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
Entire inner west mapped for six-storey apartments
Max Maddison and Michael McGowan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A sensitive NSW government analysis of its signature housing reform proposals says the entire inner west local government area would be zoned to allow six-storey apartments, in a dramatic reshaping of some of Sydney’s most affluent neighbourhoods. But the same 12-page briefing document also reveals there is little chance the government’s push for increased density will help it reach the ambitious 378,000 National Housing Accord targets agreed to by Premier Chris Minns last year.
https://amp-smh-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.smh.com.au/pol…
# Hot topic NSW, .Warby St, Campbelltown: ‘Serious defects’ had to be addressed in new public housing complex
Inasha Iftekhar Daily Telegraph (Paywall)‘Serious defects’ were identified in a newly completed $22 million social housing apartment complex in Sydney’s southwest just months before residents were meant to move in.
The six-storey apartment complex located at 44 Warby St in Campbelltown contains 41 apartment units and 57 underground carparking spaces. Providing much needed housing for close to 100 residents, ranging from young families to people at risk of homelessness.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/warby-st-c…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Security and safety.Understanding the layout of apartments in Sydney: are we meeting the needs of developers rather than residents?
Hazel Easthope & Philip Oldfield Taylor & Francis (Paywall)In Australia’s major cities the new apartment approvals and number of apartment residents has increased over recent years. However, there remain concerns regarding the poor design quality of apartments and the living experiences of families with children. This paper examines the floor plan of 368 apartments in Sydney, including floor areas and number of bedrooms.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2024.23216…
# Hot topic NSW, .Taking on LA's Housing Crisis, Corporate Landlords & Homelessness With Nithya Raman
Lovett or Leave It (No paywall)VIDEO: Nithya Raman joins Lovett or Leave It to chat with Jon about Los Angeles' housing crisis, homelessness in her district and dealing with corporate landlords spending millions to unseat her.
# Video International, .How the housing crisis is impacting culture in Manchester
Hugh Morris Dazed (No paywall)In January 2024, the University of Manchester opened a light installation on its campus. “I’m meant to be here,” a line from a poem commissioned by the university in its bicentennial year, was placed in purple neon letters on a bridge linking two campus buildings. To students traipsing along the Oxford Road corridor, it’s a small act of positive reinforcement for one of the biggest, most international university communities in the country. But to others, it might seem vaguely threatening. “I’m meant to be here,” the neon sign implies, as it looks towards the increasingly studentified neighbourhood of Hulme. “And you’re not.”
https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/62029/1/manche…
# Hot topic International, .Lord Salisbury’s message for the housing ombudsman
Peter Mares Inside Story (No paywall)“Complaints have the ability to reveal the truth,” says England’s housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway. And the truth, as he sees it, is that Britain’s social housing system has lost focus, particularly on the intimate connection between housing and health. Blakeway receives a lot of complaints. More than one in six people in England live in social rentals (compared to fewer than one in twenty in Australia). That’s about four million households, and Blakeway’s office is the place to go if they have a beef with their landlords, whether those institutions are not-for profit housing associations or local councils.
https://insidestory.org.au/lord-salisburys-message-for-the-housi…
# International, Public and community housing.Renting reforms: Ministers discuss watering down no-fault eviction proposals
Harry Farley BBC (No paywall)England: Ministers are consulting backbench Tory MPs on watering down planned protections for renters in England. The BBC has seen a series of draft government amendments to a forthcoming bill which aims to ban landlords from evicting tenants without a reason. The proposed changes were circulated with Tory MPs who had expressed concerns about the bill and wanted to increase rights for landlords. The government insisted it would still ban no-fault evictions by the election.
# New policy announcement International, .‘They’re not dog boxes’: The non-profit taking on Kāinga Ora
Jonathan Killick Stuff (No paywall)Aotearoa, New Zealand: When Neha* collected up her most precious possessions in a box and hid them in a bushes, she had no idea where she was running to, she just knew she had to escape. After 35 years of marriage, the devoted mother had become the victim of family violence and was uplifted from her home by police. “He wasn’t going to let me go. I thought I was going to have to die there,” Neha said. After being placed in Women’s Refuge, Neha didn’t know how to begin her life again. She was among 25,000 Kiwis on the housing register waitlist, either homeless or scraping by.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350196365/theyre-not-dog-boxes-n…
# International, Domestic violence, Public and community housing.