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
Perth hoteliers at centre of homeless housing scandal arrested, one charged
Mia Egerton-Warburton The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Police have launched raids on two convicted fraudsters at the centre of a homeless housing bill dispute.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-hotelier…
# Australia, Homelessness.Women turn to this Sydney home when they're at rock bottom — but there's no space left
Paige Cockburn ABC (No paywall)There's a terrace house nestled on a leafy Sydney street where the doorbell constantly rings. Its appearance is unremarkable, and people walking by it in Kings Cross wouldn't know a sanctuary lies behind the front door. Welcome to Lou's Place — the only daytime refuge for women in Sydney. Those who drop by aren't exaggerating when they say this place has kept them alive. Women who are homeless, escaping violence or dealing with serious trauma come from all parts of Sydney tap into what Lou's is providing — dignity and a way forward. But the cramped house is bursting at the seams and women have to be turned away every day.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-26/sydneys-lous-place-turnin…
# NSW, Homelessness, Personal stories, Women.Guilt by Associations
Suz Muna (No paywall)From United Kingdom ... [Housing] associations are increasingly indistinguishable from private developers and landlords, and their activities are increasingly focussed on market-level rents and sales. The result is that the interests of tenants and leaseholders trail in the wake of the board’s need to generate large surpluses and satisfy their lenders. (Red Brick)
# Must read International, Public and community housing, Housing market.Experts say this is what Australia needs to do to solve the housing crisis
Carol Raabus ABC (No paywall)What can we do with Australia's property market, with soaring prices and rental shortages in many regional areas of Australia, from WA's Pilbara to Hobart in Tasmania? ... Here are three policy areas they suggest Australia needs to address if we want to solve the housing crisis.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-27/policy-ideas-to-solve-nat…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Home ownership, Homelessness.The Victims of the Eviction Moratorium
(No paywall)From the United States ... A coalition of Chinese immigrant landlords in New York say they're on the verge of losing everything because of tenants who have stopped paying rent.
# Hot topic, Video International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Minister says housing agency ‘mistaken’ if they think he’ll do their bidding for Waterloo
Angus Thompson and Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes says the City of Sydney’s plan to redevelop the Waterloo public housing estate is superior to the one originally put forward by the state government agency overseeing it and the latter is mistaken if they believe they will get what they want. But he also said the council failed to reach a conclusion in a dispute with Land and Housing Corporation – the authority responsible for social housing – over the scale of the development, after warning on Tuesday he would intervene if a deadlock wasn’t resolved within weeks.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/minister-says-housing-agency…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.Bike-friendly, green space, working from home: New planning blueprint for life after COVID-19
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s planning rules will be drastically overhauled to make new developments encourage cycling over cars, ensure more people have access to green space, and build apartments with working from home in mind.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bike-friendly-green-space-wo…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.The royal commission report should give the Australian government a plan to fix aged care. Will they act on it?
Sarah Russell The Guardian (No paywall)If nothing else, the inquiry has shown us that we finally need to listen to older people and their families ... Read on.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/25/fridays-re…
# Australia, Federal Government, Older people.