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
Tenants asked to provide social media links as Privacy Commissioner warns against collecting unnecessary details
Rosie Gordon (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Rocketing rents and a highly competitive rental market mean some desperate tenants are willing to comply with requests for personal information just to get their foot in the door. Many are handing over links to social media accounts in the hopes of securing a place. (Newshub)
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/02/tenants-asked…
# Must read International, Privacy and access.Penrith’s social housing wait list grows to almost 1,700
Emily Feszczuk (No paywall)The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW is calling on the State Government to take action for the thousands of people that are in need of a home. This comes as the latest government figures show that the social housing waitlist in Penrith has grown to almost 1,700 applicants. (Westerner Weekender)
https://westernweekender.com.au/2021/02/penriths-social-housing-…
# NSW, Public and community housing.The role of Local Government in Victoria’s Big Housing Build
NENAD (No paywall)The Victorian State Government’s “Big Housing Build” announcement was widely well received, but left some in Local Government wondering what role they’ll be able to play. In this blog, Nenad breaks down the “Build” project and how Local Governments can be involved. (.id)
https://blog.id.com.au/2021/housing-analysis/the-role-of-local-g…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Local Government, State Government.Resilient housing market ‘helpful’ for COVID-19 economic recovery: RBA
Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Surging property values across the nation are being closely watched by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe but he says the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the economy would have been more difficult to grapple with if home prices had fallen.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/resilient-housing-market…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Housing market to remain strong on low rates and government handouts
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Australians are expected to keep sinking their cash into building new homes and bidding up house prices through the next six months as government handouts and record low interest rates underpin the market.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/housing-market-to-remain…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing market.Older people’s housing was a void in the planning and social housing white papers
Jane Ashcroft Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The past year has emphasised the importance of decent housing for older people. Yet older people’s housing was absent from the recent white papers on planning reform and social housing. This needs to be addressed, writes Jane Ashcroft
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/older-peoples-housing-wa…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Older people.New homes forecast for Sydney over next five years stuck in slow lane
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The number of new homes to be built in Sydney over the next five years will be significantly fewer than forecast by the state government before the coronavirus pandemic, prompting a warning from the construction industry that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk. An estimated 31,000 dwellings a year over the next five years is considered the most likely of three scenarios modelled by the NSW Department of Planning in its annual housing supply forecast.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/new-homes-forecast-for-sydne…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Lapping it up in inner city while west left high and dry
Elizabeth Farrelly The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Let’s be quite clear. A pool is not a beach. A beach is given by nature. A public swimming pool is a major investment of time and effort purely for the health and solace of others. As such, it’s a primary marker of civilisation. ... Two new Sydney pools illustrate the point. Gunyama Park Aquatic Centre opened in Green Square this week. Parramatta’s new Olympic pool should open in 2023. Both are most welcome, as our city heats and densifies. And both, from the same architectural team, are rather glam. Yet together they illuminate the entrenched Sydney habit of slewing public benefit towards the already privileged.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/lapping-it-up-in-inner-city-whil…
# NSW, Local Government, Planning and development.