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
Sydney’s heritage homes: take a look inside the historic gems these homeowners have restored for modern living
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)At Australia’s oldest continuously working farm, the 204-year-old Glenfield Farm in Sydney’s south-west, Jennifer French sat at the dining table in her first winter there, wondering if she’d done the right thing buying it. ... Heritage homes in the city are often no less tricky to restore, maintain and live in. Dominic Emmett, a partner with lawyers Gilbert + Tobin, bought a near-derelict “Georgian gentleman’s townhouse” at Dawes Point, close to The Rocks, 10 years ago ... [Read on]
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydneys-heritage-homes-take-a-loo…
# NSW, Heritage listings.RBA warns against ‘over-exuberance’ as house prices rise
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Reserve Bank has warned that a debt-fuelled surge in house prices could leave households more exposed to financial shocks, as it urged banks not to let their lending standards slip. With house prices soaring at their fastest pace since the late 1980s, the RBA on Friday said it was closely watching the property market and the risk that ultra-low interest rates led to “over-exuberence”.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/rba-warns-ag…
# Australia, Housing market.‘Not in my domain’: Commissioner powerless to help woman at centre of Sydney defects debacle
Carrie Fellner and Nigel Gladstone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A Sydney woman has been told there is nothing the NSW Building Commissioner can do to help recover her life savings after she bought into a 300-apartment tower that had alleged major defects, despite him reportedly saying an investigation is “likely” to uphold her concerns.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/not-in-my-domain-commissione…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Design makes a place a prison or a home. Turning ‘human-centred’ vision for aged care into reality
Jan Golembiewski The Conversation (No paywall)The Royal Commission into Aged Care left organisations that provide housing for aged care wondering how they will put its recommendations into effect. Most of these recommendations relate to the models of care and levels of staffing in homes. Put simply, in the architectural rabbit warrens that typify aged-care facilities, there can never be enough staff to manage every nook. ... But don’t be mistaken. Architecture has a profound impact on how we live our lives, work and respond socially.
https://theconversation.com/design-makes-a-place-a-prison-or-a-h…
# Australia, Home, Housing market, Older people.Scammers exploit WA rental squeeze, leaving people homeless and out of pocket
Keane Bourke ABC (No paywall)Two young mothers are among a growing number of people losing thousands of dollars to rental scams in WA, with regulators linking the rise to the end of the state's rental moratorium almost two weeks ago. The moratorium ended on March 29, leaving many renters without accommodation and allowing landlords to raise prices and evict tenants with far fewer restrictions than had been in place since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-09/wa-rental-scams-on-the-ri…
# Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Ski season looking grim for Snowy Mountains businesses struggling with housing crisis
Keira Proust ABC (No paywall)Snowy Mountains businesses are worried about this year's ski season amid dire staff shortages and the region's ongoing housing crisis. ... "Everyone's got the same problem," cafe owner Renae Buechner said. "I've lost staff because they haven't been able to find accommodation to stay in the area."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-09/ski-season-worker-fears/1…
# NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.Social housing tenants enjoy Tasmania’s first community microgrid with solar and Tesla batteries
Sophie Vorrath (No paywall)Tasmania’s first community microgrid, which has combined 25.6kW of solar PV and 54kWh of Tesla battery storage, is successfully powering a group of social housing tenants at the edge of the state’s grid on the Tasman Peninsula.
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/social-housing-tenants-enjoy-ta…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas.Sydney’s renovation road, where knockdown rebuilds are a dime a dozen
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than a dozen major renovations are either under way or in the pipeline on this millionaires’ row after five development applications for knockdown rebuilds were lodged between May and November last year, one of which has already been approved.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-s-renovation-road-whe…
# NSW, Housing market.