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
Motor homes for flood-affected Lismore residents empty while more temporary housing yet to arrive
Elias Visontay and Tamsin Rose The Guardian (No paywall)Motor homes intended for Lismore residents whose houses were inundated in this month’s floods are lying empty because linen and water sources have not been organised, while housing “pods” promised by the New South Wales government are yet to materialise. The measures were announced as part of a temporary housing package last week, but three weeks on from the flood, thousands of locals are still living in makeshift conditions, either in evacuation centres, the homes of friends and families, paid accommodation and repurposed recreation camps.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/18/motor-hom…
# NSW, Homelessness, State Government.Housing Crisis
Laura Tingle ABC (No paywall)The flood disaster has compounded a rental crisis in regional Australia. Concerns people on home care packages aren't getting the care they need because of ongoing staffing issues. Laura Tingle looks into government grants. (ABC 7.30)
# Video Australia, Housing market, Older people, Regional NSW, Welfare.Making daylight savings permanent
ABC (No paywall)... Plus, around 80 per cent of Australians under 30 don't have contents insurance for their belongings. That's put young renters who lost everything in the recent floods in a really difficult position. As climate disasters become more frequent, what can be done to make sure young people aren't left worse off? (ABC Triple J Hack)
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent.New social housing tenant says Bellambi house riddled with mould, plumbing not connected
Nick Rheinberger and Nick McLaren ABC (No paywall)A woman who moved into a social housing property in Bellambi, north of Wollongong, says the house had a putrid smell, was covered in mould, and months later still has disconnected plumbing. Mich Gray says she was given the keys in May 2021 only to find the house was virtually uninhabitable. She paid to get the carpets cleaned twice, then ripped them up. Ms Gray said it revealed rotten floorboards underneath which the NSW Land and Housing Corporation eventually replaced, but problems with disconnected plumbing in the bathroom remain. "The carpenter got under and said 'your bathroom's not plumbed', and he goes 'there's no waste pipe'," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-17/social-housing-wollongong…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Public and community housing, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT, Mould.Housing associations face £20bn spend on building safety and decarbonisation amid growing debt, Moody’s warns
James Wilmore Inside Housing (Paywall)English housing associations will have to spend an estimated £20bn over the next decade and many will increase their borrowing to cover building safety and decarbonisation costs as current government support “falls short”, Moody’s has warned.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-associations-f…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Climate change, Minimum habitability standards.More housing associations should adopt the gateway model to empower tenants
Carmen Simpson and Denise Fowler Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... At Phoenix, we continually review our approach to ensure that all our residents can be part of decision-making at every level. Resident Pat Fordham set Phoenix up by galvanising her neighbours to campaign for a different kind of housing association in south Lewisham, where residents would have control over the management of their homes and a real stake in the community. ... Our gateway model means that the majority of our board members are residents, and they truly lead our organisation. Our chair and vice-chair are residents and must be so under the terms of our constitution. The community gateway model empowers residents to take a central role in decision-making about the homes they live in and the services they use.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/more-housing-ass…
# International, Public and community housing.Your Property: Wealth boom | Affordability sinks | Reno tips | Floods drive insurance nightmare | SMSFs lean into property
Matthew Elmas, Melissa Jenkins, Sezen Bakan and Rod Myer The New Daily (No paywall)Selection of articles from this year ... some have been included in the 'Housing News Digest', some have not:
The bank of taxpayers? Fresh idea to fix Australia’s soaring housing costs
How home owners can profit from the ‘unbelievable’ property wealth boom
First-time buyers ‘priced out’ as house affordability sinks to new decade low
Get ready to glow – six ways to renovate without breaking the bank
Insurance nightmare for once sought- after riverside homes amid flooding
What experts think about the outlook for the property market during 2022
Self-managed super finds are pouring savings into real estate – here’s why
Housing Inquiry A Wake Up Call for ‘Aussie Dream’
Renee McKeown (Paywall)The Coalition government has blamed planning restrictions, “ballooning” developer contributions and stamp duty for Australia’s housing affordability crisis. The Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue into housing affordability and supply has handed down 16 recommendations. Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue chair Jason Falinski ... denied tax concessions were a major factor contributing to high prices placing the blame on state governments planning restrictions and supply. ... [A] dissenting report by the Labor members of the committee ... outlined the report's narrow focus on supply as the answer to fix all issues and that plenty of evidence had been rejected or ignored by the inquiry.
https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/inquiry-gives-wake-up…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.