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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Annual Report 2020-2021
Edinburgh Tenants Federation (No paywall)Check out what's happening in Edinburgh, Scotland ... Edinburgh Tenants Federation (ETF), the umbrella organisation of tenants’ and residents’ groups throughout Edinburgh is delighted to welcome you to our 2020 / 2021 Annual Report. ETF’s overall aim is to represent tenants throughout Edinburgh, ensuring tenant influence in housing policy and service
decisions with the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) and Scottish Government.
https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/uploads/ETF%20Annual%20Repor…
# International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform.Homebuyers allege underquoting is rife in real estate industry, but agents say it's just a hot market
Elias Clure ABC (No paywall)"There's an old adage: 'Quote them low, watch 'em go. Quote em high, watch them die.' A leopard never changes its spots." ... Consumer Affairs Victoria recently audited 29 real estate agencies after a tip-off from the public. It found that 17 of them were underquoting. ... [Buyer's advocate David Morrell believed] underquoting was part of the cultural fabric of realtors across the country and recent legislative changes attempting to crack down on the practice had failed.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-15/alannah-attempted-to-beat…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Closing the divide: essential workers, Australian cities and COVID-19
Alison Holloway, Julian Szafraniec, Merry Hoang and Marcia Keegan (No paywall)Essential workers have been keeping Australia’s cities moving during the COVID-19 pandemic – and the structure of our cities has put many in harm's way. Urban policy needs to adapt quickly to address the underlying inequalities across Australia’s spatial geographies. The COVID-19 pandemic has not affected Australians equally. Data clearly shows the pandemic has exacerbated underlying social and spatial inequalities throughout Australia; essential workers, in particular, have been hit hard by the pandemic. Urban policy needs to address pressing social and spatial inequalities before the divide becomes too wide to close.
https://www.sgsep.com.au/publications/insights/closing-the-divid…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market.Rents up, listings down as inner-city suburbs continue COVID-19 recovery
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Australia’s capital city unit rents are continuing to recover, new data shows, thanks – in part – to new locally-based tenants entering the market for the first time attracted by cheaper rents. Property managers say the type of tenant is changing in inner Melbourne and Sydney after the two cities, whose apartment rental markets have traditionally relied heavily on international students and overseas professionals, took the brunt of the pandemic rental falls. These new tenants, including professionals returning to the office and looking to rent an affordable inner-city pad rather than commute more than 10 hours a week from outer suburbs or regional areas, have helped see a drop in the number of available rentals.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/rents-up-and-the-number-of-listin…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Plans released for $100 million apartment, retail and accommodation development at Hobart's Macquarie Point
Laura Beavis and Loretta Lohberger ABC (No paywall)A planning expert is warning Tasmania must learn from the "complete disaster" of Melbourne's Docklands precinct as it redevelops Macquarie Point on Hobart's waterfront. Also, view the video at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radio/hobart/programs/drive/the-escarpment/13635012]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-16/macquarie-point-apartment…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Housing is expensive now, imagine a market with more migrants. Economists see rent, house price lift in 2023
Nassim Khadem ABC (No paywall)When Australia opens its borders to migrants, already skyrocketing house prices could rise further. While immigration is not the only factor influencing house prices, it adds to the already strong demand for housing. Economists say about one extra home is required for every three migrants.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/migration-house-prices-re…
# Australia, Housing market.Houses of tomorrow: A more hopeful vision of domesticity, or a dystopian nightmare?
Richard Godwin The Guardian (No paywall)In the future, will we find a better way to live, or will our homes be taken over by surveillance and despotic appliances? ... Are we inexorably sliding into a world of surveillance and atomisation, climate crisis and housing crisis, drowning alone as our meta headsets suck the very data from our souls? Maybe a bit of both ...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/14/houses-of-t…
# International, Home.Watch this show before you utter these four words
Jenny Leong The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Earlier this year, while filming SBS series 'Could You Survive on the Breadline?', I was left to my own devices and told to try and find work. The accommodation I was staying in was an empty shopfront turned low-rent accommodation. It had an outdoor toilet with a shower, but the drain was blocked so when you tried to shower the dirty water all came up and flooded the floor. ... "Just get a job” to those currently living on income support is as problematic and offensive as any of these other insults.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/watch-th…
# NSW, Personal stories, Work, employment.