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
Renting while disabled: “Being in a wheelchair means I pay double the rent”
Alex Taylor BBC (No paywall)United Kingdom: For a generation priced out of home-ownership, renting is a key route to independence. But for wheelchair users, inaccessibility can make it an impossible dream...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/d5291d81-12d7-4216-abff-b…
# International, Disability, Home ownership, Renting culture.The Reserve Bank may cut interest rates to very close to zero — so what does that mean for borrowers and savers?
David Taylor ABC (No paywall)The Reserve Bank meets on Tuesday to decide whether or not to lower its cash rate target to 0.1 of a percentage point (from 0.25 percentage points). That takes us very close to a negative interest rate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-31/interest-rate-cut-to-nega…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing market, Home ownership.Developer to sell 147 apartments in one hit as market cracks widen
Simon Johanson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In a sign the coronavirus cracks in Melbourne’s central city apartment market are widening, China-backed developer Aurumstone Group has decided to sell 147 newly-completed apartments in one hit. The developer recently finished construction on its 19-level residential tower at 388 Lonsdale Street after converting an existing 12-storey office building to residential use and adding additional floors above. ... Industry sources suggest the 147 units may fetch around $70 million if the tower proves attractive to investors in the build to rent, serviced apartment, or hotel sectors.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/developer-to-sell-147-…
# Australia, Housing market, Coronavirus COVID-19.Holiday letting code delays betray long-suffering residents
Jimmy Thomson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It’s been more than two years since the NSW government first announced laws to regulate the short-term holiday letting industry. They included a proposed mandatory code of conduct to moderate the behaviour of hosts and guests. While the laws covering Airbnb and its ilk came in, somewhat belatedly, at the end of April this year, the code of conduct was nowhere to be seen ...
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/holiday-letting-code-delays-…
# Hot topic Australia, Short-term holiday letting.Aged care isn’t working, but we can create neighbourhoods to support healthy ageing in place
Melanie Davern and others The Conversation (No paywall)In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed issues and inequities across society. How we plan for ageing populations and older people is one critical issue that has been neglected for decades. ... If Gandhi is right, and the true measure of a society can be found in how we treat the most vulnerable, then Australia has a lot to learn from the 683 deaths from COVID-19 in residential aged care this year. Australia needs a radical shift to policies that better support ageing in place — that is, in their own homes — rather than relying so heavily on underfunded and poorly resourced residential aged care.
https://theconversation.com/aged-care-isnt-working-but-we-can-cr…
# Hot topic Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Older people.A more humane, less costly solution for aged care: stay at home
Pru Goward The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)... living longer at home is a solution to the challenge of caring for our frail elderly that could, for once, please everyone.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-more-humane-less-costly-soluti…
# Australia, Older people, Public and community housing.As a rent crisis looms, councils have a plan – the government should take note
Gaby Hinsliff The Guardian (No paywall)United Kingdom: Buying up cheap housing could provide a safety net to millions who may struggle to pay the bills as the pandemic continues
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/30/rent-crisi…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.I tried, and failed, to solve homelessness in Westminster. Here's what I learned
Robert White The Guardian (No paywall)United Kingdom: For almost seven years, I worked for Westminster city council to “reduce rough sleeping” – a task that was a lot harder than I had originally anticipated... There’s still some way to go, then.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/31/solve-home…
# International, Homelessness, Coronavirus COVID-19.