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
No landlord: Mobile home community finds stability in self-government
Sarah Matusek (No paywall)From the United States ... For some mobile home park residents, a stable home comes with self-government. In one case in Colorado, it brought a stronger sense of community too. (The Christian Science Monitor)
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2022/0110/No-landlord-Mobi…
# International, Land lease communities, Affordable housing, Landlords and agents.If your Queensland rental is being sold, do the new owners have to honour your lease?
Antonia O'Flaherty ABC (No paywall)It's the thing most renters dread — the property owners have decided to sell. How many open homes will you have to clean and leave the house for? Will the new owner honour your lease or will you have to move out? ... In October 2021, rental reforms were passed by the Queensland parliament, with some of the new laws coming into effect last year — such as protections for renters who are experiencing domestic family violence, so they can end a lease with seven days notice. There are other changes which have been announced, but the date when they come into effect has not been confirmed. While landlords will no longer be able to end a lease "without grounds" under the new laws, they will have a raft of new options available for ending a lease, providing they give adequate notice.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/if-your-rental-home-is-being-sol…
# Australia, Rent, No-grounds evictions.Esperance Aged Care Facility worker shortage leaves residents with few options
Emily JB Smith ABC (No paywall)Norman Clark has been living at the Esperance Hospital for five months because the town's only aged care facility is too short staffed to take him. The 95-year-old moved to the town on WA's south coast with his wife Gladys five years ago to be closer to his daughter Elaine Siemer, with the expectation they would move into the Esperance Aged Care Facility if necessary. But despite a new, $7 million wing opening at the aged care facility in 2019 and a growing waitlist, 20 of the facility's 94 beds remain empty due to worker shortages.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/esperance-hospital-aged-c…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people, Work, employment.Loved ones of aged care residents are calling for a greater balance between managing COVID-19 risks and mental health
Ellen Coulter and Laura Francis ABC (No paywall)Lisa Caponio is happy with the care her mum receives at Princeton View Aged Care but is worried about ongoing lockdowns now that Omicron is sweeping the country.
"Mum's been triple vaccinated; the home that she's in has done an amazing job to keep them safe," she said. "But going forward, this is just not sustainable, because these outbreaks are going to continue to happen." ... The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended pay rises for aged care staff to ensure high quality care and to attract more workers, but the government has left the matter to the Fair Work Commission for a decision.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/aged-care-residents-omicr…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Housing market, Older people.Sleep bus will be sanctuary for Sunshine Coast homeless in housing crisis
Jacqui Street ABC (No paywall)Queensland's first sleep bus has arrived to offer emergency beds to homeless people on the Sunshine Coast, as support agencies struggle to help an avalanche of people caught in the housing crisis. The $100,000 bus has been financed from community donations through a campaign that began when homeless man David Collin was killed in his sleeping bag at Maroochydore in 2019. ... Mr McNeill said he had been homeless for nearly five years after quitting his Bunnings job due to ill health. ... Mr McNeill was on the public housing wait list and had been offered rental assistance, but he was unable to find an affordable rental in the current market. He described the bus as "absolutely brilliant" and "a blessing from God".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/sleep-bus-for-homeless-on…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Homelessness.‘That’s a crazy amount of floor area’: Top architect on boom in big homes
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australians have been urged to build smaller homes, opting for what they need instead of what they can get, by the incoming president of the Australian Institute of Architects Shannon Battisson. Australian and American homes are now the biggest on earth: the average floor space of the average new freestanding single family home in both countries now averages 229 square metres.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/that-s-a-crazy…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Digital mortgage battle to erupt as fintechs eye home loans
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As more of Generation Y enters prime home-buying age, it is sparking a new wave of fintech competition in the most lucrative business in Australian banking: mortgages.
For years, banking giants have warned of the threat from technology-based rivals, and much of this has initially focused on payments and consumer credit, such as Afterpay, or Apple’s digital wallet. Now, banks are gearing up for a digital battle in the $1.9 trillion home loan market, as new players eye off tech-savvy younger customers seeking to buy a home.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/digital-mort…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Why do the super-rich treat affordable housing in the Bronx as a lucrative asset class?
Annia Ciezadlo The Guardian (No paywall)In New York, some things never change. If you die in a fire, it’s always your fault. When a fire started in a heater and ripped down the hallway of an apartment building in December 1998, killing four people in a blast of heat and smoke, city officials framed the fire as a tragedy that could have been avoided if people had only remembered to close their doors. “People should close the door behind them when leaving a [burning] apartment,” said then-fire chief Daniel Nigro – now the city’s fire commissioner. ... When a space heater torched a Bronx apartment building on 9 January and killed 17 people, making it the city’s deadliest fire in decades, New York’s brand-new mayor Eric Adams knew exactly what to say: “Close the door, close the door,” said Adams on Monday, the day after the fire. ... Landlords run this town. They always have, and perhaps they always will. So it should come as no surprise that one of Twin Parks’ investors, Rick Gropper, is on the new mayor’s transition team – for housing, no less. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/14/the-bronx-…
# International, Affordable housing.