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
Home dreams shattered as Perth families gagged by builders’ silence culture
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)West Australian families who are unhappy with their home builder say they are being silenced with threatening legal letters and non-disparagement agreements, leaving them with little recourse to get out of their contract.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/home-dreams-sh…
# Australia, Home ownership.I don't mind being a renter, except for this one thing
Matilda Dixon-Smith SBS (No paywall)I’ve heard the jokes about lawyers, and used-car salesmen. I know what people think of taxidermists. But, seriously, what is it with real estate agents? (SBS Voices)
https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2018/02/22/…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.South Coast villages brace for development influx amid city exodus
Peter Hannan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Some of the state’s most idyllic coastal villages are bracing for a flood of housing development as Sydneysiders seeking to escape the pandemic push up prices and awaken long-dormant projects. Developers have their eyes on towns such as Dalmeny, Tuross Head and Manyana on the NSW South Coast, and councils due to face elections in December have come under pressure to open up more land for housing as properties become scarce for renters and buyers alike.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/south-coast-vill…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, Regional NSW.Fit for a king: Prince Charles’ experimental city is proving critics wrong
Bevan Shields The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)After a three-hour drive through the English countryside, I arrive in the town of Poundbury and climb out of the car to examine my strange new surroundings. To the right stands the imposing Duchess of Cornwall Inn, which borrows its rich architectural detail from Palladio’s Convento della Carità in Venice. Next door, the neoclassical-style Strathmore House is bright yellow like some sort of St Petersburg palace and boasts fourteen giant Corinthian pilasters topped by a pediment bearing the Queen Mother’s coat of arms. In front of me the sprawling Royal Pavilion combines Greek Revival details with Roman arcaded architecture. These are not centuries-old buildings, though. They’re not even five years old. They are, in fact, a fascinating experiment in urban design championed by heir-to-the-throne and architecture critic-in-chief Prince Charles.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/fit-for-a-king-prince-charle…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.Thirty years of Joondalup, Perth's satellite city success story
Jessica Warriner ABC (No paywall)On the banks of Lake Joondalup, about 30 kilometres north of Perth's CBD, Joondalup's town centre was master-planned from the ground up. It's just passed 30 years since the city centre was officially opened in June 1991. So, how is the satellite city of the north holding up? The seeds for Joondalup as a major community hub were planted around 1955 – that's when the first proper plan for the Perth metropolitan area was drawn up.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/joondalup-perth-30-years-…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Why WA is missing its chance to stop Perth’s urban sprawl
Hamish Hastie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The McGowan government’s home building bonus “directly conflicted” with its own infill targets, an independent infrastructure advisory body says. Infrastructure WA’s draft State Infrastructure Strategy released on Wednesday made 88 recommendations to the government, including planning several major projects such as a third airport, the second phase of Metronet projects and the expansion of Perth’s Convention and Exhibition Centre. But the majority of those recommendations were not for bricks and mortar projects, but policy changes aimed at improving the delivery, maintenance and assessment of infrastructure until 2042.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/western-australia/why-wa-is-miss…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Lockdown safety net: our analysis
Jemima Mowbray and Riley Brooke Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)This week NSW heads into a tougher lockdown. Non-essential workers across three local government areas – Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury Bankstown – are restricted from leaving their LGAs for work; all non essential retail and work on construction sites has been shut down for at least two weeks; even public transport - bus, train and ferry services – will be scaled back. For many renting households, especially renters who are casual workers, this is going to have a significant impact on their income and ability to make rent and cover other essentials. ... On Tuesday (13 July), the Commonwealth and NSW Governments held a joint press conference to announce additional income supports, a 60 day stop on eviction for ‘impacted renters’, and financial support to encourage landlords to reduce rents for impacted tenants. They also committed an additional $10 million to increase the temporary accommodation available (through hotels and motels) for people experiencing homelessness during lockdown. This crucial support package arrived just in time to help soften the blow of the new restrictions commencing today. So, let’s run through in a little more detail what was announced last week.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/lockdown-safety-net-our-analysis
# NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.And then there was one: the last resident of Bond Street
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian (No paywall)From London ... From his vantage point at the oriel windows of his Bond Street flat, Oli Claridge has an unrivalled view of the super-rich going about their business. ... Courtesy of a protected lease inherited from his father, Claridge is the last resident of Bond Street ... And a link at the foot of this article leads to a wealth of other stories from around the world about 'Renting property' by month of publication. Check it out at: [https://www.theguardian.com/money/renting]
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/jun/05/the-last-resident-…
# International, Rent, Housing market, International, Personal stories.