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
The federal government doesn’t care at all about the housing crisis
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)[The] Grattan Institute burned Tim “Look-At-Me” Wilson’s Home First, Super Second campaign and buried the ashes. But that still leaves room to drop a boulder on the site lest Mr Wilson’s band of conflicted followers try sprinkling water on the dirt and claim any resulting weeds as proof of life. ... By sticking to the economics of the thing, the Grattan article omitted two key political policy aspects of Mr Wilson’s latest campaign: He and his peers aren’t really interested in housing affordability at all, only appearing to be doing something; and they are interested in weakening superannuation however they can.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2021/04/13/michael-pascoe-hou…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing market.New Zealand’s new housing policy is really just a new tax package — and it’s a shambles
Norman Gemmell The Conversation (No paywall)The New Zealand government’s recently announced package of housing policy instruments is a long way from optimal. You might even call it a shambles. How so? To the uninformed, the package’s main elements may seem to address the housing affordability crisis by doing several things:
https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-new-housing-policy-is-r…
# International, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax.NHF launches tool to help housing associations measure equality, diversity and inclusion
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The National Housing Federation (NHF) has launched a data tool to help its members measure equality, diversity and inclusion within their workforces. Social landlords will be able to input the nine protected characteristics of their workforce and leadership, such as their race, gender identity and religion, and compare it to the characteristics of the populations in their stock locations. This will allow housing associations to develop evidence-based plans to ensure their staff reflect their communities, the NHF said. The tool is the next stage of the NHF’s broader equality, diversity and inclusion work that launched last year to address the lack of diversity within the sector.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/nhf-launches-tool-to-help-h…
# International, Public and community housing, Race and ethnicity, Women, Work, employment.Home buyers turn to bank of mum and dad as house prices soar
Melissa Jenkins The New Daily (No paywall)Australia’s property market is the hottest it has been in three decades, with the average home deposit needed to secure a mortgage cracking six figures. ... It’s little wonder that in recent months first-home buyers are turning to the bank of mum and dad more than ever.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/04/13/real-esta…
# Audio Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.2021 National Housing Research Program projects announced
AHURI AHURI (No paywall)AHURI has announced the research projects that make up the 2021 National Housing Research Program (NHRP) ... Includes 'Regulation of residential tenancies and impacts on investment' (led by Dr Chris Martin at the University of New South Wales); 'The impact of the pandemic on the Australian rental sector' (led by Professor Emma Baker at the University of Adelaide); 'Private sector involvement in social and affordable housing supply' (led by Professor Nicole Gurran at the University of Sydney).
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/news/2021-national-housing-res…
# Research alert Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Disability, Home ownership, Homelessness, Older people.Tiny house highlights homelessness in NSW
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A tiny house has been installed in Sydney's Martin place to highlight the issue of homelessness.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/tiny-house-highlights-homelessne…
# Video NSW, Homelessness.Yes, interest rates are low. But that doesn’t mean Australian housing is getting more affordable
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)While inflation might be incredibly low, the same cannot be said for house prices. And despite record low interest rates, housing remains as unaffordable as ever. .
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/apr/15/yes…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Waterloo South planning taken from Council
Geoff Turnbull (No paywall)Minister Stokes and the Department of Planning Industry and Environment (DPIE) are now responsible for determining the future shape of the Waterloo South public housing redevelopment. City of Sydney Council (CoS) and the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) were unable to reach agreement by the Minister’s deadline. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/waterloo-south-planning-taken-f…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Local Government, State Government.