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
Home owners hit with rate hikes as bank funding costs rise
Sezen Bakan The New Daily (No paywall)Paying off your mortgage is getting more expensive, with Westpac becoming the latest of 17 banks to hike their fixed rates this year.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2022/01/21/fixed-rat…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.How much it costs to buy a home in Australia’s top holiday spots
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Buyers who have the means have been chasing holiday homes or a more permanent move throughout the pandemic, especially in Queensland, amid lockdowns and a shift to working from home. Ultra-low interest rates have supported demand, while a property boom that increased homeowners’ equity enabled plans to move or buy a second home.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/how-much-it-costs-to-buy-a-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Inner West Council to grant land access to Iglu student accommodation
Dabiel Lo Surdo (No paywall)Inner West Council announced yesterday a proposal to grant an easement over the Darrell Jackson Gardens to the controversial Iglu student accommodation building site in Summer Hill. ... Inner West councillors initially rejected the development application by Iglu Pty Ltd to open its sixth Sydney student accommodation, after concerns were raised that the proposal was “not compatible” with the flood hazard of the land. (City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2022/01/inner-west-council-to-grant…
# NSW, Housing market, Students.January 2022 News
Shelter NSW (No paywall)This is a big year in politics – with a Federal election due by May and several by-elections set for NSW. In both arenas, the issue of ‘housing affordability’ gets a lot of airtime; unfortunately minus the cut-through recognition of the systemic (but reversible) flaws embedded in policy settings. We thank the indefatigable policy thought leaders and academics who take the inconvenient truths about the housing crisis to parliamentary inquiries, forums and the media. Check out the latest housing news from Shelter NSW ...
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-january-2022-ebulletin…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Health, Homelessness, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Powerful Free Steam Game Captures The Consequences Of Housing Inequality For People Of Color
Isaiah Colbert (No paywall)Dot’s Home is a 2D point-and-click narrative game where a 20-year-old named Dorothea “Dot” Hawkins is sent back in time through her family lineage thanks to a mysterious key. To return to the present, Dot must sway her family as they make a multitude of crucial housing decisions in the 50s, 90s, 2010, and in 2021. These branching decisions have major implications for her future housing situation, as well. Along the way, Dot discovers how prevailing systems within housing authorities have plagued not only her family but also many BIPOC that live in the U.S. (Kotaku)
https://kotaku.com/powerful-free-steam-game-captures-the-consequ…
# International, Families, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.Path to home ownership for women ‘falling through the gaps’
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Vulnerable women with steady but low incomes could have a path to home ownership under a new model of property development backed by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. The concept is a twist on “build-to-rent”, where the developer becomes the landlord and manages the property rather than selling the apartments to owner-occupiers and investors. Instead, it is dubbed as “build-to-rent-to-buy” because the women will also have the right to buy their homes. The corporation’s chief executive Nathan Dal Bon said the proposed pilot study was in Canberra, but he hoped to replicate it nationally.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/path-to-home-ownership-for-women…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Women.Coffs Harbour homelessness advocate facing rental struggle of his own
Nick Parmeter and Fiona Poole ABC (No paywall)Dean Evers, a long-time local and chief executive of Hope for the Homeless, said he was feeling the rental squeeze hitting Coffs Harbour. He has been looking for a home for three months after receiving a termination notice from his landlord. "The continued knockbacks because there are so many people applying for properties, and just how soul-destroying that is to keep doing that day after day," he said. ... Coffs Harbour has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the state at just 0.8 per cent, according to the REINSW Vacancy Rate Survey for December. Skyrocketing demand and short supply have led to soaring median rental prices ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/coffs-harbour-homelessnes…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW.Indigenous group raises doubts over plan to reduce violence against women
Cameron Gooley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A new draft strategy to reduce violence against First Nations women and children has been criticised as a meaningless plan by a national justice advocacy organisation, but the federal government insists it is serious about improving outcomes for Indigenous families. ... the announcement has been met with exasperation by Indigenous advocacy group Change the Record. Its co-chair, Narungga woman Cheryl Axleby, said the issue was too significant for Indigenous people to be a footnote in a larger plan. “We need a dedicated self-determined national plan which isn’t a footnote to a mainstream report, which is the issue that we face time and time again,” she said.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/indigenous-group-raises-…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Race and ethnicity.