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
Rental crisis forces south-west residents to live with extended family
Monique Patterson (Paywall)The south-west's rental shortage is forcing people to live with extended family members for long periods of time. Brent Vanstone has been living in a shed on his mother's property for more than two years. In the first 18 months I applied for a lot of properties, but after constantly waking up to emails saying I was unsuccessful, I gave up for six months as it was taking a huge toll on my mental state," he said. In addition to that, he has been contacted by a number of people about properties who he later found out were scammers. Mr Vanstone, who has joint custody of his 11-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, is looking for a two to three-bedroom property. "The constant rejection is very disappointing," he said. (The Standard)
https://www.standard.net.au/story/7369248/rental-crisis-forces-s…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market.Summit called to address inland regional housing crisis
Lottie Twford (No paywall)A complex web of factors is causing a housing shortage to become a crisis in regional NSW – and more broadly across inland Australia – and it can only be solved with collaboration between business, and at all levels of government, according to Regional Development Australia (RDA) Riverina. (about regional)
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Regional NSW, State Government.Aged care facing impending shortage of 110,000 workers, report finds
Katharinne Murphy The Guardian (No paywall)Urgent action is needed to address a looming shortage of at least 110,000 aged care workers over the coming decade, including boosting pay and conditions and creating a new dedicated migration path to boost the labour force. The stark warning is contained in a new report to be released by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (Ceda) on Tuesday. The report says unless the Morrison government takes action now, Australia’s aged care workforce shortage will balloon to more than 400,000 workers by 2050.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/aged-care…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Census 2021 will also capture data on people who are homeless — like Hobart man Rob Newitt
Lucy Shannon ABC (No paywall)ob Newitt says he is one of the lucky ones. Despite the recent shock of being thrown from decades of housing stability into a precarious existence in a van, he still acknowledges there are many people far worse off. "It's not a nice existence, but it is what it is. Like I said, I'm one of the lucky few, I've got a roof over my head," Mr Newitt said. For now, the Tasmanian man is based at the Hobart Showgrounds along with other homeless people in vans, cars and tents. "About five months or so ago I got a knock on the door and it was the landlord and I got handed an eviction letter … after renting the same place for 20 years it was a bit hard to take, just an instant: 'You're out,'" he said. There were no affordable rental properties available, but Mr Newitt was able to get an old van to keep himself off the street.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-10/census-for-homeless-in-ta…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market, Older people.The cost of homelessness in WA’s public hospitals and how the state could save millions
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Taxpayers pay upwards of $18 million a year to treat the mental health of homeless people in Western Australia, with research showing rough sleepers spend a combined 11,500 days in hospital every year. But that cost could be drastically cut, saving millions of dollars, if rough sleepers were offered a place to call home, researchers from the University of Western Australia have found. ... Homelessness in Perth has also soared since last November, with 1041 people identifying as being chronically homeless in May. About half of those are considered rough sleepers. In the first two months after the end of the rental moratorium, landlords lodged hundreds of termination notices in court and 200 people found themselves on the street adding pressure to the struggling sector.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/the-cost-of-ho…
# Research alert Australia, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness, State Government, Young people.Residents push back on state’s social housing blitz
Rachel Eddie and Chloe Booker The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Andrews government’s plan to build 12,000 social and affordable homes has come up against residents and local councils that have been cut out of the approvals process for the $5.3 billion project.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/residents-push-back-on-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.We Need a World Without Landlords
Ben Burgis (No paywall)From the United States ... Recent battles over eviction moratoriums and homeless encampments have shown the depressing limits of our political horizons. We need to envision a radically different system that guarantees everyone the right to decent, stable housing. (Jacobin Magazine)
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/08/landlords-eviction-moratorium-ren…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.The house that can withstand a cyclone: how traditional dwellings are making a comeback in Vanuatu
Jon Letman The Guardian (No paywall)When Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu and concrete buildings collapsed, their iron roofing blown away, there was no loss of life in the traditionally built structures known as saeklon haos (cyclone house).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/the-house-that-can…
# International, Housing market.