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
Spike in poverty-induced homelessness during lockdown
Chloe Booker The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As Victoria braced to enter its sixth lockdown, Rick Savickas lay in a Footscray Hospital bed on suicide watch, police outside his door, feeling as though he had nothing left to live for. The 57-year-old had worked his whole life, never taking a handout from the government, until the pandemic struck last year and he lost his casual job at an engineering workshop. ... “Everything spiralled out of control and I got behind in rent, I got behind in bills, I got behind in everything,” Mr Savickas said. “I was in a bad place and I wanted to end it all. I was sick of going through it all again and again.” Mr Savickas was due to be evicted the following day, when a concerned friend dropping off food suggested he ring Lifeline. When he told them he planned to end his life, the police arrived and took him to hospital where he was put in contact with homeless support service Unison Housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/spike-in-poverty-induce…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government.Keira St, Wollongong apartment block locked down over COVID
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (No paywall)A block of 83 apartments in the Wollongong CBD has been deemed a high-risk premises and locked down because of COVID-19 cases within the building. ... "In this building there is a community of residents who move between apartments and use communal areas," Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD chief executive Margot Mains said. "The residents' close and frequent interactions are similar to those in a household and, as a result, all residents of the apartment complex are considered close contacts." ... Wollongong Homeless Hub, which operates out of the building, has had to close its drop-in centre and emergency accommodation as a result. It leases 30 of the block's apartments, most of which accommodate private residents.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7434405/wollongong-apa…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health.New Zealand’s pandemic housing policy has baked in Māori inequality for generations
Iain White The Guardian (No paywall)In Jacinda Ardern’s ‘team of 5 million’, some players have been rewarded very differently to others ... [It's] an account of huge and growing inequality. How a government policy designed to respond to the global pandemic and the fear of economic recession has not just created significant wealth, but distributed it in such a concentrated way that it will change the nature of Aotearoa New Zealand for generations to come.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/sep/17/new-…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development, Tax.Vienna's Radical Idea? Affordable Housing For All
(No paywall)As cities around the world grapple with a crisis of affordable housing, Vienna has been keeping it at bay. How the Austrian capital got there may offer a model strategy for cities worldwide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41VJudBdYXY&ab_channel=Bloomberg…
# Video International, Affordable housing, Housing market.Collapse of China property giant to impact Australia's biggest export
ABC (No paywall)There are fears the collapse of one of China's biggest property companies could spark wider turmoil in the world's second largest economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTVxMyGBW48&ab_channel=ABCNews%2…
# International, Housing market, International, Landlords and agents.‘It’s a win-win’: Home sharing scheme helps the elderly and young
Josh Dye The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Cristina Andrei has no family members in Australia. But the 33-year-old from Romania has found a new grandfather thanks to a home-sharing scheme that pairs elderly homeowners who live alone with younger people struggling with housing affordability. ... The program is facilitated by non-government organisation Holdsworth which matches the owners and sharers to find suitable home-sharing arrangements. Ms Andrei pays about $125 a week to share Mr Dubourdieu’s home, with the cost comprising $100 to cover the costs of running the program and $25 for utilities. The NSW government has recently tipped in $200,000 to the pilot program to enable more young people to have their fees waived.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-s-a-win-win-home-sharing-…
# NSW, Affordable housing, State Government.Why the Reserve Bank and government are in no mood to rein in property prices in booming market
Ian Verrender ABC (No paywall)[As we gear up for a federal election] housing suddenly becomes a red-hot political issue. We will, no doubt, hear promises from both sides — to help first home buyers via grants, handouts, and other subsidies. The problem is, generally, that tends to make affordability worse. Throwing money at first home buyers only adds to prices and, instead, becomes a grant to those selling their property. ... Housing problems were largely caused by factors other than monetary policy and need to be addressed elsewhere. "The factors include: the design of our taxation and social security systems; planning and zoning restrictions; the type of dwellings that are built; and the nature of our transport networks," [RBA governor]Dr Lowe said. In case you missed it, he was talking about government. ... The last federal election dealt a fatal blow to any chance of property market tax reform. With so many Australians so exposed to real estate — ATO figures suggest more than 2 million Australians own investment properties — the Opposition's policy to wind back the tax incentives became an easy target for a government desperate for an edge. Having been trounced at the election, the ALP has since dumped its real estate tax reforms, never to be resumed. That means the tax incentives are here to stay. And that means investors will continue to pour cash into residential property, driving prices higher.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-20/reserve-bank-government-n…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Sydney Covid-19 block tenants told to ‘keep mouth shut’
Candace Sutton news.com.au (No paywall)Another housing tower Covid-19 cluster has emerged in a second inner-city Sydney location with one of the infected residents being told to “keep your mouth shut” about the outbreak. The new cluster – which comes a day after news.com.au exclusively revealed a Redfern housing tower had seen multiple Covid cases – is at a Darlinghurst block with a very vulnerable community. Tony Slan, one of the freshly-infected residents, told news.com.au that when he told the public housing authority about the rapidly spreading virus he was told to shut up and “mind your own business – we don’t want to scare anybody”. Worried about the health of others while he himself is suffering from symptoms, Mr Slan said: “What if someone dies?” He took it upon himself to post signs in the apartment block foyer warning residents of the outbreak, and told news.com.au he was castigated by authorities for doing so.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/sydney-covid19-block-te…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, State Government.