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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.

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Archive

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Key topics

Know your rights if you rent and are affected by flood - Tenants' Union advises


ABC (No paywall)

What are your rights if you rent and have been affected by the floods? If you can't go back to your home will you get your full bond back? Leo Patterson Ross is the CEO of the Tenants' Union NSW, he discusses how tenants can manage a fair outcome after a natural disaster. (ABC Breakfast)

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/northcoast/programs/breakfast/tenan…

# TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Rent.
 

Kids Under Cover roll out backyard studios in Adelaide for teens at risk of homelessness

Tom Fedorowytsch
ABC (No paywall)

South Australia is rolling out 51 backyard studios to provide a safe space for young people who are homeless or at risk of leaving home. The one- and two-bedroom studios, which have ensuite bathrooms, will be installed in the backyards of families or carers. The SA Government's Homelessness Prevention Fund will contribute $2.3 million to Victorian not-for-profit Kids Under Cover to install the studios, starting in Adelaide's north.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-11/sa-rolls-out-backyard-stu…

# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, State Government, Young people.
 

Thousands more to live on flood plain on Sydney’s fringes if developments allowed to proceed

Peter Hannan
The Guardian (No paywall)

Thousands more people could soon be living on an extensive flood plain on the fringes of Sydney if land already approved for development were to proceed, according to planning officials, councillors and the New South Wales government’s own data. Blacktown city council alone has more than 10,000 homes already planned, with that region’s population expected to swell by half to more than 600,000 over the next two decades. About 425 square kilometres of land lie within the probable maximum flood in the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley, NSW estimates heard on Friday. While the NSW government is pausing new developments while it revises its flood strategy, pressure to open up more land for housing isn’t expected to ease.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/11/thousands…

# NSW, Climate change, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.
 

Emergency declared for NSW with thousands of homes still uninhabitable

Sally Rawsthorne
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

A national emergency declaration for flood-affected communities in NSW was formally declared on Friday night after Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with Governor-General David Hurley on Friday night.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw-enters-state-of-emergency-wi…

# Australia, Climate change.
 

Can we still afford a home among the gum trees?

Stephen Brook
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)

Fig Tree Bend, South Gundurimba, near Lismore, is a little slice of Aussie heaven – a farmhouse by a bend on the Richmond River. Tree-change friends from Sydney bought it, planted tea trees and converted an old dairy into cosy short-stay accommodation, painting it light blue. Now half the old dairy is washed away, along with trees they planted as part of the Richmond Rivers Rescue action group. They didn’t insure for floods – they found the premiums too expensive and now face an uncertain future. ... But to want a home among the gum trees – or equivalent – has been a human desire throughout history. Ask any prime minister of earthquake-prone Japan, or any governor of wildfire-ravaged California, or even some of those who fled Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius blew its top in 79 AD.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/can-we-still-afford-a-home-among…

# NSW, Climate change, Housing market.
 

NSW floods bring housing shortage into sharp focus

Gavin Coote
ABC (No paywall)

With thousands of homes either damaged or destroyed in the Northern New South Wales floods, many locals are still struggling to find temporary accommodation. That could soon start to be eased with the arrival of motor homes and rental assistance. But homelessness organisations are calling for a bank of temporary homes that could be used in future disasters. (ABC AM)

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/nsw-floods-bri…

# Audio NSW, Homelessness, Housing market.
 

The end of public housing in Australia

Rick Morton
(No paywall)

All across the country, waitlists for public housing are on the rise. In the meantime, state governments are selling off public housing estates to developers - doing nothing to reduce these ballooning waitlists. Today, Rick Morton on how governments and developers are exacerbating the housing crisis in Australia - and what it means for people who need a place to live. (7am)

https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/the-end-of-public-housing-in-…

# Audio Australia, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Housing market, State Government.
 

Grantham residents moved to higher ground after record floods, so why haven't others?

Peter Gunders and Georgie Hewson
ABC (No paywall)

The Grantham land swap was the first of its kind after devastating floods in 2011. The Lockyer Valley Regional Council says the scheme cost $30 million. The Mayor says no homes in the new estate flooded in 2022.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-13/grantham-land-swap-a-mode…

# Australia, Housing market, Local Government.
 

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