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 solution to homeless encampments is making them unnecessary, not illegal
Jesse Jenkinson and Stephen Hwang The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... The number of people visibly living in encampments has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to cities — including Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver — to work with encampment residents to move them into shelters, hotel spaces and more rarely, stable housing. ... Some cities, such as Victoria, have committed to full-scale transformation of the homeless-serving system, rooted in a right to housing and human-rights approach ... just the beginning of a more humane, consistent and evidence-based approach to addressing chronic homelessness in Canada.
https://theconversation.com/the-solution-to-homeless-encampments…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness.The Global Housing Market Is Broken, and It’s Dividing Entire Countries
Alan Crawford (No paywall)Soaring property prices are forcing people all over the world to abandon all hope of owning a home. The fallout is shaking governments of all political persuasions. It’s a phenomenon given wings by the pandemic. And it’s not just buyers — rents are also soaring in many cities. The upshot is the perennial issue of housing costs has become one of acute housing inequality, and an entire generation is at risk of being left behind.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-19/global-housin…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.COVID secrecy could spell disaster for apartment residents
Jane Hearn The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The coronavirus pandemic is revealing just how deadly the NSW government’s attitude towards high-density apartment communities could be. It is a simple fact that strata living presents a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission than in freestanding homes. Yet, despite calls from independent experts and building managers for pandemic planning and clear rules, the strata sector has not only been ignored, worse, it is being resisted. This is why there are growing calls for a commissioner of strata living, the need for which has only become more acute throughout this pandemic. Owners corporations and their elected strata committees have a duty of care to residents, staff, contractors and visitors. This includes a responsibility to take reasonable precautions against the spread of communicable diseases.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/covid-secrecy-could-spell-di…
# NSW, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Housing market, State Government.Earthquakes don’t kill people; buildings do. And those lovely decorative bits are the first to fall
Ann L Brower The Conversation (No paywall)News of Melbourne’s earthquake today made my left leg hurt. That’s the leg I nearly lost. On February 22 2011, there were nine of us on a red bus from Sumner to Canterbury University in Christchurch. At 12.51, the unreinforced brick facade of 605 Colombo Street crushed our bus and four pedestrians. I felt brick after brick land on my left hip, and wondered how long I would last. I’m the only one left — the lucky thirteenth. ... It wasn’t the earthquake that killed everyone but me on that bus. It was the building, its lack of regulation, lack of structural support, and lack of a fence. It wasn’t just bad luck. ... After Christchurch, New Zealand learned our lesson and reformed our building legislation. ... I treasure my left leg, scars and all. But please, Australia, learn from your Kiwi cousins.
https://theconversation.com/earthquakes-dont-kill-people-buildin…
# Australia, Housing market.After leaving her marriage Maya ended up homeless and locked out of her accounts
Grace Jennings-Edquist ABC (No paywall)Maya used to run a successful a manufacturing business. But for the last two years, she's been homeless in regional Victoria after leaving an abusive marriage. "I was the managing director of my own company for 20 years, but he has taken everything, including my dog," says Maya, 49. "Now I'm destitute." As with most of regional Australia, in the Gippsland region, where she's based, women face higher levels of poverty and disadvantage following family violence ... Women are also more vulnerable to homelessness, partly because regional crisis accommodation shelters are struggling to meet demand. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/left-homeless-after-fleeing-tech…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Homelessness, Personal stories.Retirement village owner uses squatters’ rights in court bid to claim Sydney property
Chrisytopher Knaus The Guardian (No paywall)The operator of a private retirement village tried to stop a woman taking possession of her deceased grandparents’ land on the fringes of Sydney, claiming it as its own using squatters’ rights. ... Because Australian Retirement Holdings failed to prove its predecessor had secured the land for its private use, it failed to show a 12-year period of continuous exclusive use, meaning the claim for squatters’ rights failed. And read the followup article entitled: '"They’re going to meet their Waterloo": woman wins remarkable legal battle against developerat: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/22/theyre-going-to-meet-their-waterloo-grandma-wins-remarkable-legal-battle-against-developer]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/22/retiremen…
# NSW, Squatting.Evergrande's collapse could be very bad news for Australia and the world. Here's why
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)China is the world's second biggest economy. Its property sector makes up 25 per cent of gross domestic product or GDP. Evergrande is China's second biggest property developer, the world's most indebted, and it's in severe financial distress. ... A Chinese property market crash would cripple China's economy. China is Australia's largest trading partner, so this has obvious and sizeable flow-on effects for Australia's economic growth, stock market and superannuation balances.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-22/evergrande-collapse-could…
# Australia, Housing market, International.No bubbles in sight, but Australia’s property boom comes at a cost
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The truth is, Australia’s property market is less likely to go “bang” than it is to exert a slowly building stranglehold over all of our lives. Most obvious, of course, is the impact on first home buyers, particularly low-income earners and those with no parental support to get over the “deposit hurdle” and into secure housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/no-bubbles-in-sight-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.