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
Glimmer of hope for first-home buyers in 2022
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)First-home buyers whose new year’s resolution was to get into the property market might have to think again, with experts forecasting another tough year for aspirational homeowners. But there are some signs of hope: more homes are expected to hit the market, giving buyers better choice and potentially less competition, possible interest rate rises that should put downward pressure on unprecedented price growth, and green shoots of wages growth in a tight jobs market.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/glimmer-of-hope-for-first-h…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.‘It’s going to annihilate our view’: War over boarding house
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It’s one of Sydney’s most sought-after buildings, in the heart of the “Paris end” of Macleay Street, Elizabeth Bay. But residents of the Pomeroy apartments are now living in fear that their gleaming harbour views are about to be walled up – literally. That’s because directly behind them on Billyard Avenue, the long-standing landowners are planning to erect a six-storey, 29-room boarding house that would block views from the Pomeroy up to at least the third floor. ... [Mr Pooley] wants to do something for the community by providing more low-cost - though tiny - housing. Tone Wheeler, the architect of the proposed boarding house, said the surrounding neighbours were mostly wealthy people and “they find it very hard to understand that John and Prue’s motivation for this is to provide some lower cost housing”. Not leaving anything to chance, the Pomeroy’s residents have appointed a sub-committee of the owners’ corporation to take up the fight, and hired a lawyer, architect, town planner and heritage consultant.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-s-going-to-annihilate-our…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Housing market, Planning and development.Australian property prices surged 22pc last year, its biggest jump since the 1980s
Samuel Yang ABC (No paywall)Record low interest rates have driven Australian housing prices up 22 per cent last year — its sharpest rise in three decades. The nation's median property price has risen for a 15th straight month. It comes after another 1 per cent gain in December, according to the latest figures from CoreLogic. But prices have been rising at a slower pace each month, as property became increasingly unaffordable for first-home buyers. Last month, Australia's median price rose by 1 per cent to $709,803.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-04/australia-house-prices-co…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Even in a hot market, L.A. won't allow rent hikes for most tenants until 2023
Liam Dillon (Paywall)As part of its COVID-19 rules, the city of Los Angeles is prohibiting rent increases for tenants in rent-controlled buildings. Elsewhere rents have gone up by double digits in recent months. (Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2022-01-03/even-i…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Scottish councils to get extra £16m for ‘rapid rehousing’ of homeless people
James Wilmore Inside Housing (Paywall)Under the Scottish administration’s Rapid Rehousing Transitions Plans, local authorities have introduced five-year schemes to help people facing homelessness find permanent housing quicker. Announced today, the new £16m funding will see £8m awarded in 2022/23 and a further £8m in 2023/24. The package includes £6.5m for the Housing First pathfinder initiative, which helps people with multiple and complex needs. This brings the total spending on rapid rehousing to £53.5m, according to the government.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/scottish-councils-to-g…
# International, Homelessness, Local Government.How racism impacts homeless people
Kate Youde Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... During the first national lockdown last year, one charity found that some young homeless people in London were prevented from accessing support. “You need to be bedded down to then be picked up by an outreach team,” says Jo Bhandal, campaigns, policy and research lead at LGBTQ+ youth homelessness charity Akt. “We were finding disproportionately that some of the young Black men that we support were being moved on essentially [by] police, which was then preventing them from being picked up by StreetLink.” Ms Bhandal says this highlights some of the challenges people of colour, and particularly Black people, can face when experiencing homelessness. Black people are nine times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by the police in England and Wales.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/how-racism-impac…
# International, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.SA Health defends decision to quarantine homeless Aboriginal people in tents on oval
Shari Hams ABC (No paywall)South Australia's health department has defended the decision to quarantine Aboriginal homeless close contacts in tents on a Port Augusta oval. Chinnery Park Oval was set up for the facility in a partnership between SA Health, SA Police and Aboriginal health service Pika Wiya.
A staff member at a sobering-up centre in Port Augusta tested positive to COVID-19 last week, sending about 35 people into isolation. All close contacts isolating at the site have tested negative thus far.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-05/homeless-covid-isolation-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.House dust from 35 countries reveals our global toxic contaminant exposure and health risk
Cynthia Faye Isley, Kara Fry and Marl Patrick Taylor The Conversation (No paywall)Everyone’s home gets dusty, but is yours the same as house dust in China or the US? Researchers around the world have united to capture the world’s first trans-continental data on household dust. ... The study shows it doesn’t matter whether you live in a high or low income country, are rich or poor – we’re all exposed to contaminants via dust. ... Australia has concerning levels of arsenic and lead contamination in house dust. One in six Australian homes exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency acceptable health risk. Arsenic exposure can increase cancer risk and cause problems to respiratory health and immune function. Lead can affect children’s brain and nervous system development, causing behavioural and developmental problems. It’s clear lead mining and smelting activities cause high lead levels in dust for local communities. But the study shows inner city areas are equally affected, commonly from legacy sources like emissions from the leaded petrol era, or peeling lead paint in homes.
https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals…
# Research alert NSW, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, International.