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
Why Australians needn't panic about possible interest rate rises as RBA ponders next step
Ian Verrender ABC (No paywall)For months now, the world's money mandarins have been sounding the alarm that the great global experiment on free money is drawing to a close. And in recent weeks, their cries have become more shrill. Interest rates will be rising sooner, faster and to higher levels than previously expected.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-31/why-australia-should-not-…
# Australia, Housing market, International.Pension fund invests £130m in 600-home regeneration scheme
Stephen Delahunty Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A pension fund has invested £130m in a mixed build-to-rent and affordable housing scheme of 600 homes as part of one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects. ... The Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) will be the sole investor for the development, which includes 500 build-to-rent one and two-bedroom apartments and an affordable housing component of 100 homes. Rents on the affordable homes will be a maximum of 80% of open market value
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/pension-fund-invests-1…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Interstate buyers push Brisbane house prices to steepest rise in 18 years
Sarah Webb Domain (No paywall)Brisbane house prices have hit a record median high of $792,065, following one of the biggest quarterly price hikes in two decades.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/interstate-buyers-push-brisbane-h…
# Australia, Housing market.The year ahead: a look at the biggest housing issues for 2022
Inside Housing reporters Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Last year was a big one for the social housing sector, with development slowing down due to rising fire safety and material costs, zero-carbon requirements and poor housing conditions being exposed. Inside Housing’s news team runs through what social landlords can expect and what to look out for this year. ... The government has promised that a renters’ white paper will be published at some point this year. While the policies set out in the white paper will primarily cover the private rented sector, it is likely that it will also have ramifications for the social housing sector. Most notably, ministers have said the paper will lay the grounds to end Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions. Landlords should watch out for any changes to the eviction process.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-year-ahead-a…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.Elderly Australians ditch residential aged care for home care during pandemic
Dana Daniel and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The number of elderly Australians receiving home care has almost overtaken the number of people living in residential aged care after a boost to packages during the pandemic, but tens of thousands are still waiting. The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services, to be published on Tuesday, shows that the total number of home care packages hit 236,554 last financial year, while the population of residential aged care remained stable at 243,117 despite an ageing population. The report also shows a decline in spending on public housing. ... [But] The overall spend on social housing, including state-owned and managed Indigenous housing, increased to $4.5 billion from $4.3 billion. ... Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has promised that if Labor wins the upcoming federal election he will put $10 billion into a future fund to help with housing affordability, including building 30,000 social housing and affordable housing units for essential workers. You will find a link to the Productivity Commission's report at: [https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/elderly-australians-ditc…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Older people.Almost half of people seeking help for homelessness in NSW in past year did not get it, report finds
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)Nearly half of all people who sought help with homelessness last year in New South Wales did not get it, a new report has shown. According to data from the Productivity Commission’s annual report on government services, 48.2% of people in Australia’s most populous state who asked for accommodation assistance from specialist homelessness services in the 2020-2021 financial year went without. That figure represents a substantial increase from five years ago, when 37.2% of people did not receive the help they had requested. You will find a link to the Productivity Commission's report at: [https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/25/almost-ha…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market.Perfect storm’: fears for WA homeless people as data reveals low Covid vaccination rate
Luke Henriques-Gomes The Guardian (No paywall)Vaccination rates among Perth’s growing homeless community may be as low as 45%, according to comprehensive data collected by one service provider, raising fears the vulnerable cohort will be caught in a “perfect storm” when Western Australia does open its borders. The premier, Mark McGowan, announced last week the state would delay plans to lift the hard border on 5 February, a decision that sparked anger among some residents but was also greeted with relief by others, including some homelessness advocates. While WA avoided a crisis of Covid deaths, homelessness became a hot-button issue amid a spate of rough sleepers dying on the streets of Perth. Real-time data collected by Shelter WA says there are now about 500 people sleeping rough in Perth, and about 1,000 people experiencing homelessness overall.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/26/perfect-s…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness.The verdict is in: George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme has been an utter disaster
Polly Tornbee The Guardian (No paywall)According to a damning Lords report, it isn’t just a waste of £29bn, it has made Britain’s unequal housing market even worse. ... So it shouldn’t be a surprise that a shocking report on a Conservative flagship housing policy fell below the news radar. The Lords-built environment committee has revealed that all of the £29bn spent on the help-to-buy scheme has been wasted. The scheme gives subsidies for homeownership, but all they do is “inflate prices by more than their subsidy value”. They “do not provide good value for money”, which would be “better spent on increasing housing supply.” ... Bringing up a family in a private-rented home means living under the shadow of eviction, with private landlords using section 21 orders to evict tenants for no reason. I once followed the misfortunes of one family that was forced to move, time and again, sometimes having to move their children’s schools too, often living in squalor, once through a long winter with a broken boiler. They weren’t destitute, both parents were in work, but their children were deprived of a permanent home in their early years. Last month’s excoriating report by the National Audit Office (NAO) on private renting found that in 29,000 instances in one year, “households were, or were at risk of being made homeless following an eviction that was not their fault”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/25/george-osb…
# International, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.