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
Mallacoota housing crisis deepens two years on from Black Summer fires
Rachael Lucas ABC (No paywall)Many people who lost their homes in the fires have used insurance payouts to purchase rental properties already on the market in Mallacoota, pushing the tenants of those properties out of town. Many people who lost their homes in the fires have used insurance payouts to purchase rental properties already on the market in Mallacoota, pushing the tenants of those properties out of town. "Those renters then said, 'Where do I go? I work at the school, I work at the supermarket, I work at the nursing home, I'm looking after elderly people, there's nowhere else'. ... Other renters who lost their homes were ineligible for the same emergency relief and compensation as property owners and were forced to fend for themselves or leave the region.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-03/mallacoota-housing-crisis…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.Fears over asbestos inhalation as Australians clean up after flooding
Alicia Nally ABC (No paywall)As Australians clean up their properties following ongoing flooding across the eastern states, a lawyer has warned they could be inhaling fatal asbestos dust. Gordon Legal partner Victoria Keays said the number of people diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases had been rising. ... "Gas flues, flue parts, imitation brick cladding, external cladding on houses could all contain it."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/warnings-about-asbestos-r…
# Australia, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market.Anthony Albanese offers $2.5 billion plan to ‘fix crisis in aged care’
Michelle Grattan The Conversation (No paywall)Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has made comprehensive reform of aged care the centrepiece of his budget reply delivered on Thursday night. His “plan to fix the crisis in aged care” is costed at $2.5 billion over four years. But this doesn’t include the cost of a wage increase for workers, which a Labor government would urge and fund. Labor’s five point plan promises registered nurses on site 24/7, more carers, a pay rise for the sector’s workers, standards to ensure better food for residents, and greater accountability imposed on providers. Also, read Brett Worthington's article entitled: 'Labor commits to fixing aged care "crisis" as Anthony Albanese sets sights on election' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/anthony-albanese-budget-reply-aged-care-election/100955290]
https://theconversation.com/anthony-albanese-offers-2-5-billion-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Health, Housing market, Older people.Gympie already had a housing shortage, then the floods hit. Now families are homeless and in crisis
Meg Bolton and Owen Jacques ABC (No paywall)Before the first drop of rain fell on the former gold-rush town of Gympie in late February, those hunting for a home were becoming desperate. When the rains came, and the Mary River reached its highest level in more than a century, homes and businesses were destroyed and house-hunters and renters were left with even fewer options. Gympie was the first to be stricken in the south-east Queensland floods. But experts say the housing crisis already gripping Gympie will likely show up across all flood-hit regions already under pressure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/gympie-residents-flood-hi…
# Australia, Homelessness.Sydney entry-level house prices soar, widening the deposit gap
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Sydney’s entry-level house prices have soared 127 per cent in a decade, new figures reveal, leaving first-home buyers struggling to keep up with the growing deposit hurdle. That is only likely to become harder, experts say, as the most affordable homes will soon be fielding extra demand from the expanded Home Guarantee scheme announced in the federal government’s final budget prior to the election. ... UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre research fellow Dr Chris Martin said while the scheme benefits individuals, on the whole it pushes property prices up for first-time home buyers down the track. “I can understand the appeal of a scheme that gives them this extra amount of security they can offer the bank that enables them to borrow a bit more and to get in, to make that further extension of their purchasing power that will get them ahead at the auction and sales,” Dr Martin said. “Having said that, that’s how it works. They set a new higher price … The benefits of these schemes means they get into home ownership quicker than they would, [but] the general effect is it increases prices. “I don’t want to knock people in that situation who have been saving to buy. Renting is too awful, and it’s made that way. It shouldn’t be that way,” he said. Governments should add more supply, including more affordable housing, rather than inflate the property market, he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sydney-entry-level-house-pr…
# NSW, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Why the next four months could see a huge spike in evictions in Wales
Jennie Bibbings Inside Housing (Paywall)From Wales ... A temporary gap in legal protection risks sending the message to landlords that now is the time to push through with evictions ... The Coronavirus Act 2020 ended on 24 March, meaning that eviction notice periods drop back to two months from six. Then, from 15 July, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 finally comes into force, putting notice periods for no-fault evictions back up to six months permanently for new tenants. This yo-yoing of notice periods risks sending a message to private landlords that now is the time to push through with evictions. Shelter Cymru’s casework is already showing a 78% increase in no-fault notices compared with pre-pandemic.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/why-the-next-fou…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, No-grounds evictions.Regions tell Barnaby Joyce they need workers, houses, childcare before budgeted infrastructure
Eliza Borrello, Kath Sullivan and Lucy Barbour ABC (No paywall)Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter welcomed the money but said it could be hard to get the work done given the Pilbara's dire labour, housing, and childcare shortages. "We need so many houses, we're so far behind the eight ball. I mean, what comes first, the chicken or the egg?" he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/regions-need-childcare-wo…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Work, employment.LAHC lands public housing campaign
Andrew Chuter (No paywall)Local community groups are building momentum around a campaign for public housing on a vacant block next to Redfern Oval. The site, at 600 Elizabeth Street, had 18 public housing residences until they were demolished in 2013. It is entirely owned by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC). Since then, various government proposals and consultations have come and gone while the wait list for public housing has grown to over 50,000 people, with a wait time of 5-10 years. Initially LAHC proposed retaining public ownership of the land, but the current plans involve selling it to a private developer in return for only 30 per cent social housing. Action for Public Housing rejects this privatisation and calls for 100 per cent public housing. LAHC says it achieves its objectives of “optimising social housing on the site at no cost to government”.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/lahc-lands-public-housing-campa…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Estate renewal, Housing market.