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
Sleeping in shifts: Understanding the reality of Sydney’s homeless surge
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)Leading housing experts have become increasingly concerned with the housing structures propelling homelessness patterns in the inner-city. On any given night in Australia, over 120,000 people will be separated from secure housing, shelter and safety. Closer to home, it’s estimated that there are over 250 Sydneysiders forced to journey the side streets and alleyways of the city each night, with funds for backpacker accommodation scarce and dreams of a home fleeting. But the patterns and conventions of homelessness are changing. ... [Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler] worries that the focus towards high-density residences will leave those in severely overcrowded dwellings increasingly marginalised from support. “The NSW Government does not have a very big or firm program to deliver 5, 6, 7 bedroom dwellings … and yet we know that that’s a big and growing area of worry,” Engeler said. (City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/08/sleeping-in-shifts-understa…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.Why Do We Make Things So Hard for Renters?
Ron Lieber The New York Times (Paywall)From the United States ... For struggling homeowners in the pandemic’s first year, there was hope early on that these hard times would not put people with mortgages out in the street. ... Renters weren’t so lucky. Sure, there were federal and regional eviction moratoriums, but it took nearly a year for Congress to come through with actual payment assistance, and that has only trickled out so far. Plus, it came with a host of restrictions and hurdles to clear — heaped on top of a population where millions were already in a precarious financial position. We should say it out loud: When it comes to public policy, people who do not own their own homes are treated like second-class citizens.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/your-money/rental-assistance-…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government.City plan was Sydney’s first foray into a strategy designed for the people
Robert Freestone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Few modern plans or planners receive memorials for far-sighted visions. The modest plaque commemorating the City of Sydney Strategic Plan (CSSP) of 1971 and project director George Clarke in Selwyn Street, Paddington is thus doubly exceptional. Unveiled in 2007 by Clover Moore doing her own juggling act as lord mayor and local MP, the memorial records the four driving aspirations of the plan: environment, diversity, accessibility and management. The CSSP was officially adopted by the City Council 50 years ago this week. Departing radically from the dry legalism of statutory planning schemes, it presented an innovative and accessible vision grounded in human-centred urbanism.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/city-plan-was-sydney-s-first…
# History NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, Sydney.Our Backyard helps Jenny Ransom, 74, find a home after being homeless and sleeping in car
Sage Swinton (No paywall)At 74-years-old, Jenny Ransom spent about nine months sleeping in her car. After suffering domestic violence, she was forced to leave her home and the dire rental market meant she couldn't secure another place to live. Ms Ransom, now 75, has thankfully since found a home of her own, but her story highlights the concerning housing and homelessness situation happening across the country, off the back of National Homelessness Week last week. While she was sleeping rough, Ms Ransom was part of the fastest growing demographic of homeless people - women aged over 55. (Newcastle Herald)
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7375947/i-never-dreamed…
# Hot topic NSW, Domestic violence, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Older people, Women.Church of England mulls setting up own housing association
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)The Church of England is considering setting up its own housing association as part of an effort to do more to tackle the housing crisis in the country. ... Ben Preece Smith, diocesan secretary of Gloucester, said a housing association could be set up to help the Church fulfil the recommendations set out in a recent report commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Published in February, the 'Coming Home: Tackling the Housing Crisis Together' report said the Church must make more of its own land to facilitate the development of “genuinely affordable housing”. ... In January, the Church of England appointed Bishop of Loughborough, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, to be its first ever bishop for housing. As part of this role, Bishop Guli will lead the efforts to implement the recommendations of the Coming Home report.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/church-of-england-mull…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market.The plans that would have turned Sydney into Paris under the Southern Cross
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)If the late Sir John Sulman’s plans to create a Paris Down Under had been realised, Sydney would have been lined with grand boulevards including one that would have swept down to Circular Quay.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-plans-that-would-have-turned…
# History NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Sydney.Government revives energy bill support during COVID-19 lockdown
Peter Hannam The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Berejiklian government has re-introduced a temporary measure that increases the amount households can apply for to help meet their energy bills during the COVID-19 lockdown. Eligible applicants can secure as much as $1600 a year to pay for their gas and electricity costs, up from the standard annual maximum of $1200.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/government-revi…
# NSW, Utilities water energy internet, Coronavirus COVID-19, State Government.Thousands freeze mortgage payments as Sydney lockdown bites
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Banks have frozen repayments on 14,500 home loans as a result of the latest round of lockdowns, highlighting the growing financial toll being inflicted by restrictions in NSW especially.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/thousands-fr…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership.