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
New commissioner for NSW Fair Trading
(No paywall)The newly-appointed NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann will aim to strengthen protections for consumers in the wake of COVID-19.
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/new-commissioner-for-nsw-fair-…
# NSW, NSW Fair Trading.Where swapping the suburbs for the city pays off
Fleur Morrison Domain (No paywall)Melbourne is bursting back to life after two years of lockdowns and restrictions – and it’s not just the culture luring people back to the city. Property experts say the affordability of apartments in inner Melbourne will also be a powerful incentive for buyers choosing between the city and the suburbs.
https://www.theage.com.au/property/living/where-swapping-the-sub…
# Australia, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Labor’s proposed $10 billion social housing fund isn’t big as it seems, but it could work
John Quiggin The Conversation (No paywall)The centrepiece of Labor’s election program so far is its A$10 billion social housing policy, officially called the Housing Australia Future Fund. In the first five years the fund would be used to build 20,000 social housing properties for people on low incomes - 4,000 of the 20,000 for women and children fleeing violence and for low income older women at risk of homelessness; 10,000 “affordable” housing properties; $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvements of housing in remote Indigenous communities; $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children fleeing violence and for low income older women at risk of homelessness; $30 million to build more housing and fund specialist services for veterans who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Although needed, its a far short of the 100,000 extra social housing units we would have had if social housing been growing in line with total housing in recent years, a gap that is climbing by 4,000 homes a year.
https://theconversation.com/labors-proposed-10-billion-social-ho…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Homelessness.“Living with Covid” – not so easy if you’re in an aged care home!
Sarah Russell (No paywall)What was Scott Morrison’s plan when he decided Australians should “live with Covid”? Did he give any thought to the impact this would have on older people living in aged care homes? Sarah Russell reports on the plight of our most vulnerable. Many aged care homes are not designed to cope with an airborne virus. Without good ventilation, Covid has spread like wildfire in aged care homes. (Michael West Media)
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/living-with-covid-not-so-easy-if-…
# Hot topic Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people.Thousands of residents infected as aged care sector hits ‘crisis’
Lucy Carroll and Mary Ward The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The vast majority of the 500 aged care homes hit by active COVID-19 outbreaks have not received an infection control spot check from the regulator in the past six months, as peak bodies warn isolation rules are forcing residents into “endless lockdowns” and weeks confined to their rooms. ... Former premier and CEO of HammondCare Mike Baird said the ADF could be recruited to help aged care which is facing a “perfect storm” with thousands of furloughed staff and workers on holiday leave across the sector. “The combination of staff off and rising infections is creating an unprecedented challenge and at this stage we are open to any support, including from the ADF,” Mr Baird said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/thousands-of-residents-infected-…
# Hot topic Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Older people.‘Genuinely diabolical’: in-home aged care struggling to meet critical needs under Omicron surge
Sarah Martin The Guardian (No paywall)Home care providers say critical care services, including nursing and medication needs, are being left to family members as they juggle limited staff numbers due to explosive growth in Covid case numbers. Labor says the federal government’s management of the aged care sector has been “diabolical”, with Covid outbreaks in at least 495 aged care homes nationally and a shortage of rapid antigen tests. Integratedliving Australia, which has more than 20,000 clients in regional, rural and remote areas across the eastern seaboard, said about 8% of its in-home care workforce was either infected or in isolation as a result of Covid exposure – up from 6% the previous week. Most of its clients are on commonwealth home support programs but some have higher needs and utilise home care packages and NDIS programs. As some services are scaled back, family members are being asked to take over critical care duties to allow staff to be prioritised where needed.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/13/genuinely…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Older people.A COVID commune’: How share houses are managing positive cases
Rachel Dexter The Age (Paywall)In the past week, Benjamin Nichol has slept in a paddock and an empty house, and will now sleep in a tent until he can go home. The 26-year-old theatre director lives in a share house of four young people in Northcote, and the household, except for him, has come down with COVID-19.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-covid-commune-how-…
# Australia, Share houses, Coronavirus COVID-19.Search for space to WFH sends Sydney rents to record high
Elizabeth Redman and Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Sydney rents have risen to a record high and tenants are forking out $50 a week more than they were a year ago for the median house. A search for more space to work from home during lockdown prompted the rise, with apartment rents rising at only half the pace of houses – up 4.3 per cent in a year, or $20 a week, to a record median of $490. Sydney’s rental market is the second-most expensive in the country, topped only by Canberra, despite last year’s lockdown and its associated job losses. Tenants are in a race for space and have been placing greater importance on their homes due to lockdown ... Joel Dignam, executive director of tenant advocacy group Better Renting, said rent increases were bad news for people who needed somewhere to live, especially if their wages were not growing much, and called for better protections against evictions and steep rent increases.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/search-for-space-to-wfh-sen…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market.