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
More affordable housing for lower income households
(No paywall)There will be more housing for low-income households in the inner city following the City of Sydney’s decision to turn an unused Council-owned site in Alexandria into 21 affordable apartments. ... Bridge Housing will develop and manage affordable housing on site, with at least two of the homes earmarked for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents. (Mirage News)
https://www.miragenews.com/more-affordable-housing-for-lower-inc…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Local Government.MPs rush to the market as property runs hot
Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Federal MPs are often accused of being out of touch and trapped inside the Canberra bubble. But it’s become apparent that there’s one aspect of the real world they remain acutely aware of – how to cash in on the property boom. Just ask Wentworth MP Dave Sharma ... [Read on ...]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/mps-rush-to-the-market-as-proper…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Khan pledges to set up City Hall-owned developer to build affordable housing
Nathaniel Barker Inside Housing (Paywall)London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to set up a City Hall-owned developer to build affordable housing directly if re-elected in May. In what Mr Khan claims would be “the greatest demonstration of housing ambition in the capital since the days of the Greater London Council”, the new developer would start in pilot form building on land owned by the Greater London Authority (GLA). Once established, it will deliver “significant additional numbers of genuinely affordable homes” alongside housing associations and local authorities, the mayor’s campaign team said.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/khan-pledges-to-set-up-city…
# Hot topic International, Affordable housing, Local Government.Byron Council explores community land trust option for affordable housing
Paul Bibby (No paywall)Could the creation of a Community Land Trust in the Byron Shire provide desperately needed, genuinely affordable housing for locals on low incomes? This is the question that Councillors will explore at this week’s planning meeting as they continue their efforts to address what the Council is now calling the Shire’s ‘housing emergency’.
https://www.echo.net.au/2021/04/byron-council-explores-community…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government, Regional NSW.‘A burden, not a celebration of history’: NSW government pushes heritage law review
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government is pushing to make it easier and less expensive to own or adapt heritage-listed buildings under the first major overhaul of the state’s heritage laws in more than two decades.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-burden-not-a-celebration-o…
# NSW, Heritage listings, Housing market.After bugs, mold, and ceiling collapse, an affordable housing complex for veterans in NE Portland will shut down
Rebecca Ellis (No paywall)From the United States ...The property was meant to provide affordable and supportive housing for formerly homeless veterans. Residents say they’ve been neglected since day one. For years, residents of Sandy Studios, a publicly-funded apartment complex in Northeast Portland for formerly homeless veterans, say their steady stream of complaints about the condition of the building went unheeded — until they became impossible to ignore. (OPB)
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/03/31/ne-portland-apartments-sa…
# International, Repairs, Affordable housing, Landlords and agents, Mould.Rental stress for NT pensioners locked out of public housing because of asset limit change
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)Ms [Frances] Czoloszynski lives in a private rental in Palmerston where she pays below-market rent to a private property owner, earns a pension and has few assets. When [she] retired at 67 last June, she took a pre-emptive step to secure government housing. But she said she was rejected because she had about $100,000 in superannuation. in January 2016 — under the former CLP government — the asset limit for new tenants was slashed from about $195,000 to $60,000. It has since risen over that period to about $70,000, but people like Ms Czoloszynski remain ineligible.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-06/nt-public-housing-asset-r…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Women.When will house prices go down?
ABC (No paywall)In recent months there's been an astonishing spike in house prices across the country. Sydney prices had the most rapid rise, up 3.7 per cent while housing values in regional areas rose 11.4 per cent over the past year. (Martin North, Principal of Digital Finance Analytics, on RN Breakfast)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/when-wil…
# Audio Australia, Housing market.