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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
City of Sydney: Councillors unanimously support a new Women’s Refuge in the inner-city
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)City of Sydney Councillors have unanimously supported a motion that will increase services to communities affected by Family Violence. The motion, which sets to establish a publicly-funded Women’s Refuge in the City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA), was moved by Councillor Kerryn Phelps in direct response to the rising Domestic Violence rates in the past three months. (City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/09/city-of-sydney-unanimously-…
# NSW, Domestic violence, Families, Housing market, Women.At different ends of the country, these aged care homes in the Northern Territory and Tasmania share a common trait: they're small
Annah Fromberg, Laetitia Lemke and Ros Lehman ABC (No paywall)"Holiday home" is not often how aged care facilities are described.But that's how 95-year-old Hannah Kirk views her nursing home in northern Tasmania. "That's what I call it … it's like a holiday home I'm living in and honestly it is, I have never seen as good a place," she said. ... Resident numbers at the privately run facility are capped at 33 — about half the size of most others — and Mrs Kirk enjoys the close connections she says come from the smaller setting. ... Thousands of kilometres away in the Northern Territory, family and cultural connections are paramount. On the shores of a bay more than 500 kilometres from Darwin, a 10-bed facility is catering for a community of about 2,300 people. ... Run by the Mala'la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation, the Maningrida centre also supports dozens of others in the community on home care packages. It's a model staff and residents believe could benefit other remote communities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-26/northern-territory-tasman…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people, Race and ethnicity.The story of the fugitive homeless man who turned himself in after 29 years on the run
Steve Meacham The Guardian (No paywall)Six weeks before Darko “Dougie” Desic handed himself in to Dee Why police, he shared his dilemma with one of the few mates he trusted in his adopted homeland. The 64-year-old had spent 29 years on the run after one of Australia’s most audacious prison breaks. The dilapidated house he called home – so rundown he and his fellow tenants placed an umbrella over the outside loo – had been sold as Sydney’s Northern Beaches property prices peaked in the pandemic, making Desic homeless. You can read a previous article at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/17/plea-for-help-sydney-residents-rally-around-fugitive-turned-homeless-handyman]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/26/the-story…
# NSW, Homelessness, Personal stories.Real estate agents fined over trust account issues
Nigel Gladstone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Twenty real estate agents, from Balmain, Rozelle, Baulkham Hills, Coogee, Bondi Beach and other parts of Sydney, have been fined a total of $173,500 and eight have lost their licences for failing to comply with strict rules around trust accounts. ... “In the past we’ve seen real estate agents using trust account funds for gambling, alcohol and drugs – in some cases spending hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Ms Griswold [of NSW Fair Trading] said.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/real-estate-agents-fined-ove…
# NSW, Landlords and agents.CHOICE calls for new safety laws to prevent toppling furniture deaths
(No paywall)Unsecured furniture and TVs in the home can prove dangerous to you and your loved ones. Since 2000, at least 27 people have died in Australia as a result of injury from toppling furniture or TVs. It's clear that anchoring furniture saves lives. CHOICE has made 10 recommendations, including implementing mandatory safety and information standards, and removing specific barriers for renters. ... In 2020, we surveyed CHOICE members and supporters to ask them what they think about risk and prevention of furniture and TVs toppling over. Of the respondents who rent and who hadn't anchored furniture or TVs, 58% said the number one reason for that was because their landlord or managing agent didn't allow it.
https://www.choice.com.au/babies-and-kids/children-and-safety/av…
# Australia, Rent, Security and safety.Is it time to clamp down on short-term rentals in the regions?
Jack Needham (No paywall)A decade ago many travellers would have been hard pushed to find holiday accommodation in regional Australia beyond the local pub or motel. But the advent of short-term listing platforms like Airbnb and Stayz [owned by Expedia Group] has led to a proliferation of residential-style accommodation from Byron Bay to Broome.
Housing experts have linked this boom in short-term letting to a shortage of rental housing stock in some communities, leading to fierce debate over whether the industry needs stronger regulation, as seen in some overseas locations.
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7417837/is-it-time-to-c…
# Australia, Human rights, Regional NSW, Short-term holiday letting.How to empower older adults to become digital citizens in our tech-dependent world
Rachelle Patille, Atiya Mahmood and Priscilla Ruth Chyrva The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... Living in a technology dependent world means we all want to stay connected, regardless of age. And the COVID-19 pandemic was a major catalyst for increasing our technological dependence. ... Older adults were left without the main resource that has been keeping many of us connected — technology. But that’s not all the pandemic has laid bare for older adults. A large number of them are also either experiencing, or are vulnerable to homelessness. Older adults have become one of the groups most at-risk for housing insecurities during the pandemic. And one of the largest barriers to housing, is low socioeconomic status. Our technological dependence has created new challenges for older adults, and helped solidify pre-existing ones, like navigating online platforms to secure housing. Older adults face housing barriers due to the lack of technological resources and education on how to use them; there is a clear need to empower them to be digital citizens.
https://theconversation.com/how-to-empower-older-adults-to-becom…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people.Taking tenants along for the zero carbon ride
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)For all the efforts of the building industry on sustainability and decarbonising assets, the emissions of tenants who actually occupy the buildings generally lie beyond the remit of owners and managers and consequently are getting left out of the equation.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/facilities-management/t…
# Australia, Rent, Strata, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change.