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
The Sydney suburbs that have joined the million-dollar-plus club
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)A string of suburbs across Sydney’s west and south have joined the ranks of the city’s ever-expanding million-dollar club, as seven-figure house sales become the norm in the booming property market.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sydney-suburbs-that-have-join…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market.Revealed: Housing Ombudsman names landlords in latest complaints failure list
Jack Simpson Inside Housing (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The latest report comes just weeks after the ombudsman published a report that listed the worst-performing landlords on dealing with damp and mould. ... Complaint-handling failure orders are issued by the ombudsman when it has taken reasonable steps to seek engagement from a landlord but residents are still unable to progress a complaint. They may also be issued when there appears to be a systemic issue within a landlord’s complaint-handling. ... Hammersmith & Fulham topped the list at 10.8 findings per 10,000 homes, followed by A2Dominion at a rate of 3, Camden Council at 2.5, and Lambeth Council at 2. Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “Complaints provide a valuable opportunity for landlords to listen to residents’ concerns, treat them fairly and put things right where they have gone wrong."
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/revealed-housing-ombud…
# International, Public and community housing, Mould.Chihuahua driving neighbour barking mad
Jimmy Thomson (No paywall)There can be few things worse in strata that finding yourself living next door to an incessantly yapping dog. Actually, there is: living next door to an incessantly yapping dog and its owners won’t do anything about the yapping and the strata committee won’t do anything about the owners. (Flat Chat)
# NSW, Strata, Pets.The federal poverty line struggles to capture the economic hardship that half of Americans face
Celine-Mari Pascale The Conversation (No paywall)From th United States ... Chase shares an apartment with three other people, something he finds stressful. And he is not always confident that he can make his portion of the rent. Between the two jobs, Chase earns less than US$16,000 a year. While it may not sound like a lot, that places him well above the federal poverty line for a single person: $12,760. ... Across the country, millions of low-wage workers like Chase struggle to pay their bills each month, despite holding multiple jobs.
https://theconversation.com/the-federal-poverty-line-struggles-t…
# International, Rent, Families, Housing market, Work, employment.As backyards get smaller and trees are removed, urban heat islands could be making suburbs hotter
Prianka Srinivasan and Hellena Souisa ABC (No paywall)Flanked by two looming townhouses, Jyoti Dhakal's suburban bungalow might look out of place. The engineering consultant moved to Clayton in south-east Melbourne in 2013, with her husband and two young children. Back then, she said the neighbourhood felt like a typical Melbourne suburb, dominated by family homes and single-storey units. But things have quickly changed. ... There are currently no controls in Clayton to regulate the removal of trees on private land, and some residents are noticing gardens being eaten up by this demand for higher-density housing. "You see more of concrete buildings, [so] obviously there is … bound to be less vegetation," Ms Dhakal said. "It is a bummer." ... "It is hotter because you have that concrete built over there," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-11/townhouses-development-he…
# Australia, Climate change, Health, Housing market, Planning and development.Urban equality: equity of acxcess to green space in Melbourne
Farahnaz Sharifi, Wendy Stone, Christian (Andy) Nygaard and Iris Levin (No paywall)Throughout history, cities have struggled to provide equality for all citizens. Issues of equality extend to the ways that urban form can affect residents’ experiences and wellbeing [1]. At the time of writing, this issue is crucial, with Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory all emerging from extended lockdowns due to Covid-19. For residents of metropolitan Melbourne lockdowns have become a familiar tool in the race to contain the pandemic with residents having experienced more than 200 days of some of the strictest lockdown conditions globally. The issue of inequity in access to green space is particularly important in cities like Melbourne, where heatwaves are likely to reach 50°C by 2040. ... (Cities People Love)
https://citiespeoplelove.co/article/urban-equality-equity-of-acc…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Planning and development.Canberra developers urged to build 'better quality' apartments as rising house prices push first-home buyers out of market
Harry Frost ABC (No paywall)With rapidly rising property prices making apartments the only option for many first-home buyers in Canberra, housing advocates say potential owners should be demanding better quality and liveability from new residential developments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-09/canberra-first-home-buyer…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.House price growth three times faster than wages over four decades
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The price of a typical house in Sydney has multiplied by 17 times in the past 40 years, almost three times faster than wages. Analysis by social research firm McCrindle revealed that wage growth has failed to keep pace with the housing boom across all Australian capital cities. ... The report, titled The Fading Australian Dream, combines current and historical figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, property analytics firm CoreLogic, and economist Peter Abelson. [You will find the report at: https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blogarchive/the-fading-australian-dream/] ... Joel Pringle, the advocacy manager at the Benevolent Society working on the EveryAGE Counts campaign against ageism, said the insecurity and expense of the private rental market was a big cause of homelessness. “High rents have a big impact on people who have had insecure housing over a long time,” Mr Pringle said. “Housing costs are a huge part of homelessness but also unexpected life events like relationship breakdown or losing a job.” ... People over 55, especially women, were one of the fastest-growing groups of homeless people in the 2016 census, and people aged 55 to 64 are one of the biggest cohorts on unemployment benefits. The EveryAGE Counts campaign is advocating for NSW to adopt the Home at Last program running in Victoria, which provides advice, support and advocacy for older people who are homeless or at risk. You will find a similar report about Melbourne housing affordability plummeting at: [https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-housing-affordability-plummets-women-hit-hardest-20211107-p596po.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/house-price-growth-three-tim…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people.