrendering or euthanizing dogs and cats in heartbreaking WA rental crisis' in 'Perth Now" at: [https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/perth-pet-owners-face-surrendering-or-euthanizing-dogs-and-cats-in-heartbreaking-wa-rental-crisis-c-7917202].

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/20/no-puppy-…

# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Pets.
 

Constant fear of eviction: how poor people experience life in Somaliland’s growing cities

Jutta Bakonyi, Mustafe Ibrahim Abdi and Nasir M. Ali
The Conversation (No paywall)

Many cities in Somaliland are growing rapidly. Climate change-induced displacement, insecurity, and population growth accelerate urbanisation. Yet, many urban residents live in dire poverty, lack adequate shelter, and have only limited access to basic infrastructures and services. Two recent research projects focused on experiences of urbanisation from the perspective of people living at the urban margins. One explored displacement and security while the other looked at infrastructure access. ... The urban real estate market in Somaliland lacks regulation and transparency. The urban margins are characterised by different types of land ownership and rent arrangements. ... Many poor people in the country’s cities live in constant fear of evictions. Tenure insecurity shapes their experience of the city and limits their access to services, among them water and electricity.

https://theconversation.com/constant-fear-of-eviction-how-poor-p…

# International, Eviction, Rent, Security and safety, Human rights, Planning and development, Squatting.
 

Aboriginal builder training residents to maintain own homes in remote NT communities

Callan Morse
(No paywall)

A Katherine-based Aboriginal building enterprise has won a near $20 million housing tender for the Territory’s remote east. Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation will build and upgrade homes in two Arnhem Land communities, Ngukurr and Rittarangu (also known as Urapunga) over a five-year period as part of the $19.3 million project. Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Debra Aloisi said securing the government contract was critical for the future of the self-funded organisation. (National Indigenous Times)

https://www.nit.com.au/aboriginal-builder-training-residents-to-…

# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Work, employment.
 

Just a List of Cooked Stories About Rent Increases From Reddit

Stephanie Nuzzo
(No paywall)

As everyone in Australia is aware, the rental market is profoundly cooked right now. And if you’re finding stories of people having their rent rates hiked up considerably by landlords are becoming more common, you wouldn’t be alone. Taking to Reddit, we have found a whole lot of people over recent months who have been hit by rental price increases that are eyewatering, highlighting just how many Aussies are being impacted by this messed-up situation. Here are a few we pulled out for you to look over and shake your head in anger at. (Lifehacker)

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2022/08/rent-increase-stories-aust…

# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.
 

NSW must spend big to end the suffering for residents of flood plains

Editorial
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

The scale of the damage from the floods in March and June this year was such that the NSW government could not ignore it and proceed with business as usual. The deluge in the Northern Rivers and western Sydney damaged more than 14,000 properties and completely destroyed 5303 houses. Nine lives were lost. The floods caused $500 million of agricultural losses and $2.7 billion of damage to infrastructure. Something has to be done to prevent a repeat of this disaster, especially given mounting evidence that climate change will increase the severity of flood events in NSW. in the meanwhile, read Elizabeth Redman's article entitled: 'New homes could be built in flood risk zones, town planners warn' in 'Domain' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/new-homes-could-be-built-in-flood-risk-zones-town-planners-warn-20220818-p5basi.html]

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-must-spend-big-to-end-th…

# NSW, Climate change, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.
 

Housing association builds ‘first plastic-free development in Europe’

Grainne Cuffe
Inside Housing (Paywall)

A housing association has built Europe’s first virtually plastic free housing development in the West Midlands. Owned and built by housing association GreenSquareAccord, the £1.3m project in Redditch, Worcestershire, consists of 12 affordable one-bedroom homes built using carefully sourced plastic-free alternatives to reduce environmental impact. The development received more than £800,000 in EU funding from the Interreg North-West Europe funding partnership, a programme that supports innovative and sustainable projects. Also, read Craig Currie's article entitled: 'Our reliance on plastic to build homes must change' in the same publication at: [https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/our-reliance-on-plastic-to-build-homes-must-change-77122]

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-association-bu…

# International, Public and community housing, Climate change, Housing market.
 

New homebuyers enticed into market now face perfect financial storm

Rebecca Trigger
ABC (No paywall)

Digital Finance Analytics principal analyst Martin North said many first time buyers got into the market to take advantage of the government's home-builder incentives. But those incentives also helped drive up prices. "They tended to have bought with very large mortgages they bought at the top of the market, and now there's a pincer movement going on," Mr North said. "Rates are going up, mortgage rates are going up, prices are beginning to slide back. And a lot of them are actually [now] in financial flow difficulty."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/new-home-buyers-enticed-i…

# Australia, Families, Home ownership, Housing market.
 

Fears affordable housing project in Melbourne's west will entrench isolation for new residents

Ahmed Yussuf
ABC (No paywall)

Community leaders in Melbourne's west have raised concerns a plan to convert a slice of land next to a freeway into more than 800 homes could result in social isolation for its new residents, unless major changes are made. ... Development Victoria plans to build 840 homes on the site, 25 per cent of which will be affordable and social housing. Also, see video at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-15/fears-over-affordable-housing-project-in-melbournes-west/14019586]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/social-affordable-housing…

# Video Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Planning and development, State Government.
 

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