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
Healing trauma with whispers and clicks
ABC (No paywall)When the pandemic kicked off and heaps of Australians lost work, the federal and state governments made an unusual commitment to protect renters from being evicted. But now almost all of those protections are gone. [Starts at: 57 seconds] (Triple J Hack)
# TUNSW in the media, Audio Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, No-grounds evictions, Personal stories, Regional NSW, State Government.Hear Us: A National Tenants’ Bill of Rights Is Foundational for Race Equity
Nia Johnson (No paywall)From the United States ... Since the House passage of the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, the Biden administration is seemingly confident about getting the Build Back Better Act signed into law. For anyone who cares about having a roof over their head, it’s notable that President Biden’s $1.75 trillion framework includes significant cuts from an original $3.5 trillion budgetary plan. More cuts can be expected to an already truncated plan as the bill moves through the Senate. Though many policymakers and pundits tout this legislation as an unprecedented investment in affordable housing, the optimism is unwarranted. Low-income tenants would likely agree, including people of color such as Michelle Sullivan. ... Today’s housing crisis is an affordability crisis. But it’s also a dignity crisis, a morality crisis, and a corporate power crisis that values profit over people. A national Tenants’ Bill of Rights alone won’t fully deliver equity and justice, but it’s an essential step in the right direction.
https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/entry/hear-us-a-national-tena…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market, Human rights, Minimum habitability standards.‘My life just went downhill’: New housing for older women facing homelessness
Lucy Cormack The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Staring down the barrel of homelessness at 55 after a marriage breakdown and a cancer diagnosis, Bee had lost everything. The once financially stable graphic designer had nowhere to go after living periodically with family, in temporary shared boarding houses and in her car. “My life just went downhill so fast and when you don’t have a job or money, no one is going to rent to you,” said Bee, now 66, who has asked not to use her real name. It is a common tale among women over the age of 55, the largest growing cohort of people experiencing homelessness. ... Responding to the crisis, the NSW government has committed more than $18 million to create 78 new dwellings in Seven Hills, Camden, Airds, Revesby, Merrylands, Peakhurst, Penrith and Maroubra. The sites will be leased to community housing providers and will be subject to a tender process for development and property management. All will exist solely for the use of older women facing homelessness. ... [Women’s Housing Company chief executive officer Debbie ] Georgopoulos said partnering with the government was a welcome step forward but conceded 78 dwellings was “a drop in the ocean. There are almost 5000 single women over 55 on the NSW housing waitlist. We know that will go up this year because of the pandemic ... ”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/my-life-just-went-downhill-n…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, Older people, State Government, Women.‘You’re throwing money away’ and other renting myths – busted
Lauren Vardy (No paywall)As more Australians choose to rent each year, a growing number of people have questions about what’s involved in the renting process. Here are nine myths we regularly hear from renters and the truths behind them. (rent.com.au)
# Australia, Rent.Housing select committee launches inquiry into quality and regulation of social housing
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... An inquiry has been launched into “concerns about the quality of social housing” and the regulatory regime by a cross-party group of MPs. ... The quality of social housing has come under scrutiny over the past year following an ongoing investigation by ITV News into the terrible conditions faced by some tenants.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-select-committ…
# International, Public and community housing, Minimum habitability standards.The pandemic never happened in Sydney’s housing market
Editiorial The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When COVID-19 sent the world into lockdown, pundits warned that things would never be the same again. That may be true in some ways but in the world of the Sydney property market it seems like Groundhog Day. After a brief dip at the start of the pandemic, house prices are again climbing to crazy levels. ... Some fear that the price rises are out of line with reality and with ordinary people’s wages. They say the bubble will inevitably burst, throwing the economy into a deep recession. Somewhat contradictorily, others fear that prices will remain too high and first home buyers will be kept out of the market forever, except for the lucky few who can access loans from the Bank of Mum and Dad.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-pandemic-never-h…
# NSW, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.'Makes my blood boil’: Sydney’s development pain to hit council polls
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)One of Sydney’s most blue-blooded areas has forced housing developments onto the local election battleground after rejecting a NSW government density push in a fiery final meeting before next month’s council polls. Ku-ring-gai Council, which last year sparked a citywide backlash against dwelling targets, has handed the baton to its next elected body to grapple with the prospect of greater development on the leafy north shore by voting to refuse a list of conditions set by the Department of Planning.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/makes-my-blood-boil-sydney-s…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development.Housing Justice in Unjust Cities
(No paywall)The Brisbane-based program Radio Reversal (4ZZZ) has had a series of episodes focused on housing justice:
18 November: Anti-Eviction Defence
11 November: Housing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part III [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-11%2009:00:00]
4 November: Housing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part II [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-04%2009:00:00]
28 October: Hosing Justice in Unjust Cities, Part I [at: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-10-28%2009:00:00]
https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal/2021-11-18%2009:00:00
# Audio Australia, Eviction, Rent, Housing market.