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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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Archive
Calls for action on housing issues in SA
Tim Dornin (No paywall)A welfare group has called for urgent action by the South Australian government to deal with the state's housing affordability crisis. The Anti-Poverty Network says the government should massively expand public housing stocks and improve the rights of tenants, including the provision of longer and more secure leases, and the right for renters to keep pets. (Mandurah Mail)
https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/7796587/calls-for-action-o…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.How London's 'iceberg' homes and luxury mega basements represent wealth burrowing underground
Smriti Daniel ABC (No paywall)"We're probably walking above someone's swimming pool now." Roger Burrows [professor with the School of Architecture ...] has become used to walking on "icebergs" on dry land. In many areas of "super-prime" London, where the city's super-rich have their homes, planning restrictions and conservation guidelines mean you can't extend your property laterally or add floors on top. The solution? Dig down. ... With rich owners shrouding their basement builds in secrecy, studying council plans is what allowed Burrows to curate a long list of things you can find in these luxurious basements. There are swimming pools, gyms, cinemas, car museums, Turkish baths, saunas and spas, staff accommodation, panic rooms, golf simulators and wine cellars. They even found one with an artificial beach.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-12/iceberg-homes-mega-baseme…
# International, Housing market.High Court upholds London council’s planning approval for 100% social housing development
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)In a decision handed down on Monday, Judge Justice Fordham ruled that there are no grounds to overturn Lewisham Council’s decision to give planning permission for new homes on an estate in Sydenham Hill despite residents’ objections. It follows a near two-year legal battle from residents on the estate.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/high-court-upholds-lon…
# Legal significance International, Public and community housing.Randwick Barracks accommodation proposal angers residents
Amelia McGuire The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A Department of Defence plan to develop more than 1000 residences at Randwick Barracks in Sydney’s east has angered residents who allege they’ve been deliberately left in the dark.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/randwick-barracks-accommodat…
# NSW, Federal Government, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development.Jump in houses for sale that offer cut-price home energy bills
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)A rising number of homes listed for sale come with energy-efficient features such as solar panels and battery storage, new figures show. A bid to save money on energy bills has driven the uptake of rooftop solar in recent years, along with an increase in time spent at home. Home buyers looking for efficient options have more choice, with more than 101,000 properties with solar panels listed for sale in Australia in the 12 months to May, analysis by real estate agency Ray White shows.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/jump-in-houses-for-sale-tha…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Fixtures - lights, aircon etc, Housing market.Skinny homes for sale – in pictures
Anna White The Guardian (No paywall)From a converted coach house, narrower than a tube carriage, to a one-room-wide home in Edinburgh
https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2022/jul/08/skinny-hom…
# International, Housing market.Shanty towns and eviction riots: the radical history of Australia’s property market
Helen Dinmore The Conversation (No paywall)Skyrocketing property prices and an impossible rental market have seen growing numbers of Australians struggling to find a place to live. Recent images of families pitching tents or living out of cars evoke some of the more enduring scenes from the Great Depression. Australia was among the hardest hit countries when global wool and wheat prices plummeted in 1929. By 1931, many were feeling the effects of long-term unemployment, including widespread evictions from their homes. The evidence was soon seen and felt as shanty towns – known as dole camps – mushroomed in and around urban centres across the country. How we responded to that housing crisis, and how we talk about those events today, show how our attitudes about poverty, homelessness and welfare are entwined with questions of national identity.
https://theconversation.com/shanty-towns-and-eviction-riots-the-…
# History Australia, Eviction, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW.‘Worse than we thought’: Labor says urgent reform needed to fix aged care crisis
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)Aged care in Australia needs “urgent reform as quickly as possible” alongside an overhaul of the funding model to ensure the sector remains financially viable, the new minister for aged care, Anika Wells, says. Describing the current situation for the sector as a “crisis”, Wells said the federal government was already supporting a number of providers to remain open given the current pressures on the system, where the majority of providers are operating at a loss. “It is worse than we thought. Every rock I turn over, it is worse than we thought and I think that is the experience across the board,” Wells told Guardian Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/07/worse-tha…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.