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
Pressure is building in the ACT's public housing market as more people are locked out of rentals
Michael Inman ABC (No paywall)It started with a water leak in the bathroom, but it led to every parent's nightmare. Canberra mother Tori Oppelaar now lives in fear that her three children are being exposed to asbestos whenever they use the bathroom in their Kambah home. "[Water] leaked down behind the tiles and made the glue weak, so tiles started falling off [the shower wall]," she said. "I've been told that the glue isn't asbestos, but the parts of the wall that had been ripped with the glue where the tiles are falling off is asbestos."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-08/public-housing-canberra-h…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Repairs, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market.What really happened to St Kilda’s old “Gatty” after the The Block did its makeover and big “reveal”
Rachel Iampolski The Fifth Estate (No paywall)In 2018, The Block transformed the long-standing 80-bed rooming house Gatwick Private Hotel, on the iconic but contentious Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, into six luxury apartments. Despite its grand art-deco façade of the 80-year-old Gatwick – or “Gatty” as it was commonly known to locals and tenants – life inside the rooming house was far less glamourous – the site notoriously known for crime, violence and on occasion, murder. But the hotel provided a place of refuge for people without substantive alternatives. A boarding house with long and short stay options that required no referral, no bond, and asked no questions about your past, a saving grace for many in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood and a crumbling social housing system. ... Following the closure and sale of the Gatwick, ABC News reported that an “alarming” number of female former-tenants, who had been displaced, were now in jail due to charges that “directly related” to their homelessness. Support workers also reported former tenants were sleeping at 7-Eleven across the road from the former rooming house.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/case-studies/what-reall…
# History Australia, Boarders and lodgers, Homelessness.New YWCA Canberra home aims to provide safe accommodation for women over 50 who are 'retiring into poverty'
Antoinette Radford ABC (No paywall)As Australia marks Homelessness week, a Canberra charity is building a purpose-built home for those most at risk — designed to give tenants freedom and independence, as well as the support of a community. Across the country, women aged over 55 are currently the fastest-growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness. But Canberra's YWCA is working to change that, by building a new fit-for-purpose home in the suburb of Ainslie. ... The house will be made up of 10 standalone units, each equipped with its own kitchen and courtyard, but also sharing a communal green space. YWCA said the units would be specifically built for women over 50, with a few set aside for women with children fleeing domestic violence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-07/act-homelessness-women-ov…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Older people, Women.Affordable housing in London: how a group of friends plans to buy a converted pub in Peckham to get cheap rent
Ruth Bloomfield (No paywall)They look like exactly what they are: a group of arty mainly twenty-somethings who are in London to forge a career in music, art or design. But they are also a great example of how young Londoners, sick of the high costs and low standards of renting in the capital, can take matters into their own hands. ... Their landlord had decided the time was right to sell the building. ... A friend suggested setting up a housing co-operative to buy the [building, a] pub. Housing co-operatives are not a new idea — the first opened in Rochdale in the 1860s — but as renting gets more expensive, and buyers get onto the property ladder later in life, it is gaining traction as a way for generation rent to take control of their own destinies. ... “We are creating a legacy for people who need somewhere cheap to live and a community to collaborate with.” (Evening Standard)
https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/property-news/afford…
# International, Public and community housing, Share houses, Affordable housing.Housing boom tipped to end this year
Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The nation’s top economists expect the housing boom to end this year, with many predicting potential regulatory action and coronavirus lockdowns will take some of the heat out of the property market.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/housing-boom-tipped-to-e…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market, Tax.Haggle your way to cheaper rent
(No paywall)Found the place you want to rent? Whether you’re new to the game or looking to renew your lease for less, here’s how to bite the bullet and save yourself some cash. Many people don’t realise that rent prices aren’t always fixed: there are many tactics you can use to negotiate a better deal. ... Helpful tip: The Tenants Union of NSW has a Rent Tracker tool on its website [at https://www.tenants.org.au/tu/rent-tracker]. You can use this to look up your area and see how rental prices have changed in the past 12 months. (rent.com.au)
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Thousands freeze mortgage payments as Sydney lockdown bites
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Banks have frozen repayments on 14,500 home loans as a result of the latest round of lockdowns, highlighting the growing financial toll being inflicted by restrictions in NSW especially.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/thousands-fr…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership.Government revives energy bill support during COVID-19 lockdown
Peter Hannam The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Berejiklian government has re-introduced a temporary measure that increases the amount households can apply for to help meet their energy bills during the COVID-19 lockdown. Eligible applicants can secure as much as $1600 a year to pay for their gas and electricity costs, up from the standard annual maximum of $1200.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/government-revi…
# NSW, Utilities electricity water gas, Coronavirus COVID-19, State Government.