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
Only one thing will end the squalor of aged care
Ross Gittins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Despite all the appalling stories of the neglect and even abuse of old people we’ve heard during the two years of the royal commission into aged care, it’s hard to be confident this will be the last time we’ll need an inquiry into what’s going wrong and why. ... The basic solution is obvious: if we want decent care of our oldies we must be prepared to pay more for it – a lot more. The problem is, neither side of politics has been game to ask us to do so.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/only-one-thing-will-…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people, Tax.‘Off the charts’: Perth rental market braces for shock when eviction ban lifts
Tess Ingram The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Jasmine Peucker has been to almost a dozen home opens in the past three weeks. After facing knockback after knockback, Ms Peucker and her partner Cameron are growing increasingly worried. The pair have lived in a property in Bicton for three years, but their landlord has decided to sell. They only have a week and a half left to find a new place. ... Renters like Ms Peucker across the state are growing increasingly anxious, with just one month until the COVID-19 emergency period for residential tenancies ends.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/western-australia/off-the-charts…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.As WA working families start to call, housing support workers face ‘tsunami’ of homelessness
Tess Ingram The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)With working families now calling homelessness support workers, some of who are themselves under rental stress, community services groups predict Western Australia’s second wave of pandemic-related homelessness will be a ‘tsunami’.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/as-wa-working-…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Under pressure: What landlords can do to retain tenants
Emily Chantiri The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property prices may be rising but there remains downward pressure on rents, with more people moving out of the cities for the regions and overseas immigration halted, crimping demand. Some investment property landlords are also being squeezed as tenants decide to move out to take advantage of cheaper properties. ... Jo Natoli, from the Rental Specialists, offers the following tips for landlords to help keep existing tenants happy [including] consider allowing pets. “Tenants with pets tend to stay longer because it’s harder to find homes that allow pets.”
https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/under-pressure-what-landl…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.Victorian Liberals lose planning fight over social housing drive
Sumeyya Ilanbey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Victorian Liberals have lost their bid to fight an Andrews government decision that has stripped local councils of their power to make planning decisions on the construction of thousands of new social housing units.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/victorian-liberals-lose…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Planning and development, State Government.New team behind ‘fundamental rethink’ of Brisbane’s mega-city planning
Lydia Lynch The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A specialist team will be created to ensure land stretching between Tweed Heads and Noosa is able to keep pace with population growth and housing demand. South-east Queensland’s “200-kilometre city” is predicted to grow by 1.5 million to 5 million in 20 years, making it about the same population as Sydney today.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/new-team-behind-funda…
# Australia, Planning and development, State Government.House prices surge at fastest rate since 2003
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The nation’s property prices surged at their fastest rate since 2003 in February, led by the booming Sydney and Melbourne real estate markets where tens of thousands of dollars has been added to the median house value.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/house-prices-surge-at-fa…
# Australia, Housing market.Dignity in life and death: Commission recommends more nurses and palliative care
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Aged Care Royal Commission’s final report calls on the government to recognise that palliative care and end-of-life care, like dementia care, is a “core business” for aged-care providers.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/dignity-in-life-and-death-commis…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.