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
Home ownership dream out of reach as prices skyrocket
Henrietta Cook The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Jessica Broome has been searching for a home for seven months and during that time open for inspections have evolved into events that resemble music festivals. ... Like many Victorians hoping to get their foot into the property market, Ms Broome is growing increasingly despondent, particularly in light of predictions that Melbourne’s median house price will hit $1 million by June. It’s a figure Ms Broome describes as “intimidating” and the 41-year-old is on the cusp of giving up on her dream of owning a home.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/home-ownership-dream-ou…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Three million English households face fuel poverty in 2021, projections show
Emily Beament (No paywall)One in eight households in England will struggle to pay their fuel bills for heating draughty homes in 2021, official projections show. Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggest the proportion of families in fuel poverty will fall from 13.4% or 3.18 million homes in 2019, to 12.5% or 3 million homes in 2021. But nearly half of low-income households are still living in energy-leaking homes, with campaigners warning the rate of improvements is well below what is needed to lift people out of fuel poverty by a target date of 2030. (Standard)
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/campaigners-english-europe-en…
# International, Utilities water energy internet, Minimum habitability standards.ACT Housing to evict single mother and children from home deemed unliveable five years ago
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)Alex and her four children have been living in a home where lead paint flakes into the babies' cots and broken plumbing floods the carpet of her son's bedroom. Since falling pregnant five years ago, Alex has begged ACT Housing constantly to repair the property, which was assessed at the time as being "not fit for habitation". The 33-year-old said the property's issues had been unaddressed until today, when ACT Housing delivered an eviction notice, saying Alex had a week to leave the condemned home, because it was too unsafe.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/act-housing-eviction-moth…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Repairs, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials.‘People are desperate’: Regional renters forced to apply for homes sight unseen
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Real estate agents in regional areas with housing shortages are asking prospective tenants to complete a rental application before letting them attend a property inspection. Leo Patterson Ross, the chief executive of the Tenants Union, said this practice used to be rare but it had taken off in the past six months across regional NSW, including the Central Coast, Illawarra, Hunter Valley, New England and Riverina.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/people-are-desperate-regiona…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.... a rugby lunch to honour Wallaby great David Campese
Peter FitzSimons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Line of the day however, went to Vince Sorrenti: “And in club rugby,” he said, “we are looking forward to the big local derby, Eastern Suburbs v Randwick or, as we call it, ‘the Landlords v Tenants match’.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/more-australians-are-becoming-le…
# NSW, Sydney.Disabled car parks 'discriminatory to able-bodied people', man in wheelchair told
Sophie Volker, Rebecca Levingston and Edwina Seselja ABC (No paywall)All four disabled car parks in a community housing complex in Brisbane have been water blasted and the wheelchair symbol removed after the housing department acted on a complaint that argued the accessible spots discriminated against able-bodied people.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/disabled-car-parks-discri…
# Australia, Discrimination, Public and community housing, Disability.Rosie and Ernie have struggled to find a home
Frank Film (No paywall)From New Zealand .... What can a seven-year-old boy teach a Christchurch MP about community housing? Frank Film investigates.
https://www.facebook.com/frankfilmnz/videos/220152713246940/
# Video International, Public and community housing.Tasmania, Hobart house prices soar to unaffordable levels, reaching ‘crisis point’
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)House prices in Tasmania’s Hobart rose an extraordinary 15.9 per cent last year – the second sharpest increase of all the nation’s capital cities – to reach a record median of $601,567, now topping that of Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Outside the capital, there’s been an even more massive surge in prices in some areas, with one suburb north-east of Hobart recording an incredible 26.8 per cent rise, Launceston seeing a 23 per cent jump and the Derwent Valley, 22.8 per cent.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/tasmania-hobart-house-prices-soar…
# Australia, Housing market.