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
A rating system, free dental care and no restraints: Key findings
Sarah McPhee The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)After almost two and a half years the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has delivered an exhaustive, 2800-page report containing 148 recommendations. Read on ...
https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-rating-system-free-dental-care…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.From funding to a right to care: the aged care royal commission's key recommendations
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s aged care sector is set for a “generational paradigm shift”, according to Scott Morrison, after the royal commission into the system laid bare deep-rooted “neglect and abuse” of older Australians and delivered recommendations for a path forward. The royal commission has made 148 recommendations to address structural issues in funding and governance, formulated after evidence from 641 experts, residents and families over almost 100 hearing days since the prime minister ordered the inquiry in October 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/02/from-fund…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Rogue landlord told to pay back £739,000 over illegal London housing
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)A rogue landlord who operated illegal rooming houses in London has been told to pay back £739,000 in illicit earnings or face jail, in one of the biggest confiscation orders of its kind, the council that investigated the case has said.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/28/brent-rogue-land…
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Why house prices are on the rise again and won't be dropping anytime soon
Hilary Harper ABC (No paywall)The latest figures show Australian house prices are in the midst of one of the strongest growth phases on record, and that means if you're looking to buy a home at the moment, you'll be hard pressed to get one at the price you were hoping to pay. So why is that, and what can be done about it?
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/why-ho…
# Audio Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.I've got four reasons to be positive about the aged care royal commission
Anne Connolly ABC (No paywall)If only the Prime Minister had given us the royal commission report before the press conference. Despite the split between the commissioners, there are a lot of positives amongst the five volumes and 148 recommendations of the report.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-03/reasons-to-be-positive-ab…
# Hot topic Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Housing affordability already declining across the nation, on the cusp of being ‘obliterated’
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Housing affordability is back on the decline across Australia and could be “obliterated” by surging property prices, a new report shows. Rapidly rising house prices and larger homes loans saw a deterioration in housing affordability last quarter, according to the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s (REIA) latest Housing Affordability Report, released Wednesday.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-affordability-already-dec…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.Record low interest rates until 2024 could deepen divisions between Australia's haves and have-nots
Martin Farrer The Guardian (No paywall)Super-low interest rates will remain for at least another three years, the Reserve Bank has said, increasing the likelihood of a continued surge in house prices exacerbating what one leading thinktank called the division of Australia into a nation of haves and have-nots.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/02/record-lo…
# Australia, Housing market.Australian house prices record largest monthly rise in almost two decades
The Guardian (No paywall)House prices jumped 2.1% in February, the largest national monthly rise since August 2003, spurred on by record low mortgage rates, improving economic conditions and government incentives.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/01/australia…
# Australia, Housing market.