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
NSW Budget won’t fix housing crisis, sector says
Eva Baxter (No paywall)Those who work in the sector call for dramatic expansion and clearer terms following the 2021-2022 NSW Budget’s $800 million commitment to the state’s housing crisis. Cathryn Callaghan, Senior Policy Officer at Shelter NSW, told City Hub, “you’d expect to see billions, not hundreds of millions.” Victoria announced $5.3 billion in 2020, and Queensland $2.9 billion this year. (City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/06/nsw-budget-wont-fix-housing…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, State Government.Rental Opportunity of the Week: How to Stop Landlords Constantly Being the Worst
Joel Golby (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Why do landlords never look at a flat like this and think, ‘Am I really trying to make someone live in here?’ Do they have any experience of actually living life in a space before they try to rent one? (Vice)
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqp48/flat-rent-stockwell-renta…
# International, Rent, Minimum habitability standards.7600 new homes earmarked for Sydney’s Macquarie Park
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than 7600 new homes are planned for half of Macquarie Park over the next two decades as part of a blueprint for developing the fast-growing area into an innovation precinct.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/7600-new-homes-earmarked-for…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.New housing supply, population growth and access to social infrastructure
AHURI (No paywall)A study undertaken by Researchers from The University of Sydney focuses on the potential to better inform the planning, scheduling, delivery, maintenance, and coordination of social infrastructure in the rapidly growing greenfield areas of major Australian cities through the use of big data sources and techniques. The research focuses on greenfield areas of Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth greater metropolitan regions to demonstrate data sources and methods that are able to be replicated in other contexts. This study breaks new ground, as it extends the idea of accessibility to social infrastructure as a critical facility to support daily life.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/WhctKKWxWFhTzTWmft…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Developer forced to fix serious defects in two Parramatta apartment towers
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The developer of two 22-storey apartment towers in Parramatta’s CBD has been issued with orders preventing it from allowing owners and tenants to move in after serious defects were discovered. ... The developer, Merhis Group, is the same company that was responsible for a 16-storey apartment building in Auburn that was issued orders last year to resolve major defects. ... [NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler] issued a prohibition order on Wednesday for the Parramatta towers after inspectors found “serious defects” in an internal load-bearing part of the complex, as well as in its waterproofing and a fire-safety system.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-forced-to-fix-seri…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.'Defective' apartment developer and Sydney shock-jock Ray Hadley on legal collision course
Josh Bavas ABC (No paywall)A string of "defective" residential buildings across Sydney, constructed by developer Toplace, have been revealed as part of a court battle between the company and shock-jock Ray Hadley. ... In a statement of claim filed to the Federal Court, Mr Nassif said the broadcaster incorrectly inferred he was a "dishonest" and "shoddy" developer and that he attempted to force apartment buyers to settle when the buildings were "dangerously unfit for habitation". It's the same company that was also ordered by the NSW Building Commissioner last month to fix a range of defects, after "extensive signs of cracking" were found in the basement of its Skyview apartment complex in Castle Hill.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-03/ray-hadley-and-sydney-dev…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.The Controversial Floodlights Illuminating New York City's Public-Housing Developments
(Paywall)The documentary short “Omnipresence” looks at the complicated ways that a set of bright lights, installed to help reduce nighttime crime, is affecting residents’ lives. (The New Yorker)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the…
# International, Public and community housing, Local Government.In 1964, Kohei Jinno was evicted from his home for the Tokyo Olympics. Fifty years later, it happened again
ABC (No paywall)When Kohei Jinno was evicted from his family home to clear the way for the construction of the National Stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he was sad but proud to contribute to Japan in a moment of national triumph. But when he was evicted again in 2013, at age 80, so the government could rebuild the stadium for the 2020 Games, it felt like a bitter twist of fate made worse by what he saw as official indifference.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-02/tokyo-man-evicted-twice-o…
# International, Eviction.