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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
Economic uncertainty, rising rates and falling house prices, but no time for austerity: Treasurer
Matt Wade and Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)[NSW Treasurer Matt Kean] warned of a likely decline in house prices as the Reserve Bank lifts interest rates to keep inflation in check. “So much of the community’s wealth is tied up in the values of Sydney’s property market, and NSW’s property market ... However, Kean insisted that, despite ongoing financial pressures facing NSW, he would deliver a “reform budget” with a focus on women and the cost of living, particularly housing affordability. ... The budget will also include Premier Dominic Perrottet’s long-touted reforms to stamp duty, which will see the option of opting into a broad-based land tax, most likely limited to first-home buyers.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/economic-uncertainty-rising-…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Tax.The ACT government’s public housing overhaul is seeing hundreds of relocations, but Jenny Field is saying no
Tahlia Roy ABC (No paywall)Jenny Field has developed a deep familiarity with every inch of her home over 40 years. he Canberra widow has managed to remain independent despite being blind and aged in her 90s. She said she can feel her way around her home and garden because her much-loved surroundings have become almost an extension of herself. "Home means everything. I'm very familiar with the house and my front garden area," Jenny said. But the Canberra widow said her O'Connor haven was being threatened after she received an ACT government relocation notice.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-18/blind-woman-faces-relocat…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Older people, Women.Cost of living explorer: see how prices for goods and services have changed in Australian cities
Nick Evershed The Guardian (No paywall)The skyrocketing prices of vegetables and petrol have made headlines over the past few months, with rising prices driving big increases in the cost of living in Australia. However, these aren’t the only goods and services where there have been large price increases. And despite the overall large rise in inflation, there are some things which are now cheaper than they used to be. ... We’ve brought together all the data that goes into Australia’s headline inflation figures, broken down into the most detailed goods and services categories available. This uses the most recent figures , which are for the March 2022 quarter. You can check out 'Rents', 'Electricity' and more across Australia and Sydney here.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2022/ju…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas.Keen to retrofit your home to lower its carbon footprint and save energy? Consider these 3 things
Nimish Biloria The Conversation (No paywall)If you’re anything like me, you’re increasingly working from home, one that was built before energy efficiency measures were introduced in Australia. With temperatures along the east coast plunging and power bills skyrocketing, heating (and cooling) our homes is an energy intensive, expensive affair. Almost 8 million homes across Australia lack sufficient insulation, use sub-par heating and cooling equipment, or are badly designed. Indeed, these 8 million pre-energy rated homes account for 18% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. And research finds 26% of Australians across all housing types can’t stay warm at least half of the time during winter. Retrofitting this housing stock to be more energy efficient is essential to successfully meet Australia’s target of cutting emissions 43% by 2030, while finding comfort in our future of intensifying climate extremes.
https://theconversation.com/keen-to-retrofit-your-home-to-lower-…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Minimum habitability standards.New research reveals massive energy savings from cooler roofs
Andrew Sadauskas The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Implementing cool roofs across Sydney’s residential and commercial buildings would slash 40 per cent of the energy used to cool buildings in summer, new research from UNSW has found.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/new-research-reveals-ma…
# NSW, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Minimum habitability standards.The high-end apartments that cost $2.4 million to buy, or just $100 to rent
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)It’s the brave new world of affordable housing – a luxury apartment block where some people are forking out up to $2.4 million for units and others are paying just $100 a week. The building, the first in NSW to provide homes for private buyers living cheek-by-jowl with affordable housing and social housing tenants all under the same rooftop, has been hailed as a major step in helping solve the housing crisis. Also, read Rose Mary Petrass's article entitled: 'Mixed-tenure development in Wollongong delivers great views – equitably' in 'The Fifth Estate' at: [https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/mixed-tenure-development-in-wollongong-delivers-great-views-equitably/]
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-high-end-apartments-tha…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Regional NSW.Renters return to the office for warmth as power bills skyrocket
Gus McCubbing and Natasha Boddy (Paywall)Port Adelaide renter Shay Leach’s unit is so cold she’s considered buying a reverse cycle air conditioner in a property she doesn’t own. ... [Port Adelaide renter Shay Leach says] “Renters are supposed to have quiet enjoyment, but I don’t see how we’re doing that if we’re freezing and always looking to escape home to stay warm.” ... Joel Dignam, the executive director of community organisation Better Renting, says renters are this winter being hit by a triple whammy of unusually cold temperatures, rising power prices, and inefficient, substandard homes.“It’s striking to think that renters who work from home are enduring home temperatures that no employer would allow in an office environment,” he said. (Australian Financial Review)
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/renters-return-to-the-office-…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Minimum habitability standards.Queensland families on brink of homelessness as calls grow for action to address housing crisis
Rachel Riga ABC (No paywall)Single mum Cheyenne Stephensen is days away from being homeless with her two young children. The 25-year-old's rental in Brisbane's outer-western suburb of One Mile at Ipswich is being sold, so she has to move out by next month. Despite having a good rental history, she's been applying for dozens of properties and can't find a new place within budget on her single-parent Centrelink income. "I had a selling agent tell me the owners wanted to sell and I literally cried because we're in the middle of a rental crisis, I can't work and I have two little kids," she said. ... She's now planning to move into her dad's two-bedroom apartment where she'll sleep on a mattress on the floor with her young kids while the property hunt continues. The mum of two's story isn't unique as Queensland grapples with low private and public rental stock, unaffordable house prices and soaring costs of living.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-18/qld-social-housing-constr…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Welfare, Women.