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
Push for affordable housing in empty offices but landlords say workers are returning
Alexandra Smith and Carolyn Cummins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is being urged to transform Sydney’s empty office space into affordable housing for key workers such as police and paramedics in his push to revitalise the CBD.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/push-for-affordable-housing-…
# NSW, Strata, Affordable housing, Housing market, State Government.Vacant CBD offices could be used for housing, NSW chief economist says
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s city office spaces left empty since the initial COVID-19 lockdown could be transformed into residential apartments similar to those in New York and London as a way to reinvigorate Australia’s economic centre, NSW’s chief economist says.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/vacant-cbd-offices-could-be-…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.Federal Budget 2021: What’s on the property wish list?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)A big social housing build, a boost to rent assistance and more work on energy efficiency are high on the budget wish lists of housing experts. But they’re not optimistic: recent federal budgets have taken a somewhat piecemeal approach to tackling the housing affordability crisis. ... Sydney University urban planner Professor Nicole Gurran is blunt, saying: “We need a massive step up in funding for social housing. “The last few budgets have been very disappointing when it comes to social and affordable housing assistance.”
This would create more homes for those most in need and would create jobs for construction industry workers, but that’s not all.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/federal-budget-2021-whats-on-the-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government.Reimagining of Glebe’s social housing estate a “much-needed win” for the inner-city community
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)Revised plans for housing renewal on Glebe’s Cowper Street and Wentworth Park Road have been heralded as an important victory for social housing tenants in the City of Sydney Local Government Area. NSW Government Minister for Water, Property & Housing Melinda Pavey announced last month its intentions to deliver 100 per cent new social housing on Cowper Street and Wentworth Park Road, with a total of 75 new homes to be completed, including five three-bedroom terrace homes for larger families. (City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/04/reimagining-of-glebes-socia…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.Cladding removal from first of 214 towers won’t start until end of year
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Apartment owners will have to wait until late this year before work starts on removing combustible cladding from the first of 214 high-rise residential buildings in Sydney and other parts of NSW.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/cladding-removal-from-first-…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.Germany: Berlin rent cap overturned by Germany’s top court
(No paywall)Germany’s constitutional court has decided that the Berlin rent cap violates Germany’s constitution. The cap is one of the most-debated laws in the country. Campaigners argued it was a vital way to preserve affordable housing in the German capital, where rents have been soaring for years. The German Property Foundation (ZIA) calculated last year that rents in new contracts in the city had risen 27% from 2013 to 2019 alone. (International Union of Tenants)
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/germany-berlin-rent-cap-overturne…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Struggling renters told to leave Sunshine Coast due to housing crisis in 'heartbreaking' St Vinnies warning
Jacqui Street, Amy Sheehan, and Meg Bolton ABC (No paywall)Residents struggling to find permanent accommodation in popular Queensland regional areas are being told they may have to move hundreds of kilometres away to secure long-term housing. ... Mr Harrison has lived on the Sunshine Coast for two decades and has never seen a housing crisis as bad as the one gripping the region. "I know it's stressful for families, because they might have a network here, they may have children at school here," he said. "But you can't live in a car for the rest of your life and that's what they would have to do if they were trying to stay here."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-20/rental-crisis-homelessnes…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.Unit prices fall in many city suburbs amid house-led real estate boom
David Chau ABC (No paywall)Despite house prices rising at their fastest pace in 32 years, apartments in Australia's most oversupplied cities aren't getting as much love from buyers. In some areas, unit prices have tumbled in the past year and still haven't recovered from their COVID-19 slump — with Sydney and Melbourne the worst hit capitals. Those cities, in particular, have relied heavily on international students and foreign workers being able to pass freely through Australia's borders, to rent out apartments that their investor landlords don't want to live in themselves.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/unloved-apartments-amid-r…
# Australia, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.