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
July 2022 News
Shelter NSW (No paywall)In this month's edition:
NSW budget – Renters ticketless in state housing lottery
NCOSS Post-budget Breakfast
First home buyer support – be careful what you wish for
Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness amongst older people
NAIDOC Week - Get Up! Stand up! Show up!
Renting – it’s not just a phase we’re going through
Blue Mountains Housing Summit
The lights are off – is anybody home?
Kirsten Steedman represents Shelter NSW at Economic Business Educators (EBE) annual conference
Washing Machine Replacement Trial
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-july-2022-ebulletin?e=…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Campaigns and law reform, Home ownership, Homelessness.Tenants claim they face eviction for complaining 'too much'
Nat Wallace 9 News (No paywall)"They complain too much." You'll never hear a real estate agent say it publicly but let's be honest, of course it's happening, especially in the current rental market. A Baulkham Hills family claims it is the victim of what's called a "retaliatory eviction" after $17,000 worth of repairs were required in their rental home. "The reason they want us out is we have apparently complained too much, but as you can see there's a hell of a lot to complain about," Michelle Cowley told A Current Affair. ... CEO of the Tenants' Union, Leo Patterson Ross, has long campaigned for stronger laws to make real estate agents provide a reason for not renewing a lease. He said the rental market is currently under so much stress it's "made for landlords" and it doesn't pay to complain. (A Current Affair)
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/sydney-tenants-speak-o…
# TUNSW in the media, Video NSW, Rent, Repairs, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.Home – a Waterloo South tenant responds to LAHC plans
Norrie (No paywall)When I go for a walk around my neighbourhood in the south part of Waterloo public housing estate, I see blue sky and green trees and grass and bushes. I see gardens that people have made around their homes. The people I see have lived here for a long time, unlike private rentals where people come and go. But the state LNP government has plans to knock all our homes down, and, in its first draft, replace them with buildings higher than the aeroplanes fly.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/home-a-waterloo-south-tenant-re…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.Homes of last resort: the pods housing a NSW community ravaged by floods
Susan Chenery The Guardian (No paywall)Gordon Richards is still a bit teary. The night the 83-year-old moved into his pod at the Wollongbar Community Village, in the New South Wales northern rivers, was the best night’s sleep he had since he waded out of his South Lismore house in February.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/11/homes-of-…
# NSW, Homelessness.It was an unprecedented housing crisis that called for an urgent summit, now four years on, it's worse
Alexandra Humphries ABC (No paywall)In 2018, Hobart's showground was at the centre of Tasmania's housing crisis, as people with nowhere else to turn set up camp across the site. ... Fast-forward to 2022, and Mr Gadd believes the situation has worsened. ... Pattie Chugg from Shelter Tasmania, the peak body for housing and homelessness, believes the situation now is quite different to what it was in 2018, due to factors such as population growth, a tight private rental market, the impact of short-stay accommodation, and rising house prices. And, it is being felt right across the state. "It was a stressed market, but now it's super stressed," Ms Chugg said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-12/housing-meeting-crisis-ta…
# Australia, Homelessness, Housing market.The Guardian view on the Grenfell inquiry: a slow march to culpability
Editorial The Guardian (No paywall)In less than two weeks’ time, the final phase of evidence at the Grenfell inquiry will end. These hearings are about how each of the fire’s 72 victims died. ... There is no doubt about the extraordinary quantity of information that the inquiry has placed in the public domain. The question is where all this will lead; whether those people and organisations who bear greatest responsibility will pay any price, beyond the private remorse that several have described, and whether ministers will take steps to ensure such a tragedy is never repeated.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/10/the-guardi…
# International, Minimum habitability standards.A mass migration: record numbers arrive in WA during pandemic
Shane Wright and Rachel Clun The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A record number of Australians moved to another state or territory through the second half of the COVID pandemic, with tens of thousands fleeing lockdowns and high infection rates in a demographic earthquake that could reverberate for years. Almost 500,000 people moved interstate in 2021, a 20 per cent increase on the previous record set in 2002, with NSW suffering its biggest net loss of residents to other parts of the country in more than three decades. Despite ongoing border restrictions, people moved en masse to Queensland and Western Australia while regional centres across the country also welcomed new residents from far-flung parts of the nation. ... [And] Housing affordability has been a key issue.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-mass-migration-record-numbers-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market.Revamp of ineffective social housing list could lift building pipeline
Matt Dennien The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Queensland government will review its ballooning social housing register to prioritise support and potentially boost its planned construction pipeline, after an audit office report found a poorly managed system and plans that were unlikely to meet demand driven by cost-of-living pressures. The state’s peak social services body said the report from Auditor-General Brendan Worrall, which has made eight recommendations to overhaul the system, showed it was “not fit for purpose” ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/poorly-managed-social…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, State Government.