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
Watchdog orders more defects to be fixed in Sydney’s Opal Tower
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The builder and developer of Sydney’s Opal Tower have been ordered to fix defects in the 36-storey building more than two years after residents were forced to evacuate due to cracking. The state’s building watchdog handed formal orders to construction firm Icon and a company linked to developer Ecove on Thursday night due to concerns about incorrectly fitted aluminum shades on the tower’s facade, and defects related to fire-safety in the lobby areas. The orders to rectify the “serious defects” were also issued to the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, which owns the land on which the tower is built.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/watchdog-orders-more-defects…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Calls to overhaul solar panel scheme for renters amid slow take-up
Annika Smethurst The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Environment groups and the state’s peak social and community sector body are calling on landlords to pick up the bill for solar panel installation on rental properties, amid a slow take-up of a government scheme. Under the 2018 Victorian government program, eligible landlords can apply for a 50 per cent rebate of up to $1850 for the installation of solar panels as well as an interest-free loan to cover the upfront cost. That loan is then repaid by the landlord or split with the tenant who contributes up to 50 per cent of the monthly repayment at a maximum cost of $19.27 a month. The program is part of Victoria’s Solar Homes Program, which is offering 650,000 solar panel rebates to owner-occupiers and 50,000 to rental properties over 10 years to lower electricity bills and reduce carbon emissions.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/calls-to-overhaul-solar…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Landlords and agents, State Government.There is a little-known two-tier system within social housing. Thousands of tenants are paying the price
Ethan Te Ora (No paywall)Debbie Port is less equal than other social housing tenants. The 45-year-old feels that injustice deep in her bones, like she does the penetrating cold at her flat. She feels the sting each week, in her bank account, when the rent comes out. And she is far from alone in that predicament: there are thousands of people in social housing, potentially more than 10,000, on the wrong side of an arbitrary policy line. n 2013, the National government passed the Social Housing Reform Act, rejigging who was eligible to receive the income-related rental subsidy, otherwise known as the IRRS. The current Labour Government, since taking power in 2017, has kept those settings in place. Read on ... (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/our-truth/125681860/there-is-a…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.Home ownership plans ‘indefinitely shelved’ as soaring prices lock out young buyers
Jenny Noyes and Maeve McGregor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney couple Nina Betts and Harry Malcolm haven’t completely given up on the dream of owning their own piece of property somewhere in Australia. But their plans to buy have been put on ice since the pandemic hit and instead of falling, house prices everywhere went skywards. ... As for remaining in Sydney long term, they both agree it’s “not financially tenable” if they want to raise a family.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/home-ownership-plans-indefinitel…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.Boris Johnson’s planning reforms could turn southern England into urban sprawl
Simon Jenkins The Guardian (No paywall)The British government is trapped again by the picaresque politics of Boris Johnson. When the pandemic has subsided, the legacy of 2021 could yet be something more long-lasting – the permanent scarring of the landscape, courtesy of the 2019 parliament. ... At the root lies Johnson’s perfectly commendable ambition to “level up” the north and south. Britain has one of the most regionally divided economies in the developed world, with parts of northern England poorer than the regions that used to make up East Germany. Johnson rightly wants to divert wealth, talent, investment and productivity in that direction, but he has no clue what this means.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/25/boris-john…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.Grey nomads stuck in cramped caravan back lockdowns, say it's vital to protect community
Sandra Morello ABC (No paywall)Grey nomads Adrian and Janet Saw are among 13 million people across Australia who are in lockdown, except their home is on wheels. The New South Wales couple, who reside in caravan, have been caught up in South Australia's snap seven-day lockdown, which aims to stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus. While it may be daunting for many people living in cramped conditions, they take it in their stride — given it is not their first lockdown during their travels across Australia.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/lockdown-in-a-caravan-for…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people, Short-term holiday letting.Perth’s carbon neutral certified apartment building
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)A build-to-rent development in Perth has been certified carbon neutral under the government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Buildings, with claims it could be the first nationally.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/rating-tools/australias…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Housing market.How the housing boom is impacting families in regional Victoria
Patrick Wright ABC (No paywall)Jarred Holt is one of the many Australians who decided to flee the city for the country during the pandemic. The 35-year-old father of two left Melbourne with his family earlier this year. They moved to Castlemaine, a bustling small city in Victoria's Goldfields region. The plan was to buy a house. But as Jarred quickly found out, he wasn't the only one looking for a treechange. "We're looking for a place on a block with at least some backyard and three bedrooms, because we've got two kids. Rarely does anything come up in the $500,000 range," he says. Jarred and his family have ended up renting instead. ... While the boom is great for homeowners, rental prices are soaring and residents are worried locals will be pushed out of town. "Now the average rental price is about $400 per week for an average house. A couple of years ago that could have been $280," ... And [for Jarrad] while his family loves life outside the city, they never thought it would be so hard to find an affordable home.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/housing-boom-impacting-families-…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Regional NSW.