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
Population growth, regional connectivity, and city planning — international lessons for Australian practice
Nicole Gurran, Ann Forsyth, Michael Darcy, Glen Searle, Caitlin Buckl and Sarah Zou AHURI (No paywall)This study investigated the potential for Australia’s regional areas to attract and sustain population and economic growth, examining international and Australian models for supporting development beyond capital city centres. The project contributes to the wider AHURI Inquiry into population growth, migration and agglomeration and presents Australian and state governments can support these initiatives through strategies to attract and enable firms and public service to locate and remain in second-tier cities. This research employed an evidence review that was conducted on metropolitan and regional governance and planning, to examine how spatial policy, planning and funding interventions can support economic and population growth. This research endorses the international review that highlights opportunities for smaller centres to succeed by specialising on particular economic strengths or locational advantages, provided they are well connected to a larger city and/or regional network. This research also finds potential to better support regional areas through spatial planning and investment strategies, which recognise their unique place-based identity, fostering key specialist areas for growth while preserving and enhancing natural and cultural amenities and high quality of life.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/WhctKKWxdMZbCnfMMQ…
# Research alert Australia, Planning and development.London golf courses could provide homes for 300,000 people, study says
Patrick Barkham The Guardian (No paywall)London’s golf courses make up an area larger than the borough of Brent and there is enough space on publicly owned courses to house 300,000 people, according to new research. Nearly half of the capital’s 94 active golf courses are owned by London boroughs or other public bodies, such as the Church Commissioners, and yet serve a tiny fraction of the capital’s 9 million residents. ... According to the study, Britain is home to a quarter of all the golf courses in Europe, with one in 20 found in London, despite the capital making up just 0.65% of the UK’s total land area. ... Enfield council is currently consulting over a controversial local plan which includes the release of green belt for 6,000 homes, including at least 3,000 houses around Crews Hill railway station, which currently contains open fields, garden centres – and a golf course.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/26/london-golf-cou…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.Brisbane community gardeners rally against proposed housing development, 'gentrification' of city suburb
Edwina Seselja ABC (No paywall)A West End community garden group brandished pitchforks, rakes and placards in a peaceful march through the inner Brisbane suburb to protest a development proposal that would encroach on the state-owned veggie patch and see the existing housing on the adjoining property demolished. ... Wicks said the protest was about more than the garden and was part of an effort to resist "mass gentrification" in the suburb at a time where the cost of housing was rising. "The reason we are resisting this development is because they are going to be demolishing really affordable apartments and replacing them with luxury apartments that will house less people," they said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/brisbane-community-garden…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Housing market.Apparent Humanity Hater The Supreme Court Lifts the Eviction Moratorium
Harron Walker (No paywall)The Supreme Court has struck down the moratorium on evictions that the Biden administration put in place a few weeks ago. In a divided ruling neatly split along party lines, the conservative-majority court lifted the eviction moratorium on the grounds that it did not come into being through legislative action, Bloomberg reports. The six rightwing justices also took issue with the federal law invoked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to impose the moratorium, which, like its predecessors, was intended to address the economic recession and mass layoffs produced by the coronavirus pandemic as well as to curb the spread of covid-19 itself. “Congress was on notice that a further extension [of the previous eviction moratorium, which expired on July 31,] would almost surely require new legislation, yet it failed to act in the several weeks leading up to the moratorium’s expiration,” reads the Supreme Court’s unsigned eight-page opinion, per CNN. “If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.” Stephen Breyer dissented ... “The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC’s judgment at this moment, when over 90% of counties are experiencing high transmission rates,” he wrote, per Bloomberg. “That figure is the highest it has been since at least last winter.” (Jezebel)
https://jezebel.com/apparent-humanity-hater-the-supreme-court-li…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Overseas property bargains: Italian country homes selling for $1.50
Hailey Coules Domain (No paywall)If you dream of a more drastic move than a local sea or tree-change and want to call Italy home sweet Rome, this could be the solution for you. According to CNN, historic homes in the town of Maenza are set to hit the market for just one euro. Yep, one euro – that’s about $1.60 Australian. Spend the equivalent of a double-shot latte and buy three. Maenza is located just under an hour and a half from Rome, and it is expected that there will be around 100 houses up for grabs.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/a-slice-of-history-italian-countr…
# Australia, Heritage listings, Housing market, International.San Francisco luxury tower still sinking even as engineers work on $100m fix
Dani Anguiano The Guardian (No paywall)San Francisco’s notorious sinking luxury high-rise is still sinking, even amid a $100m project designed to fix the issue. Work to reinforce the foundation of Millennium tower in the city’s downtown came to a halt this week, after engineers found the building had sunk 1in in the months since work began. Engineers were working on reinforcing the foundation of the tower to prevent additional tilting and sinking. The 58-story tower, the tallest residential building in San Francisco, has drawn joking comparisons to the Leaning Tower of Pisa because, by 2014, it had sunk 18in and was leaning 14in to the west.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/26/san-francisco-mi…
# International, Strata, Minimum habitability standards.Record number of mortgages discharged and registered in NSW in 2021
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)The number of people discharging their mortgage in NSW has hit an all-time high as locked-down homeowners use their savings to pay off their mortgages, refinance their home loans to a cheaper deal or trade in their homes, new figures reveal.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/record-number-of-mortgages-discha…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing market.How Canberra's COVID-19 lockdown is impacting the capital's property market
Isaac Nowroozi ABC (No paywall)Cracking into Canberra's property market was already a struggle, but the current lockdown has made buying a home even more difficult. From yesterday, lockdown restrictions relaxed for real estate companies, who are now allowed to have one person attend a property to conduct inspections, film or take photographs to help progress a sale.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/act-how-covid-19-is-affec…
# Australia, Privacy and access, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.