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
Perth electric shock victim Denishar Woods and family sue state in massive damages claim
Tess Ingram The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The family of Denishar Woods, the young girl left with severe brain injuries after suffering an electric shock at a public housing property in 2018, is suing the state in a series of claims advocates say could amount to millions of dollars.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-electric…
# Legal significance Australia, Public and community housing, Utilities water energy internet, Minimum habitability standards.Relying on casuals in aged care will weaken royal commission's reforms, experts warn
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Unions and aged care experts are outraged that the royal commission into the sector has not recommended a clear path away from the “overcasualisation” of the system’s workforce, warning the extra time residents are set to receive with carers will ultimately feel “transactional” and detrimental to dementia sufferers if providers can still rely on labour hire agencies.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/05/relying-o…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Cost of Australia’s aged care system to soar to $36bn a year if cheapest royal commission reforms adopted
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s aged care system will require at least $36bn each year if the Morrison government adopts the royal commission’s cheapest recommendations to address neglect and abuse and realise a right of care for older Australians, economists have calculated. The roughly $9bn per year additional cash will be required to fund tens of thousands of extra home care packages, and the cost of increasing staff qualifications, ratios and pay across home and residential aged care.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/03/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.50% of Australians are prepared to pay more tax to improve aged care workers’ pay, survey shows
Rachel Milte and Julie Ratcliffe The Conversation (No paywall)The Morrison government has been facing difficult questions regarding which of the 148 recommendations it will adopt. It also needs to grapple with how to pay for the much-needed changes. On this question, the royal commissioners disagree. Commissioner Lynelle Briggs calls for a levy of 1% of taxable personal income, while commissioner Tony Pagone recommends the Productivity Commission investigate an aged care levy.
https://theconversation.com/50-of-australians-are-prepared-to-pa…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.What if social housing enacted a culture of care and compassion?
Claire Bowles The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Long-awaited and long-needed, the announcement by the Andrews government in late 2020 that Victoria will build over 12,000 units of social housing worth an estimated $5.3 billion, cannot come soon enough. ... However, many have been suffering the plight of insecure housing and housing affordability well before the pandemic arrived. In fact, 57 per cent of lower-income households who rent privately are in rental distress, while 50,000 Australians are in urgent need of social housing, with another 116,000 experiencing homelessness as of the last census.
https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/what-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market.Sadiq Khan sets official target for half of all new London homes to be ‘genuinely affordable’
James Wilmore (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Sadiq Khan has formally set a “strategic” target for half of all new homes built in the capital to be “genuinely affordable” in his long-awaited London Plan. (Social Housing)
https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/sadiq-khan-sets-official-ta…
# International, Affordable housing.‘Poo power’ to heat 2,000 homes in London borough
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... More than 2,000 homes in Kingston could be heated using excess heat energy from the sewage treatment process, the London council has said. ... The scheme, which is the first of its kind in England, is part of a carbon-cutting partnership between Kingston Council and Thames Water. The council is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2038, while Thames Water is looking to achieve net zero carbon by 2030.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/poo-power-to-heat-2000…
# International, Utilities water energy internet, Housing market.Social housing tenant could be evicted today over $260 in arrears
Mario Christodoulou and Scott Mitchell ABC (No paywall)Social housing tenants say they have been getting a wave of strongly-worded termination notices in inner-city Sydney. Peter "Pierre" Gawronski, better known as "the bird man" around his Surry Hills neighbourhood, was told in a letter from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice that he was $262.22 in arrears.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-06/bird-man-eviction-notice-…
# NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing.