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
‘With COVID we have a plan’: Housing back at top of Sydney’s worry list
Matt Wade and Sean Naden The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Housing costs have drawn level with health as the biggest worry for people in NSW as soaring property prices stoke fears about affordability. The Ipsos Issues Monitor, which asks a representative sample of NSW adults to identify the three most important issues facing the state, shows housing now ranks the equal top concern alongside health.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/with-covid-we-have-a…
# NSW, Housing affordability.Airbnb linked to falling rents in pandemic: study
Jimmy Thomson (Paywall)Rentals have gone down most during the pandemic in areas where short-term holiday lets had the biggest foothold, says report. (The Australian Financial Review) You can read the report at: [https://findingspress.org/article/23720-airbnb-during-covid-19-and-what-this-tells-us-about-airbnb-s-impact-on-rental-prices]
https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/airbnb-linked-to-fal…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.NSW to spend $250 million building and upgrading Aboriginal housing
Linda Morris The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than $259 million will be spent to build 250 new homes and renovate a further 7000 for Indigenous families as part of commitments to be made in the upcoming NSW budget. Indigenous community housing groups have been pushing for more social and affordable housing for Aboriginal people, particularly in inner Sydney, and warning that development and rising property prices are aggravating a shortage of affordable housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-to-spend-250-million-bui…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Repairs, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.How much our cold flats are really costing us
Mikaela Wilkes (No paywall)OPINION: A strange and unfamiliar sensation settled over me the first time I stepped foot inside the Auckland home I now rent. I took my heavy coat off and the surface of my skin turned tingled from the abrupt temperature change from the crisp air on the porch. The crackle of a fresh log on a fireplace bathed the lounge in a welcoming glow. The long timber hallway typical of villas opened out into the kitchen and dining at the other end of the house, but the space was equally cosy, in the mid-June evening, thanks to the gentle whirring of a heat pump. Warmth. For the first time in my young adult life, I had stumbled upon an affordable bedroom that didn’t immediately make me want to take refuge under a thick set of covers. Jackpot.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/125226508/how-m…
# International, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Minimum habitability standards.There is an evictions crisis happening right under our noses
Aditya Chakrabortty The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... For weeks, newspapers and campaigners have been warning of a looming evictions crisis. Of landlords free again, as of this month, to set the bailiffs on their tenants. Of hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes. Of an entire market teetering on a “cliff edge”. A terrifying prospect – except it doesn’t lie in the distance. An evictions crisis is already here and it is ripping through people’s lives.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/10/evictions-…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Our own Nomadland: the Australians caught in a COVID blind spot
Amanda Davies and Sarah Prout Quicke The Conversation (No paywall)Australians have been told to stay home during lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While evidence of the efficacy of this approach as a public health strategy during a pandemic is compelling, lockdowns and mobility restrictions are inevitably disruptive for many – virtually everyone. However, a group that has largely been overlooked is Australia’s nomadic population. Periods of lockdown are particularly challenging for these people, who live in vans, RVs, caravans and boats.
https://theconversation.com/our-own-nomadland-the-australians-ca…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Boarders face homelessness with eviction next month
Sage Swinton (Paywall)Dozens of residents, including recovering drug addicts, elderly citizens, and people with disabilities, are facing homelessness after being issued 29-day eviction notices on their Cooks Hill boarding house. ... The property was bought last year by Aspen Group, which says the building is old, being completed in 1954, and in need of major repairs. Here's a media report at the time of purchase. Go to: [https://www.realestatesource.com.au/aspen-buys-newcastle-build-to-rent-block/]. You can check out Aspen's 'Ethical, Social & Corporate Governance' Statement at: [https://aspenholidayparks.com.au/investor/ethical-social-and-corporate-governance/]
https://app.newcastleherald.com.au/2021/06/11/boarders-face-home…
# NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Eviction, Regional NSW.Women fleeing domestic violence ‘trapped’ in refuges due to lack of housing, advocates say
Ben Smee The Guardian (No paywall)Women and children fleeing domestic violence in Queensland have spent years “trapped” in refuges and other crisis accommodation due to a chronic shortage of secure long-term housing. Community organisations that run domestic and family violence refuges say the situation creates a bottleneck in crisis accommodation – leaving vulnerable women with an “impossible choice” of living for extended periods in secondary homelessness or choosing to return to unsafe or violent relationships.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/09/women-fle…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.