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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
People with dementia are twice as likely to get COVID, US study finds
Pam Belluck The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)From New York ... People with dementia had significantly greater risk of contracting the coronavirus, and they were much more likely to be hospitalised and die from it, than people without dementia, a new study of millions of medical records in the United States has found. Their risk could not be entirely explained by characteristics common to people with dementia that are known risk factors for COVID-19: old age, living in a nursing home and having conditions like obesity, asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/people-with-dementia-…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Older people.Texas homeless face limited options for food and warmth amid winter storm
Erum Salam (No paywall)As Texas remains in the grip of an arctic blast that has left millions of people without power for several days advocates are warning of a growing crisis for the homeless in the state. The homeless and the elderly are always the most vulnerable populations in a natural disaster, and many in Texas are facing limited options for food or warmth as the state struggles to deal with the freezing temperatures and deep snow.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/16/texas-storm-snow…
# International, Homelessness.A regenerative housing estate at Gisborne that’s attracted a lot of savvy people and community buy in
Poppy Johnson The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Glen Junor in Gisborne is liveable, carbon positive and good for your hip pocket, with half the land to remain open for people and nature to share. Modelled on Serenbe in the US ...
https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/a-reg…
# Australia, Utilities water energy internet, Planning and development.Using super for homes will mean ‘bigger mortgages’, Labor says
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Allowing young people to use their superannuation to buy into the property market would drive up house prices and leave them with larger mortgages, Labor is warning as it encourages the Morrison government to support NSW’s move to axe stamp duty to make homes more affordable.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/using-super-for-homes-wi…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Social landlords accused of inaction on racial harassment
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)More must be done to stamp out racial harassment in social housing, former sector leaders have said. In an open letter to the National Housing Federation (NHF), former housing association chief executives and directors of housing called on the trade body to initiate a “rapid review of the advice, practice and governance of racial harassment in social housing”.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/social-landlords-accus…
# International, Discrimination, Public and community housing.Sydney developer’s plans for old James Hardie site suffer setback
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The state government has further frustrated Sydney property developer Charlie Demian’s plans to redevelop the heavily contaminated former James Hardie asbestos factory site near Parramatta. The Department of Planning has refused his company’s request for a change to planning rules which would clear the way for a large mixed-use development on the 6.7-hectare site at Camellia, comprising 3200 homes and buildings up to 126 metres tall, or 40 storeys.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-developer-s-plans-for…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.House prices to rise by 16 per cent over 2021 and 2022: CBA forecast
Ellen Lutton Domain (Paywall)Australia is on the “cusp of a housing boom”, according to the Commonwealth Bank, which has forecast house prices will skyrocket by a massive 16 per cent over the next two years. An economics issues paper by the bank’s head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, predicted national house prices would rise 9 per cent rise in 2021 and a further 7 per cent in 2022.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/house-prices-to-rise-by-14-per-ce…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘Last gasp in rollercoaster ride’: CBA tips property prices to rise 14 per cent within two years
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)It could cost you an extra $110,000 to $160,000 to buy a house in Sydney or Melbourne by the end of next year, with prices in capital cities tipped to increase 14.4 per cent over the next 24 months. Those are the latest predictions from economists at Commonwealth Bank, who believe Australia’s latest housing boom will deliver massive price increases across every capital city by 2022.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/02/15/housing-p…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.