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
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.Climate change hits low-income earners harder – and poor housing in hotter cities is a disastrous combination
Stephen Healy and Abby Nellick Lopes The Conversation (No paywall)Cost of living is a major focus in this election campaign, and yet political leaders have been unacceptably silent on the disproportionate impact of climate change on Australians with low incomes. This is particularly true for Western Sydney, home to around 2.5 million people. Over the last half century, the balance of Sydney’s social housing has been pushed to the west, where it can be up to 10℃ hotter than the breeze-cooled coast. Meanwhile, rapid housing development reduces existing tree canopy daily, further intensifying heat. This situation locks in cycles of disadvantage for decades and generations to come. Even if we limit global warming to 1.5℃ this century, Western Sydney will still experience fewer than 17 days of 35℃ per year by 2090.
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-hits-low-income-earne…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Climate change, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Advocates troubled by big cut to ‘magnificent’ program to house homeless
Cara Waters The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A program introduced during the pandemic to provide shelter for rough sleepers will be cut back in a move that homelessness advocates say could put people back on the streets. The Council to Homeless Persons claimed a $43 million a year cut to the From Homelessness to a Home program in the recent state government budget could see 1440 people miss out on support. Housing Minister Richard Wynne disputed that estimate and said rough sleepers would be supported through other initiatives. Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith said the budget, which provided $75 million for homelessness services overall, offered no clarity on how the From Homelessness to a Home program would be maintained and the newly announced funding had no focus on providing a soft landing for rough sleepers.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/advocates-troubled-by-b…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.