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
Tiny houses have a big problem
Josh Kruger (No paywall)If you think tiny houses are cool or a great way to end homelesness, I am here to ruin your day. ... Until there is more affordable housing, this “solution” leads nowhere. Instead, these are just feel-good boondoggles so middle and upper class people can feel like they’re doing something. Even worse, they don’t solve a problem, they make it easier to ignore. They’re storage sheds for human beings who otherwise remind us all of our society’s failure to care. If you ask me, tiny houses aren’t heartwarming. They’re insidious. Human beings deserve better than this. They deserve affordable housing. Given how achievable this is, it’s inexcusable for us to do anything less. (The Philadelphia Citizen)
# International, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Housing market.National Homelessness Week August 1 - 7 in the Southern Highlands
Vera Demertzis (No paywall)They say a person's home is their castle, but did you know that more than 116,000 people across Australia are currently experiencing a form of homelessness. ... Southern Highlands regional president for St Vincent de Paul Society Peter Doris said it was unfortunate that there was no temporary accommodation in the Highlands to support people experiencing homelessness. ... Mr Doris said there were some services in the Southern Highlands to help support people. "We have the Southern Highlands Homelessness Services," he said. "We have four or five caseworkers that work from there and they cover the Wingecarribee area. They are in close contact with Argyle Housing, and other services in the Southern Highlands such as the Salvation Army and Anglicare. "We also have a refuge in Bowral that has beds for young people between the ages of 14 and 18 and Pathways which is for women aged 18 or over." [But] "There's been a big increase in the number of people looking for help in the Southern Highlands," he said. (Southern Highland News)
https://www.southernhighlandnews.com.au/story/7372722/thats-the-…
# NSW, Homelessness, Regional NSW.Why are home prices soaring?
ABC (No paywall)House prices in Australia are climbing at rates we’ve seldom seen. In all age groups, there is more renting and less home ownership than there used to be. Is housing supply part of the problem? (The Economists, ABC Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-economists/why…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.A tale of two Sydneys: ‘We’re in the same storm, but different boats’
Jordan Baker and Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)... It’s a different story in Campsie, the south-west Sydney suburb that last week became the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak. There, three generations live in two-bedroom apartments, children play in driveways, and there’s no such thing as a quiet place to work or study. The five-kilometre exercise radius, which has now been extended to Greater Sydney as of tomorrow, allows a masked walk to Wiley Park, a greenish patch surrounded by arterial roads which, in recent weeks, has been circled by police helicopters telling everyone to go home. ... [Blacktown resident Emmanuel Kei] lost his job last year when his employer closed down amid the pandemic’s disruptions. ... [He] has also been hunting for a place to rent - a task made especially difficult by the stringent restrictions in Sydney’s west. He feels lucky to have found a place ... after a long stint in temporary accommodation. “Because of the lockdown you couldn’t do rental inspections and things like that,” says Kei, who migrated from South Sudan 15 years ago. “It has been a pretty stressful time.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-tale-of-two-sydneys-we-re-…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Race and ethnicity.Rents are rising as landlords sell to cash in on property price boom
Gabija Gataveckaite and Charlie Weston (No paywall)From Ireland ... Landlords are abandoning the rental sector and selling off rental properties in significant numbers in an attempt to cash in on the lucrative property market. New figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) outline how almost 500 notices of termination from landlords intending to sell were lodged between April and June alone. The figures supplied to the Irish Independent show a steady upward trend in landlords selling when compared with pre-pandemic levels. The RTB received 367 notices in the second half of 2019 and 395 notices in the first quarter of 2020. (Independent.ie)
https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mo…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.How ‘unelected faceless men and women’ keep approving NSW developments
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Local planning panels were created to stamp out corruption, but councillors from across the political spectrum say they favour developers and undermine democratic accountability.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-unelected-faceless-men-and-w…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.Boasting about budget expenditure numbers does not make for a housing policy
Vivienne Milligan Pearls and Irritations (No paywall)The Federal Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Michael Sukkar, is fond of quoting large numbers when quizzed on what his government is doing to address Australia’s enduring housing crisis. So, we hear for instance that annual Federal spending on housing and homelessness programs has reached over $8b and that his government is exceeding Labor’s spend on social housing and homelessness support. Such numbers and claims deserve closer scrutiny. What comprises the $8b and how far does it go in addressing the need? What have been the differences between recent Coalition and Labor Government policies in this area? [Read on]
https://johnmenadue.com/boasting-about-budget-expenditure-number…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Homelessness.A split city: communities across Sydney commit to rebuild trust
(No paywall)Organisations representing over two million people from the Catholic Church to United Workers Union and Arab Council Australia, said it is time to rule a line in the sand and rebuild trust and inclusion across Sydney as we confront growing numbers of infection and deaths. ... People from low-income households who are playing their part by staying at home, getting tested and getting vaccinated should not be forced into poverty for doing the right thing. Families living in Western and southwestern Sydney still need to pay for rent, groceries and bills, but the current support payments are confusing and inadequate. ... Public health is built on trust. Trust is destroyed when rules are enforced inconsistently across the city. Images of securitised streets in Western Sydney and sunbakers on Sydney beaches corrode trust. None of us can afford this kind of division ... (Sydney Alliance)
https://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/news-1/a-split-city-communitie…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Race and ethnicity.