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
How to fix social housing’s repair problem
Nathaniel Barker Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... As she stands and looks around her housing association flat, Louise Plunkett begins to cry. Mouse and rat droppings litter every surface. The air is rank with the stench of vermin. She has put all her belongings in bags and boxes to try to protect them, but in vain; the pests have been through everything. “I just can’t take it anymore,” she repeats ... Ms Plunkett is yet another social housing tenant who has turned to the media over unacceptable conditions in her home. ... [Darren Hartley, chief executive of TAROE Trust, the tenants’ charity says:] "It was inevitable with the watering-down of regulation, the imbalanced shift to only proactive economic regulation, and various policies that reduce funding for genuinely affordable housing, that standards of some landlords would slip and investment in existing stock could reduce due to the heavy emphasis on generating new supply from reduced capital funding”. ... Take ageing housing stock, put it under huge strain, prioritise development and digitalisation, reduce the income flowing in amid limited regulatory oversight, and you end up with problems – some of the government’s making, some less so. That is without even touching on those ever-lurking insidious issues of social housing stigma and racism.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/how-to-fix-social-housin…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Federal Government, Housing market.Pets in apartments: Owners can be slugged with costs and restrictions
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)While pet lovers can no longer be banned from bringing their dog or cat into their apartment building to live, they can still be slugged as much as $300 for the privilege, a NSW tribunal has ruled. They can also be forbidden from stopping to pick up their mail while in the lobby with their pet and from having a friend with a pet visit them – unless they’ve already applied for, and been given, permission by their owners corporation. The landmark judgment by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) means that other apartment buildings throughout the state will be free to impose similar strict conditions on pet owners.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/pets-in-apartments-can-be-slugged…
# Legal significance NSW, Strata, Pets.Social housing tenant’s cry for help: Get me out of this ‘hellhole’ flat
Anna Tims The Guardian (No paywall)Constance Baker feels she takes her life into her hands when she uses her bathroom. In June, following three years’ of leaks, the ceiling collapsed, showering the units with debris. Now, when she uses the lavatory, or takes a bath, she has to protect herself from water drizzling from the flat above. The Kent flat is owned and managed by London & Quadrant (L&Q), one of the UK’s largest housing associations, and she says that years of unresolved damp and defects have led her to contemplate suicide. The 60-year-old, who is bipolar, was moved to the property in 2018 after leaving a women’s refuge, also run by L&Q, and claims it was damp from the outset. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/aug/29/social-housing-ten…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Mould.Australian property prices are $103,400 higher than last year, CoreLogic says
David Chau ABC (No paywall)Australian house prices have become even more expensive, with coronavirus lockdowns across NSW, Victoria and the ACT having practically no impact on property values. ...[CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said:] "Housing prices have risen almost 11 times faster than wages growth over the past year, creating a more significant barrier to entry for those who don't yet own a home ... Lockdowns are having a clear impact on consumer sentiment, however to date the restrictions have resulted in falling advertised listings and, to a lesser extent, fewer home sales, with less impact on price growth momentum."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/property-housing-corelogi…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market.Tallest Wollongong building proposed for new WIN Corporation mega redevelopment
Nick McLaren ABC (No paywall)WIN Corporation, headed by billionaire Bruce Gordon, has taken a big plunge into real estate by buying up a whole city block in the centre of Wollongong and unveiling plans for its 39-storey WIN Grand. ... The Gordon family's plans, worth around $400 million and covering 1.3 hectares, offers retail and residential space, an aquatic centre, and high rise towers with 400 apartments. ... [Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery] said with growing demand on the region to provide affordable housing it would be incumbent on the WIN Corporation to deliver a percentage of equitably priced apartments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/tallest-wollongong-buildi…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development, Regional NSW.Australian house prices rising at fastest yearly pace since 1989 but signs boom is cooling
The Guardian (No paywall)Australian house prices are growing at their fastest annual pace since 1989, although there are further signs the boom is coming off the boil. CoreLogic’s national home value index rose 1.5% in August to an annual rate of 18.4%. While the monthly increase was still above average, it was the smallest rise since January.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/01/australia…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.Why are property values rising during an economic shock?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Property values are rising despite the economic shock of prolonged and widespread lockdowns, as more people want to buy a home than to sell one. The counterintuitive surge in the housing market has slowed somewhat since the March boom as affordability constraints kick in, but continues even as workers are stood down to curb the spread of COVID-19. Many of those lucky enough to keep their jobs are taking advantage of low interest rates and hoping conditions will improve soon.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/why-are-property-values-rising-du…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Bank of Mum and Dad ‘prolific’: Now helping adult children on their second homes
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Runaway house price growth has seen an increasingly prolific reliance on the “Bank of Mum and Dad” this year but now there are reports from mortgage brokers that adult children are returning a second time for help when they need to upgrade properties. This new trend has raised concerns about a deepening of housing inequality in Australia, with the chance of home-ownership based on a person’s inherited wealth rather than individual effort.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/bank-of-mum-and-dad-prolific-now-…
# Australia, Families, Home ownership, Housing market.