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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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
The UK government is balancing its books on the backs of the poor
Jack Monroe The Guardian (No paywall)In a modern-day twist on the age-old riddle: which came first? The cold, damp housing forced on people with the lowest incomes across the private rental sector or the upswing in respiratory illnesses? The lack of funds for a nourishing and balanced diet, or malnutrition and the return of Victorian-era illnesses such as rickets? The deliberate policies of penury and deprivation over the last 12 years of Conservative-led rule, or the emaciated bodies of those left to rot by the ideologues of unnecessary austerity? [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/13/the-uk-gov…
# International, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Families, Health.A real kick in the guts’: elderly couples forced apart as NSW regional aged care homes close
Natasha May The Guardian (No paywall)The closure of the Bulahdelah’s Cedar Wharf Lodge will see elderly couples torn apart, unable to visit each other as limited transport options hinder travel to the New South Wales Hunter region aged care home. Since Anglican Care announced the closure of the town’s only aged care facility this week, some in the community will be left travelling over 75km to the nearest aged care facility in Taree to visit their partner.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/11/a-real-ki…
# NSW, Housing market, Older people.Housing crisis worries advocates who say children are being raised in tents and caravans
Angel Parsons and Cristy-Lee Macqueen ABC (No paywall)Housing groups estimate almost half of the Whitsunday's homeless community are children. The Chugg family from Mackay say raising kids without a home has been worse than a nightmare. Support agencies say there's no permanent solution to the crisis in sight.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-14/housing-crisis-sees-gener…
# Australia, Eviction, Land lease communities, Public and community housing, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Housing market.Higher interest rates ‘priced in’ by the market: Treasurer’s warning to mortgage holders
James Massola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned Australians to brace for higher interest rates, while claiming the Coalition government is best placed to help people cope with the rising cost of petrol, food and mortgages.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/higher-interest-rates-pr…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.The Sydney councils most likely to refuse your renovation plans
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Hunters Hill, Mosman and Strathfield are the hardest areas in NSW in which to get the green light to renovate your home, with development application (DA) refusal rates among the highest in the state.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-sydney-councils-most-lik…
# NSW, Home ownership, Local Government.Outback Queensland residents say banks are making it 'just impossible' to buy a home
Victoria Pengilley ABC (No paywall)Residents in outback towns claim banks are either denying home loans or requiring deposits of up to 50 per cent. They say it's "postcode discrimination" and lending criteria needs updating. The big four banks say it's not happening.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-13/securing-outback-home-loa…
# Australia, Discrimination, Housing market.Is this the worst time in a decade to buy a home?
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Australians believe it is the worst time to buy a home since the global financial crisis, a new survey shows, after property prices surged to record levels and interest rate rises loom. Not since 2008 have Australians had such a pessimistic response when asked whether it was a good time to buy a dwelling in the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment survey.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/is-this-the-worst-time-in-a…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market.‘Hidden’ Homelessness in Northern Ireland
Simon Community, Ulster University (No paywall)The ‘hidden’ homeless – that is, people who may be considered homeless but whose situation is not ‘visible’ either on the streets or in official statistics, continues to receive much less practical focus than other forms of homelessness which are more easily documented.
# Research alert International, Homelessness.