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 forced to make sacrifices as Wollongong rents continue to surge: Everybody's Home data
Grace Crivellaro Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Wollongong tenants are paying up to more than $70 more than they did a year ago, new data has revealed - a situation which has choked the budgets of many.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7996414/this-is-how-mu…
# NSW, Housing affordability.‘Own goal’: Plan to clear bushland for new homes divides government MPs
Andrew Taylor and Natassia Chrysanthos The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Two senior government ministers are privately furious about plans to build hundreds of new homes in Sydney bushland, setting up a fresh political battleground for independents seeking to win the Liberals’ heartland northern beaches seats in the March state election.
As the Coalition prepares to campaign on its environmental credentials to stave off the “teal” threat in next year’s poll, a growing stoush over plans to clear bushland and build 450 homes at Lizard Rock in Belrose, progressed under new planning rules championed by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, will give local fuel to an independent campaign.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/own-goal-plan-to-clear-bushl…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.NSW family of seven stuck living in a tent amid housing crisis
Rhiannon Lewin 7 News (No paywall)or four weeks, Patricia Thompson bore the full brunt of Australia’s escalating housing crisis.
She, her partner and their five children were crammed inside a torn, old tent as they waited helplessly for a house to live in.
The tent wasn’t a long-term solution for the family-of-seven, with a strict deadline approaching for them to be evicted from the caravan park they were camping in.
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/nsw-family-of-seven-stuck-living-…
# Video NSW, Eviction, Housing affordability.Have your say about keeping pets in rental homes
RSPCA RSPCA (No paywall)RSPCA NSW is encouraging animal lovers across the state to have their say about pets in rental homes.
Currently, landlords in NSW can refuse to allow a tenant to keep a pet without providing a reason unless it’s an assistance animal. With 70 percent of Australian households owning at least one pet, these current restrictions can present serious obstacles for renters and their companion animals, often resulting in traumatic and heartbreaking outcomes.
https://www.rspcansw.org.au/blog/media-releases/have-their-say-a…
# Hot topic NSW, .Homes for people: Housing solutions for everyone
TUNSW (No paywall)In November, the Tenants' Union of NSW, along with our Homes for People coalition partners, launched the election advocacy platform Homes for People: Housing Solutions for Everyone at a briefing event at NSW Parliament House.
Homes for People is a coalition of NSW housing campaigns - including Make Renting Fair, Building Better Homes, Healthy Homes for Renters, and Ageing on the Edge. We came together to give focus to the problems many people face in relation to housing. We are calling for housing reform that will create the homes people want and need; homes that provide shelter, safety, stability, and comfort.
https://www.tenants.org.au/news/homes-people-housing-solutions-e…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Disability.Electricity is a hot topic but little has changed for residents in land lease communities
Julia Davis (No paywall)There have been a number of consultations, reviews and inquiries into electricity in NSW over the past couple of years. The Tenants’ Union provided submissions to a number of these inquiries raising the numerous issues that are impacting renters in NSW around electricity.
A couple of months ago Eloise Parrab (Land Lease Communities Officer) and Jemima Mowbray (Policy & Advocacy Manager) from the Tenants’ Union were invited to be witnesses at the NSW Government Law and Safety Committee Inquiry into Embedded Networks in NSW. In our submission and at a parliamentary hearing we put forward to the committee the issues and problems faced by residents living in residential land lease communities where they have embedded networks. We made recommendations on how to resolve these issues.
https://www.tenants.org.au/thenoticeboard/news/electricity-hot-t…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Land lease communities, Utilities water energy internet.Tenants' Union Annual Report 2021-22
TUNSW (No paywall)The 2021-2022 financial year began with Sydney under a strict four-month lockdown to curb an outbreak of the delta coronavirus variant and finished with severe weather, flooding, and a deepening housing crisis across NSW.
Through these challenging times, the Tenants' Union has maintained our resilience and deep commitment to supporting NSW renters. Whether it's through online resources, advocacy or supporting the advice provided by the network of Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services, the Tenants' Union works with and for renters, for housing justice.
Almost 1 million affordable homes needed by 2041 for most at risk
Shane Wright and Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Almost 1 million households, many in Sydney and Melbourne, face housing stress or living in unsuitable accommodation over the next two decades unless there is a ramp-up in community housing.
Ahead of the federal government’s first meeting of financial leaders to discuss its Housing Accord, research to be released on Tuesday shows demand for proper housing aimed at low-income earners will climb more than 50 per cent by 2041 in many parts of the country.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/almost-1-million-afforda…
# Research alert NSW, Public and community housing, Housing affordability, Sydney.