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
Tenant 'traumatised' by $6k toilet blinder
Alex Druce news.com.au (Paywall)Little Real Estate stoush: Brisbane renter ‘f**king furious’ after being left without shower, toilet and laundry for months. A Brisbane man has told of a toilet blunder in his rental apartment that left him ‘traumatised’ and $6000 poorer – highlighting a huge problem. [Read his story]
https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/little-real-est…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.Victorian rental minimum standards: Market impact one year on and what’s to come
Scott Carbines (No paywall)Beefed-up minimum standards for Victorian rentals have not driven an increase in rents and sales by landlords, according to data released one year on. But they have exposed critical safety risks that are falling on property managers to ensure their clients fix, leading to calls for the government to promote better awareness. (realestate.com)
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/victorian-rental-minimum-stan…
# Australia, Rent, Repairs, Utilities electricity water gas, Minimum habitability standards, Pets, State Government.‘Really worried’: Expansion of government home loan guarantee concerns experts
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)A government decision to extend policies to help first-home buyers break into the housing market has been criticised by property experts for making housing less affordable. Up to 50,000 places each year are now available across three home loan guarantee schemes that allow buyers to snap up properties with deposits as low as 2 or 5 per cent of the purchase price without having to pay lenders’ mortgage insurance. ... But economists said the beefed-up schemes would drive up property prices by boosting demand without boosting supply. ... [Grattan Institute economic policy program director Brendan] Mr Coates said the scheme points to “a lack of ambition” from the government to fix Australia’s housing crisis. He said housing supply needs to be boosted, particularly by reforming planning rules that make it hard to build houses in major cities, and by reforming tax rules that “distort” demand for housing, such as capital gains tax discount and negative gearing. You will find more on this announcement in Colin Brinsden's article entitled: 'New home buyers get deposit assistance' in 'The New Daily' at: [https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/03/28/new-home-buyers-get-deposit-assistance/]
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/03/28/home-loan…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.Budget to give $49.5 million boost for aged care training, but what about wages?
Michelle Grattan The Conversation (No paywall)Tuesday’s budget will provide $49.5 million for aged care training for existing workers and people who want to work in the sector. With aged care beset by a shortage of staff as well as an under-trained workforce the funding, over two years, will be for an additional 15,000 subsidised vocational education and training places. But the sector’s workforce shortages go centrally to the issue of low wages. The Australian Aged Care Collaboration, said ... the royal commission into aged care had called for higher wages, better qualifications, and more time for staff to spend with those they were caring for. “As we approach the 2022 federal election, the government and opposition have both so far failed to commit fully to implement and fund the royal commission’s workforce recommendations”.
https://theconversation.com/budget-to-give-49-5-million-boost-fo…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Analysis: Victoria’s new rental rules, one year on
Karen Taranto (No paywall)Is there any single word more geared to make your skin prickle with disgust? In human evolutionary terms it’s a rational skin-prickling reaction: mould – especially ‘black mould’ – can cause a range of health problems from sniffles to acute asthma, vomiting and even depression. Mouldy food and mouldy socks are bad enough (sorry), but a mould problem in your home can be the real nightmare. Especially, it turns out, if you’re a renter. Read 'Happy birthday' and 'The future'. (Victoria Council of Social Service)
https://vcoss.org.au/analysis/2022/03/victorias-new-rental-rules…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Minimum habitability standards, Mould, No-grounds evictions, State Government, Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services.From the Labor Question to the Housing Question
Ned Resnikoff (No paywall)In California, engorged housing costs have led to mass homelessness, social disorder, and a deepening crisis of political legitimacy; other high-cost regions of the country are not far behind. Left unchecked, the asset economy will continually swell the ranks of the homeless and consign what’s left of the middle class to permanent tenancy.
https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/housing-class-homeless…
# International, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.Domestic abuse: new UK housing plan doesn’t go far enough to keep survivors safe
Cassandra Wiener and Anna Minton The Conversation (No paywall)Domestic abuse survivors in England may find it easier to move away from abusive partners as a result of new proposals from the British government. Under plans, which are out for consultation, the local connection test would be scrapped. ... But while survivors and charities alike have welcomed the new proposal, they caution that the government-imposed cap on the amount of benefits a person can claim, combined with the acute shortage of social housing in London, the south east and parts of the south west, means that even without the test, many domestic abuse survivors will still be unable to move.
https://theconversation.com/domestic-abuse-new-uk-housing-plan-d…
# International, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Women.Aged care sector frustrated but 'not surprised' calls for wage increases ignored in federal budget
Charmayne Allison, Sandra Moon, and Mikaela Ortolan ABC (No paywall)The aged care sector says it is disappointed, but not surprised, desperate calls for increased wages have gone unanswered in the latest federal budget. The Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), made up of six aged care peak bodies, said the budget delivered yesterday leaves workers "on the edge of poverty", and could see more older Australians neglected.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-30/federal-budget-fails-to-d…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people, Women, Work, employment.