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
Stigma-breaking housing model NorthSea in Wollongong offers dignity for all
Kelly Fuller ABC (No paywall)Sandra Biggs and Sandra Wojcik are among the first residents in Australia's first building to integrate private, social and affordable housing without segregated lifts or common spaces. Built on the site of a former social housing complex in Wollongong's CBD, the 13-storey NorthSea building includes 38 private apartments, 18 tenancies within 10 dual-key social housing dwellings, and six affordable housing apartments. Ms Biggs, who has been a social housing client for 12 years, said NorthSea was a transformative development.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-05/stigma-breaking-housing-m…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing.New plan for Sydney heatwaves calls for minimum rental standards to include cooling
Rosemary Bolger ABC (No paywall)New South Wales landlords could be required to modify properties to ensure tenants do not suffer extreme indoor temperatures, if a comprehensive suite of recommendations to reduce heatwave harm are implemented. The Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce, formed by a group of Western Sydney councils and Resilient Sydney, has made 40 recommendations to help businesses and residents "survive and thrive during extreme heat events". The Heat Smart Plan, launched today, calls for enforceable minimum thermal standards for rental properties and incentives for landlords to retrofit homes to make them cooler.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-05/sydney-heatwaves-plan-ren…
# Must read NSW, Rent.NSW Strata and Property Services Commissioner John Minns cleared of misconduct over his stake in property group
Amy Greenbank ABC (No paywall)The NSW government has cleared Strata and Property Services Commissioner John Minns of misconduct following a three-month external review. However, Mr Minns has quit the role ahead of his contract expiring in March. In August, an ABC Four Corners investigation revealed Mr Minns had failed to publicly disclose that his family trust held more than 550,000 shares in a major real estate and strata services company, worth about $780,000. The company was within the sector Mr Minns was responsible for overseeing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-06/strata-property-commissio…
# Hot topic NSW, Strata.Concerns over NSW Power Grid ahead of hot summer
ABC (No paywall)Do you think landlords should have to ensure a rental is cool enough? There are plans to change minimum standards in Sydney, currently there are seven minimum standards in NSW to make a rental property fit to live in, but it doesn't specify heating or cooling. Victoria has announced plans to make minimum standards for cooling like air conditioning and insulation by 2027.
# Hot topic, Video NSW, Rent.Housing, home and health: Social housing and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in urban New South Wales
George Institute (No paywall)Housing is a social and cultural determinant of health and wellbeing. Housing conditions, housing security and surrounding home environments all impact on people’s health and wellbeing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s wellbeing is supported by housing that meets their physical, social, emotional, cultural and locational needs. Living on Country and close to family and community support, as well as services, are critical factors in supporting wellbeing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social housing tenants in urban Sydney are often faced with the experience of living in housing that does not meet their physical, social, emotional, cultural and locational needs.
https://www.georgeinstitute.org/projects/housing-home-and-health…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing.‘He wanted him gone’: Man paying $1 a year to live on $2.2m property fights eviction notice
Michaela Whitbourn The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It is the court case that pitted a prominent retired doctor in his 90s against an investment company over his right to live at a home on the picturesque NSW South Coast for $1 a year. The NSW Supreme Court was asked to resolve the fight between Dr Kenneth Doust and the company, Riveaux Holdings Pty Ltd, which came to a head in August after he was sent an eviction notice and his electricity was cut off. Doust, who was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 2005 for his service to medicine, sold his rural property at Central Tilba to the investment company for $2.2 million in December 2020. This was subject to a licence entitling him to occupy part of the land, including a house, for $1 a year until the licence was terminated.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-1-licence-to-live-on-a-m…
# Must read NSW, Eviction.The future of Bellambi is up for discussion - here's what its residents want
Natalie Croxon Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Bellambi residents are generally looking forward to the idea of the area getting refreshed, although some still harbour concerns about what could happen as the housing department considers the suburb’s future. Homes NSW held a drop-in consultation session at Bellambi Neighbourhood Centre on Friday, November 30, to gather residents’ thoughts on the suburb’s future as it plans the potential renewal of the Bellambi estate. Maggie J is a private homeowner in the area and hopes it will be refreshed, with a better balance of social, affordable and private housing.
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing.Landlord appeals $250k compensation payout over fire that killed tenant in Barnsley home
Giselle Wakatama ABC (No paywall)A landlord is in a legal fight to avoid paying compensation over a fire that killed a tenant west of Newcastle. It is a case that will have ramifications for all rental property owners in relation to providing to working smoke alarms and payouts that could stem from a tenant being injured or killed. Last year the family of Bradley Heafey was awarded more than $250,000 after his 2019 death in a fire at the Barnsley home he rented. Mr Heafey had been asleep in the lounge room and the smoke alarm had no battery and its speaker disc had been removed. His partner, parents, and children sought damages in the District Court for personal injury on mental health grounds.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-29/landlord-appeal-house-fir…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Repairs, Security and safety.