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
Beware of pedlars of supply side solutions to home affordability
Ross Gittens The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)One thing you can be sure of is that if house prices are soaring, governments will be holding inquiries into it. Unfortunately, the other thing you can be sure of is that nothing will come of those inquiries. Why? Because their purpose is to express the government’s deep concern about the worsening affordability of homeownership – its heart-felt sympathy for young people struggling to buy their first home – not to tackle the problem. Within Ross Gitten's article there is a link to a video on 'tiny houses' which is worth checking out.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/beware-of-pedlars-of…
# Must read Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government, Young people.Unseen: A multimedia sharing the hidden experiences of women's homelessness and housing insecurity
(No paywall)Over 50,000 Australian women are homeless and another 400,000 women over 45 are at risk of homelessness, with domestic violence and financial abuse being the largest causes. Unseen gives voice to the faces behind the statistics ...
# Video Australia, Homelessness, Older people, Women.Vale Myra Demetriou
John Dunn (No paywall)Myra Demetriou passed away on 23 October 2021 at the age of 94. She is remembered not only as the face of the Sirius campaign but also as the last public housing tenant forced out of Sirius. Myra reminded us that being good and decent and community-minded makes a wonderful and meaningful life – too often we forget these simple but necessary building blocks of society that hold and bind us together. (Save Our Sirius)
https://mailchi.mp/saveoursirius/sirius-update-032mes5dkx-567160…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Estate renewal, Personal stories.Sirius Sydney
Domain (No paywall)You will find another glossy ad selling luxury apartments in Sydney’s iconic Sirius Building in 'Domain' (29-30 October 2021, p9) with the tag 'Don't miss your opportunity to own this view'. The Sirius building was built in the 1970s to provide social housing for low-income residents of Sydney’s The Rocks district. The Berejiklian government sold it to private developers in 2019 for $150m. You can read about the sell-off of Millers Point housing at: [https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/millers-point-through-looking-glass]
# Video NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Housing market, State Government.Signs of a cooling housing market are too late for those hoping for better affordability
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)For the first time in a long time the prospect of rising interest rates is back on the table. But while the Reserve Bank suggests we still have to wait a while yet, the housing market has already begun to cool from the absurd levels of earlier this year. ... While the prospect of rising rates and the end of government subsidies might be taking the heat out of the housing market, it will be too late for many. The difficulty of affording a home is now greater than it was before the pandemic, and unless prices actually fall, it will remain so for a long time to come.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/nov/04/sig…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Australia’s Reserve Bank signals the end of ultra-cheap money. Here’s what it will mean
Isaac Gross The Conversation (No paywall)The Reserve Bank of Australia had a Cup Day surprise in store for the country, announcing it was abandoning its policy of “yield curve control”, meaning it was no longer going to defend any particular interest rate for borrowing over any particular duration. ... The decision means the booming housing market will start to crest. Low interest rates sparked the boom as renters flocked to become first-homebuyers and investors jumped in to catch rising prices. The prospect of higher mortgage payments is going to dent this enthusiasm, perhaps quickly. Prices are set to stabilise, before edging, or sliding down .
https://theconversation.com/australias-reserve-bank-signals-the-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.London mayor demands landlords devise evacuation plans for disabled residents
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has demanded building owners in London to urgently draw up personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for residents who live in unsafe blocks. In a letter to building owners, Mr Khan said he would “not wait for legislation” to improve the safety of residents of unsafe buildings, with more than 1,000 blocks in London now deemed at risk of fire, and demanded that landlords take steps to implement the changes. The call from the mayor includes all buildings owned by social landlords and local authorities in the capital. The need for PEEPs have gained extra significance in the wake of the Grenfell fire in 2017. Of the 37 disabled residents living in the tower, 15 were killed by the fire. As part of his phase one recommendations, Grenfell Inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick recommended the adoption of PEEPs for all disabled residents of high-rise buildings.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-mayor-demands-l…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Disability, Housing market, Local Government, Minimum habitability standards.Government pledges £66m winter help for rough sleepers
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the extra funding will provide services such as counselling and rehabilitation to support rough sleepers with drug and alcohol problems. It said the new fund forms part of the government’s £640m drive to end rough sleeping by the end of 2024.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-pledges-66m…
# International, Federal Government, Homelessness.