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
How much support will the City of Sydney’s affordable housing expansion offer inner-city residents?
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)The NSW Government approved plans last month to extend the City of Sydney’s affordable rental housing scheme throughout the inner-city, with the new changes to come into effect on the 1st of July this year. ... Shelter NSW CEO John Engeler welcomes the extension of the strategy. “We commend the City of Sydney for persevering over a number of years to produce a municipality-wide plan for boosting the stock of much needed affordable rental housing,” Engeler told City Hub. “This scheme offers something practical for a group that is often overlooked – financially stressed, low-to-moderate-income renters in the private residential housing market.” The move comes as the tide of renewal has priced out many longtime inner-city residents growing increasingly vulnerable to rental stress. “The forces of gentrification and an overstimulated housing market have combined to make the city unaffordable especially for renters in the private market,” Engeler said. “We … are concerned about the ‘hollowing out’ of the city – with ordinary people forced to the city fringes.”(City Hub)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/06/how-much-support-will-the-c…
# NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development.How our housing can make it feel like a Russian winter
Chris Jensen (No paywall)Australia’s housing just isn’t good enough when it comes to dealing with winter temperatures – we need to take lessons from the Northern Hemisphere. ... If you are renting, the chances are you won’t put a screw in a wall to hang a picture let alone make changes to the thermal properties of the building. (Pursuit)
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-our-housing-can-make…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities water energy internet, Home ownership, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.We Already Have Viable Models for Quality Affordable Housing
Walter Jaegerhaus (No paywall)From the United States ... Historically, the housing shortage now experienced by many U.S. cities is not unique. A similar problem plagued industrializing cities of the late 19th century and became critical after World War I, especially so in countries that lost that conflict. Affected nations took extraordinary remedial steps; many of those were politically motivated and strengthened underlying social democratic ideals. But the design professions also participated and responded with numerous innovations and experiments, which in turn generated much-needed discussions about the use of shared space and the quality of life that citizens are supposed to be able to enjoy. (Common Edge)
https://commonedge.org/we-already-have-viable-models-for-quality…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.‘Pointless engagement’: Real estate agents slam minister, quit reform body in dismay
Nigel Gladestone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The peak body for real estate agents in NSW has quit an expert panel advising the government on the industry as a stoush between the minister and agents escalates.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pointless-engagement-real-es…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.In Tas You Cannot Be Charged a Fee for Paying Rent
Tenants' Union of Tasmania (No paywall)On Saturday, Guardian Australia published an article about third-party payment of rent. It quotes tenants from NSW, Victoria, and Queensland, who have been strongly encouraged to pay their rent not directly to their landlord or real estate agency, but through a third-party payment processor, such as Rental Rewards. These third-party processing firms often charge tenants a fee in order to pay their rent. ... Thankfully, Tasmanian tenants have largely been able to avoid similar headaches.
https://www.tasmaniantimes.com/2021/06/you-cannot-be-charged-a-f…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.The government says there are no easy answers. There are: be honest and transparent with us
Caleb Cluff (No paywall)The decision by the Andrews government to open its 'Big Housing Build' by demolishing 66 homes of people and families in Delacombe and try to sell it as a 'win for everyone' is a classic case of a government believing its own spin. ... What is really happening in Delacombe is another example of how state governments of both persuasions have continued their purge of public housing responsibility. (The Courier)
https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/7312545/the-government-says-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market, State Government.Sick of 12-month leases? Here's how to find a long-term rental
Grace Jennings-Edquist ABC (No paywall)If you'd like to call somewhere home for the long haul but you can't afford to buy, you might be keen on the idea of a long-term lease. ... Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive officer of the Tenants' Union of NSW, [says] "There is certainly a cohort of landlords who self-manage who will say, 'Barring anything else we're happy for you to stay for a long time. Just the signal that they're not using an agent means … that is the place you might find landlords who are looking to do something different." But these private rentals can have a downside. "There's a big divide within the tenant experience" when it comes to landlords who manage their own properties, says Mr Patterson Ross. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/how-to-find-a-long-term-rental-h…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Starting a tenancy, Housing market.Kitchen connection: How a cookbook helped locked down public housing residents heal
Jewel Topsfield The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Deepa Gupta had just moved into a public housing estate in North Melbourne last year when she was banned from leaving her apartment for five days. ... More than 3000 of the city’s most disadvantaged residents were confined to their flats and police surrounded the housing estates. ... A year later Ms Gupta and other residents from those public housing estates have come together to create a cookbook to reconnect the community after the trauma of the hard lockdown.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/kitchen-connection-how-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.