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
Perth homeless shelter Boorloo Bidee Mia less than a quarter full while rough sleepers remain on streets
NIcholas Perpitch ABC (No paywall)Homeless woman Shonna Brown is preparing to spend Christmas under a stairwell near the Mitchell Freeway on-ramp, as the McGowan government defends its decision to keep new accommodation for rough sleepers less than a quarter full. Communities Minister Simone McGurk said she made no apology for housing fewer than 30 homeless people at Boorloo Bidee Mia since it opened in August, despite there being room for 100 adult rough sleepers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-08/perth-homeless-on-streets…
# Australia, Homelessness.Australian house prices will keep rising and it’s truly depressing for those hoping to get into the market
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)In news that unfortunately will shock no one who has thought about buying a house at any point in the past year or so, the latest residential property price figures from the bureau of statistics show that in the past 12 months prices have risen by record levels. ... It truly is a depressing story for those hoping to get into the housing market or have hopes that their kids might one day be able to afford a place of their own. ... Housing affordability has been utterly destroyed in the past two years, and while house prices are expected to not rise as fast as they have in the first nine months of this year, they look set to continue to grow for many more months to come – and certainly at a rate faster than do wages.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/dec/09/aus…
# Hot topic Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Government ‘cover-up’ of dangerous cladding ‘one of the major scandals of our time’, lawyers tell Grenfell Inquiry
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A “prolonged period of concealment” of the dangers of combustible cladding driven by an “unbridled passion for deregulation” and deference to industry lobbying ranks as “one of the major scandals of our time”, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry heard today. In shocking opening statements delivered by lawyers acting for the bereaved and survivors today, governments stretching over a 30-year period were accused of repeated “deliberate cover-ups” of the risks of dangerous cladding.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-cover-up-of…
# International, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.How Councils can influence affordable housing
.id:informed decisions (No paywall)We can all agree there is a housing crisis in Australia. This ebook looks to the future and asks what can Councils do to improve housing affordability and support those who are struggling in the housing market.Get your copy of 'How Councils can influence affordable housing' here. [Check this out]
https://content.id.com.au/ebook-2021-how-councils-can-influence-…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Housing market, Local Government.‘I hope it was a wake-up call’: Welfare service honoured for intervention at Hambleton House
Jewel Topsfild The Age (Paywall)Months into the pandemic, Jane Barnes, the chief of staff of Wintringham, Australia’s largest aged care provider for the homeless, received an unusual phone call. There had been an outbreak of COVID-19 at Hambleton House, a home in Albert Park for people living with disabilities and mental illness, and all the residents had been evacuated. The Department of Health and Human Services had found an unlikely temporary home for them – a backpacker hostel in St Kilda – and urgently needed an organisation to take on their care. Ms Barnes – who last week won the Beth Thomson lifetime achievement award at the 2021 Victorian Homelessness Achievement Awards – is not afraid of a challenge.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/i-hope-it-was-a-wake…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Disability.Advocates say housing delays, lack of support services to blame amid WA homeless crisis
Nicolas Perpitch ABC (No paywall)The pain still runs deep for Claudette Smith as she remembers her cousin Jennifer, a homeless Noongar woman found dead outside Perth train station on August 12. The two grew up as sisters. ... Community groups have praised the government's $875 million spend on new social housing, but are calling for a similar significant investment in intensive support services for homeless people.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-06/advocates-social-housing-…
# Australia, Homelessness, Personal stories, Women.Danielle Wood: here’s a few home truths for the older generation, about the young
Jan Fisher The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Grattan Institute chief executive office Danielle Wood delivered a considered but scathing verdict on the world that Australia’s next generation will inherit at the annual John Button Oration held in Melbourne in November. ... Young people were struggling in a financial environment that was increasingly financially hostile, she said. Housing is becoming more expensive, the tax burden is increasing and job prospects and pay are flatlining. ... Wood's recommendations to improve policy [include] Improve housing affordability including boost housing supply by changing planning rules to allow more homes in the inner and middle rings of our capital cities, reducing tax breaks for investment in housing including reducing the capital gains tax discount to 25 per cent and winding back negative gearing, and exploring more innovative proposals such as shared-equity schemes.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/business/investment-deals/danielle…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.How the falling Australian dollar could affect interest rates
David Taylor ABC (Paywall)Australia's economy, by international standards is relatively small, but our dollar is among the most traded in the world. So when it moves by more than a cent or two (against a major currency like the US dollar), it tends to gain a bit of momentum.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-07/falling-australian-dollar…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.