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
Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk buys in Bellevue Hill for $4 million
Lucy Macken Domain (No paywall)NSW Labor member for Bankstown Tania Mihailuk and her husband, Canterbury-Bankstown councillor Alex Kuskoff, have bought into the booming eastern suburbs housing market, paying about $4 million for a house in Bellevue Hill. Ms Mihailuk said the property was purchased as a family investment, and she would be remaining in the family’s Bankstown home.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/bankstown-mp-tania-mihailuk-buys-…
# NSW, Landlords and agents.Homelessness NSW welcomes hotel accommodation for people sleeping rough in Greater Sydney lockdown area as first step
(No paywall)Homelessness NSW has welcomed the commitment of the NSW Government to ensure hotel accommodation for all people sleeping roughin the Greater Sydney lockdown areaas further evidence that ending homelessness is achievable. (Homelessness NSW)
https://homelessnessnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/MR-shu…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Darwin's COVID-19 lockdown put the homeless at risk, so these groups are getting to work
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)When Darwin was sent into a lockdown on Sunday, stay-at-home orders were suddenly issued to hundreds of people without a home to stay in. Health groups have spent the days since racing to distribute masks and safety advice to the city's transient Indigenous population, known locally as long grassers, a sprawling community of people staying in Darwin but generally hailing from the remote NT. For many of them, lockdown restrictions have closed off the possibility of returning home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-01/nt-darwin-covid-lockdown-…
# Australia, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.How much support will the City of Sydney’s affordable housing expansion offer inner-city residents?
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)The NSW Government approved plans last month to extend the City of Sydney’s affordable rental housing scheme throughout the inner-city, with the new changes to come into effect on the 1st of July this year. ... Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler welcomes the extension of the strategy. “We commend the City of Sydney for persevering over a number of years to produce a municipality-wide plan for boosting the stock of much needed affordable rental housing,” Engeler told City Hub. “This scheme offers something practical for a group that is often overlooked – financially stressed, low-to-moderate-income renters in the private residential housing market.” The move comes as the tide of renewal has priced out many longtime inner-city residents growing increasingly vulnerable to rental stress. “The forces of gentrification and an overstimulated housing market have combined to make the city unaffordable especially for renters in the private market,” Engeler said. “We … are concerned about the ‘hollowing out’ of the city – with ordinary people forced to the city fringes.”(City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/06/how-much-support-will-the-c…
# NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development.How our housing can make it feel like a Russian winter
Chris Jensen (No paywall)Australia’s housing just isn’t good enough when it comes to dealing with winter temperatures – we need to take lessons from the Northern Hemisphere. ... If you are renting, the chances are you won’t put a screw in a wall to hang a picture let alone make changes to the thermal properties of the building. (Pursuit)
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-our-housing-can-make…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Home ownership, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.We Already Have Viable Models for Quality Affordable Housing
Walter Jaegerhaus (No paywall)From the United States ... Historically, the housing shortage now experienced by many U.S. cities is not unique. A similar problem plagued industrializing cities of the late 19th century and became critical after World War I, especially so in countries that lost that conflict. Affected nations took extraordinary remedial steps; many of those were politically motivated and strengthened underlying social democratic ideals. But the design professions also participated and responded with numerous innovations and experiments, which in turn generated much-needed discussions about the use of shared space and the quality of life that citizens are supposed to be able to enjoy. (Common Edge)
https://commonedge.org/we-already-have-viable-models-for-quality…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Pointless engagement’: Real estate agents slam minister, quit reform body in dismay
Nigel Gladestone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The peak body for real estate agents in NSW has quit an expert panel advising the government on the industry as a stoush between the minister and agents escalates.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pointless-engagement-real-es…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.In Tas You Cannot Be Charged a Fee for Paying Rent
Tenants' Union of Tasmania (No paywall)On Saturday, Guardian Australia published an article about third-party payment of rent. It quotes tenants from NSW, Victoria, and Queensland, who have been strongly encouraged to pay their rent not directly to their landlord or real estate agency, but through a third-party payment processor, such as Rental Rewards. These third-party processing firms often charge tenants a fee in order to pay their rent. ... Thankfully, Tasmanian tenants have largely been able to avoid similar headaches.
https://www.tasmaniantimes.com/2021/06/you-cannot-be-charged-a-f…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.