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
How about light, air and simplicity? Victoria’s social housing project delivers density and delight
Duncan Murphy The Fifth Estate (No paywall)The Victorian government is forging ahead with its 5.3 billion Australian dollar Big Housing Build initiative, having last week revealed the winners of the Future Homes design competition. ... Melbourne-based firm LIAN, will be the first to see its design brought to life ... LIAN’s proposal, titled Freespace, attempts to inject the advantages of a single family home into higher density residencies through innovative use of public and private space.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/how-about…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market.First home buyer boom masks a much bigger problem
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)... the unfolding property bonanza is only likely to worsen housing inequality between the generations. The reality is the Great Australian Dream of home ownership has been slipping out of reach from more and more younger people in recent decades. It’s hard to see the recent bounce in first home buyers as much more than a blip.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/first-home-buyer-boo…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.When will house prices go down?
ABC (No paywall)In recent months there's been an astonishing spike in house prices across the country. Sydney prices had the most rapid rise, up 3.7 per cent while housing values in regional areas rose 11.4 per cent over the past year. (Martin North, Principal of Digital Finance Analytics, on RN Breakfast)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/when-wil…
# Audio Australia, Housing market.Rental stress for NT pensioners locked out of public housing because of asset limit change
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)Ms [Frances] Czoloszynski lives in a private rental in Palmerston where she pays below-market rent to a private property owner, earns a pension and has few assets. When [she] retired at 67 last June, she took a pre-emptive step to secure government housing. But she said she was rejected because she had about $100,000 in superannuation. in January 2016 — under the former CLP government — the asset limit for new tenants was slashed from about $195,000 to $60,000. It has since risen over that period to about $70,000, but people like Ms Czoloszynski remain ineligible.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-06/nt-public-housing-asset-r…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Women.After bugs, mold, and ceiling collapse, an affordable housing complex for veterans in NE Portland will shut down
Rebecca Ellis (No paywall)From the United States ...The property was meant to provide affordable and supportive housing for formerly homeless veterans. Residents say they’ve been neglected since day one. For years, residents of Sandy Studios, a publicly-funded apartment complex in Northeast Portland for formerly homeless veterans, say their steady stream of complaints about the condition of the building went unheeded — until they became impossible to ignore. (OPB)
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/31/ne-portland-apartments-sa…
# International, Repairs, Affordable housing, Landlords and agents, Mould.Fresh calls for HomeBuilder extension as industry reports record growth
EUan Black The New Daily (No paywall)The Morrison government is under pressure from Labor to extend the final HomeBuilder deadline after new data showed the construction industry is growing at its fastest pace since before the global financial crisis.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/04/07/homebuild…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Commercial tenants and landlords at a ‘stalemate’ after rent relief measures end
Allison Worrall (Paywall)There is an air of uncertainty as commercial landlords and tenants enter into lease agreements and negotiations as stimulus measures and rental relief efforts introduced last year are wound up across the country. ... Rental relief agreements between landlords and tenants have now ended in all states except Queensland, where the relief period was extended to April 30. The changes coincide with the end of the federal government’s JobKeeper payments to COVID-affected businesses, raising concerns it could spell a wave of distressed selling.
https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/news/commercial-tenants-…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Trade and product shortages amid homebuilder grant-induced building boom 'a perfect storm', industry experts say
Rachel McGhee ABC (No paywall)Australia's building sector is bearing the brunt of a "perfect storm" of events, with near-record new home approvals putting intense pressure on supply chains and sparking construction delays.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-07/qld-tradie-shortage-amid-…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.