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Tenants Advice & Advocacy Services have limited availability over the holiday period. The Tenants' Union will operate a Tenancy Advice Hotline from Wednesday 18/12/2024 until Wednesday 8/1/2025 (excluding weekends and public holidays). The hours of operation are 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.
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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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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
Three-dog night? Staying warm in Melbourne on the cheap
Sue Hewitt The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)I don’t need a heater. I have Cara, The Wonder Dog. She is short and rotund but Cara’s not fat, just big-boned. And she’s the best hot water bottle I’ve ever known. Some may say: “Ooh, you can’t sleep with your dog”. Well, I do, and just like my former husbands, she snores and farts and wriggles. But without the morning-after angst.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/three-do…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Pets.How a lockdown coping mechanism led to a brighter family home
Nell Card The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Name just about any colour and you will find it in Jo Glossop’s bright, bold family home in Kelsall, a small village outside Chester. Jo lives here with her husband, James, and their three children, Bella, Annie and Ronnie. The family moved into the 1970s detached property with their first newborn in 2007. “We were looking for a period house with beautiful original features,” Jo recalls, “but we soon realised that we’d get a lot more for our money if we went with this 70s box instead.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/21/how-a-lockd…
# International, Home.Plans to build towers above Central Station will be ‘engineering feat’
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has warned that a window of opportunity to reshape 24 hectares around Sydney’s Central Station will close within the next decade because the rail lines it plans to build over will become too busy for a project of the scale proposed. Plans for buildings up to 34 storeys, plazas and a pedestrian avenue separating towers were unveiled on Monday in a draft blueprint for the site at the southern end of the CBD, which is dominated by Australia’s busiest train station.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/plans-to-build-towers-above-…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.Making a sea-change to regional NSW? That’ll be $1 million
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Half a dozen coastal hotspots and neighbouring towns in regional NSW have a median house price north of $1 million, new figures show, and some have even overtaken Sydney prices. In the regional million-dollar club, the booming property market has priced out locals and, in some cases, forced them to move hours away, an effect experts say will be felt for generations to come.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/making-a-sea-change-to-regi…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.Better planning decisions for Aboriginal communities
Media Release (No paywall)Two new groups have been established to speed up assessments, improve outcomes and unlock economic benefits for Aboriginal communities. The Department of Planning and Environment’s Deputy Secretary of NSW Planning, Marcus Ray said a dedicated service had been set up within the Department of Planning and Environment, to help Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) and Native Title Body Corporates navigate the planning system. “This is an important step in returning to a level of ‘self-determination’ for Aboriginal communities, so they can control the destiny of their land,” Mr Ray said. “Ultimately, the new Aboriginal Planning Concierge will help unlock opportunities on Aboriginal-owned land, by reducing backlogs and accelerating the assessment process.'
https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/News/2022/Better-planning-decisi…
# NSW, Planning and development, Race and ethnicity, State Government.Getting told your rental is 'unliveable'
ABC (No paywall)Does your rental need a bit of repair? We hear from renters who filed a maintenance request, and were then chucked out after being their place was "unliveable". So what are your rights in this situation? (ABC triple j)
# Audio Australia, Eviction.Five ways to buy your first home sooner (without skimping on avocado toast)
Dominic Powell and Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It’s no secret that Australia’s housing market is poorly managed, inequitable, and ridiculously expensive, meaning the dream of owning your own home is a long way off for many young and low-to-middle income Australians. ... That’s where we come in. Today, we are celebrating the launch of our new money podcast 'It All Adds Up'.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/five-ways-to-buy-your-fir…
# Audio Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.The Sydney home owners slashing their price expectations to sell
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)House price discounting in Sydney has reached its highest level in almost three years as sellers are forced to slash prices in the declining property market.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-home-owners-slas…
# NSW, Housing market.