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
As floods worsen, some say it is time to rethink how Queenslanders build for the future
Ben Smee The Guardian (No paywall)In the aftermath of the floods that hit Queensland and northern NSW this month, some communities are reckoning with a harsh and climate-fuelled reality: that their homes may become uninsurable or even uninhabitable. Some are questioning whether to rebuild. Others have called for property buybacks.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/19/as-floods…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Bringing huge hardship’: steep rent rises in Queensland force some to leave home towns
Joe Hinchliffe The Guardian (No paywall)Rents have risen by more than $200 a week over the last two years in parts of Queensland, a surge which has forced people from their home towns and into caravans, sheds and poverty.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/17/bringing-…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Homelessness.Where next for the private rental sector?
Amy Norman and Aveek Bhattacharya (No paywall)The past twenty years have seen dramatic shifts in the English housing market, chief among which has been the rise of the private rented sector. Since the year 2000, the share of private renters has risen from 1 in 10 to 1 in 5 households. Private renting has risen in all age groups under the age of 55, but the growth has been particularly strong among under 35s. The causes of this change continue to be debated, but rising house prices (which have been linked to low interest rates and supply shortages) as well restrictions on mortgage credit have all played a role, as have deregulation of the private rented sector and the introduction of buy-to-let mortgages. These changes have led to societal concern and political consternation, with the word “housing” routinely suffixed with the description “crisis”. Read the full report. (Social Market Foundation)
# International, Rent, Housing market.Khan outlines plan for City Hall-owned developer following independent review
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (No paywall)London mayor Sadiq Khan has outlined a long-term plan to create a City Hall-owned developer ... Following an independent review into housing delivery in London, Mr Khan has agreed to take a two-stage approach to creating a City Hall-owned developer. The first stage will involve strengthening existing activities such as land assembly and the second piloting direct delivery.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/khan-outlines-plan-for…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Local Government.Aussies On Reddit Are Sharing The Fkd Amounts Of Rent They Pay Compared To What They Earn
Michael Di Iorio (No paywall)Rent. Apart from being a rock musical with incredibly dark overtones, it’s also the one thing you probably dread the most. Given Australia’s piss-poor relationship with rent prices, I’d be shocked if you weren’t a little spooked by it. According to the 2022 Demographia International Housing Affordability Report, the average house price in Sydney (the capital S stands for Satan) is 15 times the average household income. In fact, Sydney came second on the list of least affordable markets in the world. ... These batshit stats inspired one Reddit user on r/Sydney to ask their internet friends how much they were paying in rent. The answers came from all across NSW and gave a healthy insight into the unhealthy amount we pay our landlords. (Pedestrian)
https://www.pedestrian.tv/online/aussies-rent-prices-income-redd…
# NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Work, employment.Flooded offices of Koori Mail becomes ground zero to help Lismore residents
Nakari Thorpe ABC (No paywall)It started with a single marquee with a box of fruit and vegetables. But more than a fortnight on since floodwaters ravaged the northern NSW town of Lismore, the Koori Mail's makeshift recovery centre has become a full-scale operation. The national Indigenous newspaper has been leading recovery efforts despite losing its entire offices in the devastating floods. For the first time in its three-decade history, it was unable to publish. It's now destroyed two-storey building has become a grassroots ground zero providing basic supplies to medical assistance. The garage is a grocery store filled with donated canned food, baby goods and cleaning supplies, or as Ms Moran, a Dunghutti and Nyangbal/Arakwal woman, calls it "Koori Coles". Locals can also see a doctor on-site, talk to a counsellor in a safe space and even take some much-needed time out with a massage.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-20/koori-mail-offices-recove…
# NSW, .Flood design tips you should know before building or buying a home
Hailey Renault and Rachel Mealey ABC (No paywall)The architecture firm behind Queensland's flood-proofing guide says people who have adopted its building and design recommendations are saving money on their insurance premiums and getting back into their homes faster.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-22/flood-design-tips-you-sho…
# Australia, Housing market.Shepparton's 'everyday' people struggling to find rentals as backlash grows over housing project
Charmayne Allison ABC (No paywall)Mary was still grieving her husband's death when she realised she could no longer afford a home. ... She searched for weeks but was among a rising number of people getting squeezed out of the region's rental market by soaring house prices. Mary eventually found the only accommodation she could afford — social housing. ... Mary, now 89, found her new home in a block of units provided by Wintringham, an organisation supporting elderly and frail men and women who are at risk of homelessness. But a new proposal by Wintringham and Beyond Housing to build 30 social housing dwellings above a council-owned car park in Shepparton's CBD has received widespread backlash from neighbouring residents and businesses.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-24/sheppartons-everyday-peop…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Older people.