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
National Rental Affordability Scheme's end prompting homelessness fears for single mother
Tobi Loftus ABC (No paywall)Melanie Richardson's fear that she might end up living in a car with her two autistic children in central Queensland is never far from mind. The mother of two rents a home in the Gladstone suburb of Tannum Sands through the federal government's National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), which provides subsidised rentals to people on lower incomes. The scheme was set up by the former federal Labor government in 2008, but axed by the former Liberal government in 2014, with the last subsidised properties set to exit the scheme in 2026. "We did find out that the NRAS program was ending not through our real estate agent, but through talking to neighbours," Ms Richardson said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/single-mother-terrified-o…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Homelessness.Black women endure legacy of racism in homeownership and making costly repairs
Robin Bartram The Conversation (No paywall)As a sociologist who has spent the past 10 years studying housing conditions in the U.S., I led a research team that conducted interviews with homeowners who are struggling with basic maintenance such as rotting wood siding and floors, mold, crumbling brickwork, outdated plumbing and leaking ceilings.
https://theconversation.com/black-women-endure-legacy-of-racism-…
# International, Discrimination, Home ownership.Damning aged care audit reveals abuse and neglect of residents across Australia
Christopher Knaus The Guardian (No paywall)Aged care residents have been left with festering wounds, abused for wanting to use the toilet, overcharged, and wrongly blocked from attending funerals due to Covid-19, a new audit has found. The Older Persons Advocacy Network (Opan) audited 27,000 calls made by aged care residents, families and carers to aged care advocates in recent years, finding inadequate staffing was “a major factor in poor-quality aged care and inadequate access to care”. The report includes shocking details of abuse and neglect in aged care in the past 12 months, including, in one case, staff ignoring a wound for so long that doctors deemed it “required amputation”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/12/damning-a…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people.Private sector involvement in social and affordable housing
Richard Benedict, Nicole Gurran, Catherine Gilbert, Carrie Hamilton, Steven Rowley and Sha Liu AHURI (No paywall)AHURI Report ... This research investigates models for engaging private sector investors and developers in financing or delivering social and affordable housing, across different market segments and tenures in Australia and internationally. It also identifies key existing and potential players, and financial, regulatory, or development barriers to wider participation. ... This study highlighted that a range of established and emerging affordable housing product types can be supported through collaboration with private not-for-profit and for-profit partners. These strategies include public private partnerships, mixed tenure developments, tax subsidies for affordable supply, home ownership schemes, build to rent and inclusionary planning mechanisms. These depend on different combinations of government subsidy, policy settings, and regulation, and are suitable for delivery across a variety of different development contexts.
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Landlords and agents, Planning and development, Tax.AHURI evaluates NSW Homelessness Industry and Workforce Development Strategy in NSW
Homelessness NSW AHURI (No paywall)Homelessness NSW has released its evaluation of the Homelessness Industry and Workforce Development Strategy 2017-2020, undertaken by AHURI’S Professional Services team. ... Overall, the evaluation found that the Strategy was implemented and delivered well, with most managers (85%) thinking it was effective or very effective in responding to sector needs. The evaluation found that all programs collaborate with other organisations in formal and informal ways, which facilitates better services and better client outcomes and allows services to support each other. The impact of COVID-19 on the sector was also widely acknowledged.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/ahuri-evaluates-nsw-homel…
# Research alert NSW, Homelessness.Mould and real estates & Sydney rental market sinks to new low
Backchat (No paywall)... Next, we're joined by First National Real Estate CEO, Ray Ellis to unpack mould issues in rental properties and the tension between tenants and their real estate when it comes to rectifying issues like this. Finally, you'll hear a chat with Leo Patterson-Ross from the NSW tenants union about the worsening state of Sydney's rental market.
https://fbiradio.com/945fm/programs/backchat/2022-10-08/syd-rent…
# TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Rent, Housing market, Mould, Sydney.Unblocking Homes Program
(No paywall)The Unblocking Homes Program is a package of initiatives to help councils unlock the supply of new houses to ensure NSW’s growing population has a safe, secure and affordable place to call home. ... The NSW Government is providing such support to councils through the Unblocking Homes Program, an $11.5 million package for financial year 2022/2023 that contains 7 initiatives to boost resourcing for councils to progress projects stuck in the planning system and clear pathways for housing delivery. (NSW Department of Planning and Environment)
https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Policy-and-Legislation/Housing/U…
# NSW, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Rockhampton's flood prone Depot Hill is attracting homebuyers with affordable prices deemed worth the risk
Rachel McGhee ABC (No paywall)A double-storey home on a large block, with beautiful river views, that's walking distance to the CBD – all for under $300,000. It might seem too good to be true in today's real estate climate. But it's a reality for Tania Wissemann, who bought her Rockhampton home earlier this year for just $289,000. "When I walked in it felt like home and I just had this beautiful view to wake up to." That affordability came with a catch. The home Ms Wissemann bought is in Depot Hill, a suburb notorious for flooding.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-11/buying-house-in-a-flood-z…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.