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
Emergency declared for NSW with thousands of homes still uninhabitable
Sally Rawsthorne The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A national emergency declaration for flood-affected communities in NSW was formally declared on Friday night after Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with Governor-General David Hurley on Friday night.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw-enters-state-of-emergency-wi…
# Australia, Climate change.Can we still afford a home among the gum trees?
Stephen Brook The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Fig Tree Bend, South Gundurimba, near Lismore, is a little slice of Aussie heaven – a farmhouse by a bend on the Richmond River. Tree-change friends from Sydney bought it, planted tea trees and converted an old dairy into cosy short-stay accommodation, painting it light blue. Now half the old dairy is washed away, along with trees they planted as part of the Richmond Rivers Rescue action group. They didn’t insure for floods – they found the premiums too expensive and now face an uncertain future. ... But to want a home among the gum trees – or equivalent – has been a human desire throughout history. Ask any prime minister of earthquake-prone Japan, or any governor of wildfire-ravaged California, or even some of those who fled Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius blew its top in 79 AD.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/can-we-still-afford-a-home-among…
# NSW, Climate change, Housing market.NSW floods bring housing shortage into sharp focus
Gavin Coote ABC (No paywall)With thousands of homes either damaged or destroyed in the Northern New South Wales floods, many locals are still struggling to find temporary accommodation. That could soon start to be eased with the arrival of motor homes and rental assistance. But homelessness organisations are calling for a bank of temporary homes that could be used in future disasters. (ABC AM)
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/nsw-floods-bri…
# Audio NSW, Homelessness, Housing market.The end of public housing in Australia
Rick Morton (No paywall)All across the country, waitlists for public housing are on the rise. In the meantime, state governments are selling off public housing estates to developers - doing nothing to reduce these ballooning waitlists. Today, Rick Morton on how governments and developers are exacerbating the housing crisis in Australia - and what it means for people who need a place to live. (7am)
https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/the-end-of-public-housing-in-…
# Audio Australia, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Housing market, State Government.Grantham residents moved to higher ground after record floods, so why haven't others?
Peter Gunders and Georgie Hewson ABC (No paywall)The Grantham land swap was the first of its kind after devastating floods in 2011. The Lockyer Valley Regional Council says the scheme cost $30 million. The Mayor says no homes in the new estate flooded in 2022.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-13/grantham-land-swap-a-mode…
# Australia, Housing market, Local Government.The UK government is balancing its books on the backs of the poor
Jack Monroe The Guardian (No paywall)In a modern-day twist on the age-old riddle: which came first? The cold, damp housing forced on people with the lowest incomes across the private rental sector or the upswing in respiratory illnesses? The lack of funds for a nourishing and balanced diet, or malnutrition and the return of Victorian-era illnesses such as rickets? The deliberate policies of penury and deprivation over the last 12 years of Conservative-led rule, or the emaciated bodies of those left to rot by the ideologues of unnecessary austerity? [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/13/the-uk-gov…
# International, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Families, Health.A real kick in the guts’: elderly couples forced apart as NSW regional aged care homes close
Natasha May The Guardian (No paywall)The closure of the Bulahdelah’s Cedar Wharf Lodge will see elderly couples torn apart, unable to visit each other as limited transport options hinder travel to the New South Wales Hunter region aged care home. Since Anglican Care announced the closure of the town’s only aged care facility this week, some in the community will be left travelling over 75km to the nearest aged care facility in Taree to visit their partner.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/11/a-real-ki…
# NSW, Housing market, Older people.Housing crisis worries advocates who say children are being raised in tents and caravans
Angel Parsons and Cristy-Lee Macqueen ABC (No paywall)Housing groups estimate almost half of the Whitsunday's homeless community are children. The Chugg family from Mackay say raising kids without a home has been worse than a nightmare. Support agencies say there's no permanent solution to the crisis in sight.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-14/housing-crisis-sees-gener…
# Australia, Eviction, Land lease communities, Public and community housing, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Housing market.