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
Tennant Creek residents struggle with extreme heat during COVID-19 lockdown without working air conditioning
Samantha Dick and Samantha Jonscher ABC (No paywall)A Tennant Creek woman and public housing resident whose only air conditioner broke the day before the town's COVID-19 lockdown began has been forced to endure days of temperatures approaching 40C as she waits for it to be fixed. ... Lockdowns in Tennant Creek and the remote community of Ali Curung were extended again on Wednesday, until 5pm today. ... She said she first reported her broken air conditioner to the NT's Department of Housing around 8:30am on Friday. Since then, she said she has spoken to several housing and welfare workers who have told her she's "on their list". More than four days later, she's still waiting for a response. ... Simon Quilty, an ANU heat and health researcher based in Alice Springs, said some of the homes in remote parts of the NT were so poorly insulated that it could feel "substantially hotter on the inside than the outside". "Some of these homes can reach 50C, if not more," he said. He said sweltering inside one of these homes without air conditioning was "incredibly dangerous". "Once your core body temperature goes above 42C, you're in the vicinity of severe heat stroke," he said. "You actually start to cook from the inside and you'll die."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-23/tennant-creek-covid-lockd…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Repairs, Coronavirus COVID-19, Minimum habitability standards.Room for one plate: viral TikTok shows off ‘the smallest apartment in New York’
Edward Helmore The Guardian (No paywall)Most New York stories ultimately revolve around property, but one TikTok user has shown the world just how crushing the city’s rental apartment situation has become despite the Covid-19 pandemic. In a 46-second viral clip, AJ Webber offered a tour of his minute, 75 sq ft, low-ceiling West Village dwelling that just barely contains a sink, a microwave, and a loft bed. The short video has now had more than 26m views on the platform. ... Amid the many indignities of New York life, property is among the most contentious. In recent years, landlords have touted the charms of micro-apartments, and the efficiencies of enforcing a no-clutter life.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/22/smallest-apartme…
# International, Rent, Housing market.Why banks are hiking fixed mortgage rates
Rod Myer The New Daily (No paywall)Australia’s major banks are hiking their fixed-term mortgage rates in response to concerns about surging inflation in the US.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/12/23/fixed-ter…
# Australia, Housing market.Poor social housing conditions have been a problem for 30 or 40 years, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Poor social housing conditions have been a problem for 30 or 40 years and the government, councils and housing associations face a “considerable uphill battle” to solve the issue, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said. Speaking in an ITV interview on Tuesday, Justin Welby said the poor housing conditions faced by some social housing tenants, which have recently been highlighted as part of an ongoing investigation by the broadcaster, were “tragically familiar”. When asked about his response to ITV’s investigation, which showed conditions including extreme mould and disrepair, he said he had a “tragic sense of familiarity from places I’d worked, from routine visits for funerals”. “This has been going on for 30 or 40 years,” he added. The archbishop said: “It’s not just a government issue; it needs housing associations, government, local government, landowners. We need a revolution in social housing and affordable housing.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/poor-social-housing-co…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Mould.Crackdown on tax dodging expected to reap $1.2 billion in extra revenue
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The ATO will also focus on investors who did not pay the right amount of capital gains tax or tax on rental properties ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/crackdown-on-tax-dodging…
# Australia, Landlords and agents.Strata sector is too important to be left with yet another minister on training wheels
Jimmy Thomson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When Dominic Perrottet announced his new cabinet last week, it wasn’t the changes at the top that drew most attention from apartment owners and strata professionals. It was one near the bottom. Fair Trading – the cumbersome multi-faceted ministry where strata issues reside – has long been known as a “training wheels” appointment.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/strata-sector-is-too-importa…
# NSW, Strata, State Government.Property in the record books for all the wrong reasons
Martin North (No paywall)Domain published an interesting article before Christmas, looking in particular at the Sydney property market, saying its one for the record books. To which I respond, maybe, but for all the wrong reasons. [Read on] (Digital Finance Analytics)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/property-in-the-record-…
# Video NSW, Housing market.The metaverse is shaping up as the 'next battleground for internet technology'
Dong Xing ABC (No paywall)Taipei resident James Zhou says real estate in the real world is too expensive. And so, because the 27-year-old believes virtual worlds might soon take off, he has decided to get into a different market. ... Digital real estate markets are one aspect of metaverses — virtual worlds where users can work, socialise, shop and game, using augmented and virtual reality. Some metaverse platforms allow users to make purchases with cryptocurrency.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-26/why-are-people-buying-up-…
# International, Housing market.