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
The rise in rough sleeping and the refugee crisis underline the need for investment in new social housing
David Bogle Inside Housing (Paywall)What is the sense, David Bogle asks, in spending huge amounts of taxpayers’ money apparently indefinitely on disused airports, expensive hotel rooms and poor temporary private sector housing when the money could be invested in building and acquiring permanent, secure and well-managed social housing?
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/the-rise-in-roug…
# International, Public and community housing, Homelessness.London mayor calls for government-funded rebate to freeze rent for social tenants and shared owners
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)The mayor of London has called on the government to introduce a rebate to freeze rents for the capital’s 292,000 social housing tenants and shared owners. Sadiq Khan said the rebate – a partial refund that would equate to a rent freeze for tenants – could be fully funded by housing benefit savings ministers are already planning to make from limiting rent increases in the social sector.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-mayor-calls-for…
# International, Public and community housing.Is there a quicker way of getting more affordable housing?
Katrina Beavan ABC (No paywall)Trainees in central Queensland are renovating unused aged care cottages to help provide a faster solution to the affordable housing crisis. (ABC AM)
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/is-there-a-quicker-way-…
# Audio Australia, Affordable housing.‘Shame job’: Clifton Hill housing estate awash with raw sewage
Bianca Hall The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Residents of an inner-Melbourne public housing estate say raw sewage flowing under the building and into a shared courtyard has been making people sick. The Clifton Hill estate, on the corner of Rutland and Noone streets, is home to dozens of people. When The Age visited on Thursday, wads of sodden toilet paper and a flood of sewage were visible beneath a flat, partially hidden by a loose board at ground level. A children’s playground is metres away.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/shame-job-clifton-hill-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Repairs.How the great Australian dream became a nightmare
Gareth Evans ABC (No paywall)Owning a home was once seen as the path to a better life: the Great Australian Dream. But now it's an ambition out of reach for more and more Australians, with the reserve bank continuing to hike interest rates and a shortage in properties to buy. Today, business and economics reporter, Gareth Hutchens on the Government's pledge to build a million more homes and whether it will help, or even happen at all.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/abc-news-daily/the-great-a…
# Audio Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.NSW govt spruik '63-year' land tax benefit
Jack Gramenz (No paywall)Optional land tax will help first-home buyers purchase property sooner and save them money over the time they're expected to stay in the property, the NSW government says. Some could live in their property for 63 years and still pay less than they would for upfront stamp duty, NSW Treasury analysis says. That figure is for a first-home buyer buying a $1.5 million unit, the maximum eligible price. More realistically, "under reasonable assumptions", the Treasury analysis still shows those who opt for annual land tax will save money for more than 20 years. Premier Dominic Perrottet wants to start a trial in January of an optional land tax for first-home buyers. (Blue Mountains Gazette)
https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/7962953/nsw-govt-s…
# NSW, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Inside exempt accommodation: what it is really like to live in sub-standard supported housing
Jack Simpson Inside Housing (Paywall)This type of accommodation ... become[s] a crucial option for those who are hard to house, such as prison leavers, rough sleepers, refugees and migrants, and those experiencing substance-abuse issues. In many cases, the accommodation provided is of a good standard, the support is of a high level, and tenants have a positive experience that provides a foundation for moving into social housing or the private rented sector. However, there are more and more examples where the housing is substandard and there is next to no care, support or supervision. This is having a profoundly detrimental impact on people, many of whom are escaping trauma or illness and need a stable and supportive environment. ... [So with the number of sub-standard exempt accommodation properties on the increase across the country] what is it really like to live in one of these homes? Jack Simpson speaks to two people who have endured this type of housing.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/inside-exempt-ac…
# International, Homelessness, Local Government.Australian home prices fall for six months in a row as interest rate rises bite
Sue Lannin and Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)National property prices have fallen for the sixth month in a row as higher interest rates make the cost of borrowing more expensive.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-01/home-prices-property-inte…
# Australia, Housing market.