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
Racism and Housing
Martin Hilditch Inside Housing (Paywall)'Inside Housing 'is launching a new series of articles looking at racism and housing.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/inside-housing-launches-new…
# International, Public and community housing, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.Government inaction on taxing land windfalls is hurting Australians, Liberal MP says
Shane Wright and Katina Curtis The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Liberal MP John Alexander has criticised his own government for failing to properly capture the windfall profits flowing to developers around major infrastructure projects, warning without a new policy future generations will be left with ever-growing budget debt. The NSW MP, who is chair of the House of Representatives Infrastructure and Transport committee, said the federal budget would suffer ongoing budget problems if the government ignored calls for a form of a windfall gains tax on major infrastructure works like Sydney’s Western Sydney airport. Windfall gains are those which normally accrue to landowners who own undeveloped property that grows sharply in value because of rezoning or nearby new infrastructure such as light rail or a railway station.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-inaction-on-t…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.Black people 70% more likely to be impacted by housing crisis than white people
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)A major report by housing charity Shelter found that Black and Asian people are more likely to experience unaffordable, unfit or unstable living conditions. Polling of 13,000 Britons found that Black people are 70% more likely to be impacted by the housing emergency than white people, while Asian people are 50% more likely to be affected. In total, one million Black adults (57%) and 1.8 million Asian adults (48%) do not have a safe or secure home compared with white adults. ... Other groups that are disproportionately affected by the housing crisis include people with significant disabilities, single mothers, low-income households and members of the LGBTQ+ community. You may read Shelter's report entitled 'Denied the right to a safe home' at: [https://assets.ctfassets.net/6sxvmndnpn0s/13hLYmEooTpZ79D9bxc57m/a4f1f800618c8504441418aea50a0b74/Shelter_Denied_the_right_to_a_safe_home_Report.pdf]
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/black-people-70-more-likely…
# International, Disability, Housing market, LGBTIQ+, Mould, Race and ethnicity, Women.War on the demolishers? Probably not, and timing of NSW heritage review is curious
James Lesh and Cameron Logan The Conversation (No paywall)The New South Wales government has released a discussion paper expressing its ambition to review and “modernise” the Heritage Act (1977). ... One way to understand what has really prompted the review is to turn to the purpose of heritage legislation generally. Its primary stated objectives are to protect and promote heritage. ... Public confidence is paramount. Understandably, some suspect the hidden agenda of the NSW review is to fast-track development. Recent public comments by the state treasurer ... and government actions in connection with the Sirius Building ... erode confidence in the protection of heritage and urban governance more broadly.
https://theconversation.com/war-on-the-demolishers-probably-not-…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Heritage listings, Planning and development.How race impacts on people’s chances of living in a damp home or experiencing fuel poverty
Alex Turner Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Damp, mouldy conditions in social housing have led to shocking exposés in the national media recently, and sparked an investigation by the Housing Ombudsman. But in the first of our new series, Racism and Housing, Alex Turner digs into government statistics, to flag the less-talked-about fact that white residents are significantly less likely to be living in a home that is damp, or live in fuel poverty.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/how-race-impacts…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Mould, Race and ethnicity.Mortgage stress: More than 130,000 households in NSW and Victoria on the brink of crisis, CHOICE warns
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)More than 130,000 households in NSW and Victoria are on the brink of financial crisis as a result of mortgage stress, a shocking new report from consumer group CHOICE has revealed. As more people grow desperate to get into the rising property market and take on bigger mortgages, financial counsellors across the country admit they can barely keep up with their caseloads. And it’s now putting more pressure on the federal government’s plan to scrap responsible lending laws.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/mortgage-stress-more-than-130000-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.The lesson for Australia out of Victoria’s property tax hikes: two out of three ain’t bad
Brendan Coates The Conversation (No paywall)Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas’s three-pronged strategy to raise an extra A$2.7 billion in property taxes over the next four years is a case of two out of three ain’t bad.
https://theconversation.com/the-lesson-for-australia-out-of-vict…
# Australia, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Housing affordability: Essential workers forced to move hours from their jobs as rents and house prices boom
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Essential workers in Sydney and Melbourne are being forced to move far from where they work to afford to rent or buy a home, new research shows. Moderate-income workers such as nurses and teachers are struggling to afford housing and are moving away to avoid being in housing stress, defined as spending more than a third of their wage on housing-related costs. Check the media report at: [https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/05/27/key-workers-pushed-out-of-sydney-and-melbourne-by-high-housing-c.html]. You will find the full report at: [https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/67607/AHURI-Final-Report-355-Housing-key-workers-scoping-challenges-aspirations-and-policy-responses.pdf]
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-affordability-essential-w…
# Research alert Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Planning and development.