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.
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.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Clive Palmer's United Australia Party is promising to cap mortgage interest rates. Can it be done?
Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)With the cost of living surging and interest rates rising for the first time in more than a decade, a cap on mortgage repayments would come as welcome relief for millions of borrowers. But can it be done and who would end up paying for it? Clive Palmer's United Australia Party (UAP) has been spruiking a 3 per cent, five-year cap on mortgage interest rates as the centrepiece of its election campaign. ... But how would it work?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-12/united-australia-party-mo…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.Vote to end older peoples' homelessness
Housing for the Aged Action Group (No paywall)It's just ten days until Australians make a historic choice in the Federal Election, and the potential of achieving our demands of More Housing, More Support, and Less Inequality hangs in the balance.
https://mailchi.mp/64aec79ab65c/older-tenants-voice-summer-editi…
# Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness, Housing market, Older people, Women.Homelessness is common for teens leaving out-of-home-care. We need to extend care until they are at least 21
Phillip Mendes The Conversation (No paywall)Young people transitioning from out-of-home care – whether it’s foster, kinship or residential care – are disadvantaged in many ways. Many have experienced abuse, neglect, family hardship or illness. They may feel long-term grief due to family separation. And while some enjoy stable placements with committed foster or kinship carers, others – particularly those in residential care, supervised by rostered staff – may experience instability as friends or support workers come and go. Most exit the out-of-home care system at 18, or younger, without ongoing support. Unfortunately, however, many such young people quickly encounter homelessness, unemployment and contact with the criminal justice system soon after leaving out-of-home care. Instead of leaving these people to fend for themselves at age 18 (or younger), we need a nationally consistent model of extended care that supports care leavers until age 21.
https://theconversation.com/homelessness-is-common-for-teens-lea…
# Australia, Homelessness, Young people.‘I’d be in jail’: The former foster kids who are rewriting their fate
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For most young people, moving out of home is a rite of passage and a cause to celebrate. But for the 1200 18-year-olds leaving the NSW foster care system every year, it’s a matter of survival. Within the first year of leaving state care, nearly half of former foster children will wind up homeless, unemployed, in jail or pregnant. They are also more likely to suffer poor mental health. [Others] are hoping for a different path. They are among 48 young people living in Foyer Central in Chippendale, a two-year program that social services organisation Uniting started a year ago to help young people transition from the care system to independent living.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-d-be-in-jail-the-former-fo…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Personal stories, Work, employment, Young people.Skipping meals to pay rent
Daniel Ziffer ABC (No paywall)Homeowners have been slugged with an interest rate rise for the first time in more than a decade, but for Australians who rent it's bad news too. The number of rental properties available is at the lowest level in almost 20 years, and rents are soaring. [So] what's driving the nation's rental crisis?
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/abc-news-daily/the-perfect…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Housing market.The investment fund that aims to house marginalised women
Jess McCabe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A new fund aims to provide 4% returns for investors – and help address the housing crisis for women coming out of domestic abuse, homelessness and prison. If you think about charities for women who are escaping domestic abuse, experiencing homelessness or coming out of prison, you’re more likely to think “shoestring budget” than “multimillion-pound investment”. But a new fund is trying to change that, by ploughing £100m of US and UK social investor capital into leaseback housing run by some of those same grassroots women’s organisations. The fund, called the Women in Safe Homes fund, says it will use private property sector expertise and social investment money to fund refuge buildings and move-on accommodation for marginalised women. That includes women who have experienced domestic abuse or homelessness, and those leaving prison. The leases will be taken and services provided by frontline women’s sector organisations with the expertise and reputation – but generally not the finances – to manage their own property portfolios.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-investment-f…
# International, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Women.Does anyone have a plan to fix Australia’s housing affordability crisis?
Laura Murphy-Oates The Guardian (No paywall)With house prices and rents continuing to soar across Australia, the major parties are talking up their respective homebuying policies on the campaign trail, but will these policies actually fix Australia’s housing affordability crisis?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2022/may/10/doe…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Aussie mum living in tent with baby, toddler and husband: ‘Don't know what we’re going to do’
Cindy Tran (No paywall)After applying for more than 40 jobs, a Queensland husband and wife are at their wits’ end as Australia’s rental crisis escalates. Also, watch the video. (7 News) You can read the same story on ABC Everyday in Rachel Rasker's article entitled: 'How the rental crisis forced Sushannah and her family to live in a tent' at: [https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/rental-crisis-forces-sushannah-taylor-family-to-live-in-a-tent/101054352]
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/aussie-mum-forced-to-live-in-tent…
# Video Australia, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories.