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
Poor people don’t need more food banks, rebates and spin from politicians. We need more income support
Kristin O'Connell The Guardian (No paywall)Stereotypes and political rhetoric about poverty ignore the fact that welfare payments in Australia are obscenely low
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/poor-peopl…
# Australia, Federal Government, Welfare.Political rhetoric insufficient to help Aussies own their own home
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)After two years of being largely confined to them, our homes have become the ultimate symbol of comfort and safety for many. So, it was perhaps no surprise to see unified appeals to the great Aussie dream of homeownership from both Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese in exclusive interviews published in this newspaper over the past week. ... And while the upcoming election looks set to be long on rhetoric about the joys of home ownership, it is also looking decidedly short on policies of real substance to actually stop runaway home values or help achieve higher rates of ownership.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/political-rhetoric-i…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.Towers Rise Over London’s Brick Lane, Clouding Its Future
Aina J Khan The New York Times (Paywall)From London ... Luxury developments and rising rents have ignited concerns about gentrification and displacement in a district that has long been a sanctuary for minority communities. ... The plans have met fierce resistance from some local residents and campaigners. The district’s member of Parliament, Rushanara Ali of the opposition Labour Party, said residents had expressed concerns about the “limited concessions” made by the developers, adding that the Conservative government had reduced “local powers and accountability to local communities” over development. Opponents of the development also argue that it could cause rents and housing prices to rise in what has long been a working-class area.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/world/europe/bangladesh-londo…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Planning and development, Race and ethnicity, Work, employment.Bulimba Barracks buyers should be restricted from making noise complaints, Brisbane Airport says
Lucy Stone ABC (No paywall)Brisbane Airport Corporation is urging Brisbane City Council to restrict future home buyers at the master-planned 855-home Bulimba Barracks site from making aircraft noise complaints. It warns the entire site falls under the airport's flight paths and will endure 60-70 decibel noise daily.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/brisbane-airport-concerns…
# Australia, Home ownership, Local Government, Neighbours.Halls Creek's housing crisis puts further strain on women's shelter
Ted O'Connor ABC (No paywall)A severe housing shortage in a remote town is heaping pressure on a women's shelter, forcing it to accommodate families in crisis for months at a time. It is estimated that up to 80 per cent of people live in overcrowded conditions in Halls Creek, which is also causing widespread social problems across the wider Kimberley. The lack of public housing and affordable rentals means women and children fleeing domestic violence have few options and often end up back living with perpetrators.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/housing-crisis-puts-press…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market.Burrinunga residents hope for help to repair their dangerously run-down housing
Erin Parke ABC (No paywall)Residents of a northern town are pleading for assistance to upgrade housing after two people suffered electric shocks while living in dangerously run-down conditions. Community leaders say the situation at the Burrinunga community in northern Western Australia demonstrates the failure of successive governments to deliver on promised improvements to living conditions at so-called Aboriginal reserves.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/electric-shocks-squatters…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Repairs, Minimum habitability standards.Mortgage growth falls from nutty highs but new homebuyers are still feeling the pain
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)Surge in mortgages during pandemic suggests house prices will continue to grow for first half of 2022 – at least. ... [And why?] the mantra of Australia’s political class – the housing market must not falter. And so two years later in November 2021, the value of new mortgages taken out was 64% higher than it had been two years earlier.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/18/mortgage-v…
# Australia, Housing market.The big idea: could fixing housing fix everything else, too?
Sam Bowman The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... If you could wave a magic wand and fix one modern ill, what would it be? Inequality? Pollution? Intergenerational unfairness? The decline of the high street? Suburban ennui? What if you didn’t have to pick, because there was one social problem that lay at the root of all of them? It’s not exactly news that Britain has a shortage of housing. ... Whatever the solution, the damage done by Britain’s housing shortage cannot be overstated. It disrupts our lives in countless ways. As long as it continues, we are poorer, less equal, more polluting and more unhappy as a result. But, in a way, that’s a reason to be optimistic. It means that the gains from fixing this one problem could be huge – bigger than anyone imagined.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/17/the-big-idea-could…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.