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
New YWCA Canberra home aims to provide safe accommodation for women over 50 who are 'retiring into poverty'
Antoinette Radford ABC (No paywall)As Australia marks Homelessness week, a Canberra charity is building a purpose-built home for those most at risk — designed to give tenants freedom and independence, as well as the support of a community. Across the country, women aged over 55 are currently the fastest-growing demographic of people experiencing homelessness. But Canberra's YWCA is working to change that, by building a new fit-for-purpose home in the suburb of Ainslie. ... The house will be made up of 10 standalone units, each equipped with its own kitchen and courtyard, but also sharing a communal green space. YWCA said the units would be specifically built for women over 50, with a few set aside for women with children fleeing domestic violence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-07/act-homelessness-women-ov…
# Australia, Domestic violence, Affordable housing, Homelessness, Older people, Women.What really happened to St Kilda’s old “Gatty” after the The Block did its makeover and big “reveal”
Rachel Iampolski The Fifth Estate (No paywall)In 2018, The Block transformed the long-standing 80-bed rooming house Gatwick Private Hotel, on the iconic but contentious Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, into six luxury apartments. Despite its grand art-deco façade of the 80-year-old Gatwick – or “Gatty” as it was commonly known to locals and tenants – life inside the rooming house was far less glamourous – the site notoriously known for crime, violence and on occasion, murder. But the hotel provided a place of refuge for people without substantive alternatives. A boarding house with long and short stay options that required no referral, no bond, and asked no questions about your past, a saving grace for many in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood and a crumbling social housing system. ... Following the closure and sale of the Gatwick, ABC News reported that an “alarming” number of female former-tenants, who had been displaced, were now in jail due to charges that “directly related” to their homelessness. Support workers also reported former tenants were sleeping at 7-Eleven across the road from the former rooming house.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/case-studies/what-reall…
# History Australia, Boarders and lodgers, Homelessness.Pressure is building in the ACT's public housing market as more people are locked out of rentals
Michael Inman ABC (No paywall)It started with a water leak in the bathroom, but it led to every parent's nightmare. Canberra mother Tori Oppelaar now lives in fear that her three children are being exposed to asbestos whenever they use the bathroom in their Kambah home. "[Water] leaked down behind the tiles and made the glue weak, so tiles started falling off [the shower wall]," she said. "I've been told that the glue isn't asbestos, but the parts of the wall that had been ripped with the glue where the tiles are falling off is asbestos."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-08/public-housing-canberra-h…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Repairs, Asbestos, lead, hazardous materials, Housing market.'Slap in the face’: Lobbyists fume at Biden eviction reversal
Katy O'Donnell (No paywall)President Joe Biden’s stunning decision to revive the eviction ban in response to intense pressure from progressives has left one of Washington’s most influential business coalitions feeling angry and betrayed on the sidelines of power. Biden’s move to reinstate a federal eviction moratorium Tuesday after letting it lapse days earlier marked a huge political loss for the National Association of Realtors and its housing industry allies, who each year shower candidates in both parties with millions of dollars in contributions and often get their way in big policy fights. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/07/lobbyists-influence-hou…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Lockers for homeless in Launceston ready to go but no agreement on where to put them
Manika Champ ABC (No paywall)If you saw Peter Myers walking down the street, you would not expect he would be homeless. He looks like one of the city's students and usually only carries a backpack as he walks through the streets of Launceston each day and night. ... Mr Myers is one of more than 1,600 Tasmanians who sleep rough each night. ... Mr Myers is also one of a growing group of people in Launceston calling for homeless street lockers to be installed in the city's CBD and more individual-room accommodation options.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-05/lockers-for-launceston-ho…
# Australia, Homelessness, Local Government.Property investors return to the market despite price growth outpacing rents, data shows
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Property investors are piling back into the housing market as prices boom, even though rents have not kept pace, new analysis shows. Investors have been chasing the prospect of future capital growth, encouraged by stunning gains so far this year, and are hoping the worst is over for the rental market.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/property-investors-return-to-the-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Developer reps slam proposed boarding house and co-living changes for NSW
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Those with a foot in developer camps have slammed proposed changes to NSW housing policy, saying they will have the opposite effect to what is desired and that government planners should start again with the policy from scratch. This week, the NSW government opened its new Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) for public review, among which were provisions aimed at encouraging more affordable housing, specifically in relation to boarding houses, co-living and seniors housing developments.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/developer…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Older people, Planning and development, State Government, Young people.Will they ever own a home? The scariest thing about having adult kids
Kate Halfpenny The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)When my kids were little I had two fears: meningococcal and choking. The first never happened but the second did, when my daughter turned blue eating roast lamb and her dad had to knock out her front teeth to save her. ... Yet here I am, snapping awake lately with one thought: how will my kids ever buy a home? ... I don’t know how, but we need fabulous public housing, more affordable places to buy that won’t fall apart in five years, and governments to take charge of what is fast becoming a generational heartache. Certainly a parental one.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/will-the…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Young people.