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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Social housing tenant forced to cook in living room amid Victoria’s ‘broken’ complaints system, report says
Luke Henriques-Gomes and Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)A social housing tenant was left to cook in her living room while another was forced to shower at public facilities for months, an investigation [by the ombudsman] into Victoria’s “broken” housing complaints system has found. In a report tabled in parliament on Thursday morning, the state ombudsman, Deborah Glass, said the investigation had found a “broken complaint system”, prompting the need for a social housing ombudsman and changes to the law.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/07/social-ho…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Repairs, Health.Better social housing for people with disabilities?
Maggie Korenblium (No paywall)In a few months, the Disability Royal Commission will hold a public hearing on homelessness for people with disability. A key piece of the puzzle is the kinds of housing people at risk of homelessness find themselves in – which means we need to talk about social housing, and especially public housing. Nearly half of the households in public housing include at least one person with disability, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. But the 2018 National Social Housing Survey found that disabled people report less improvement to their life from living in social housing compared to others. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/better-social-housing-for-peopl…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Disability.Rent prices expected to grow even more in coming months
Today 2022 9 News (No paywall)Tenant's Union CEO Leo Patterson-Ross explains what renters are in store for after an already tough start to the year.
https://www.9now.com.au/today/2022/clip-cl5bnrhr7000b0jqo1c0u5qq3
# Video NSW, Rent, Share houses, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘Stark raving, barking mad’: experts question the building of homes below ‘worst-case’ flood levels in western Sydney
Michael McGowan The Guardian (No paywall)In 2015, Stuart Ayres, the MP for Penrith in Sydney’s west, stood at the site of an old quarry in his electorate and told a journalist to imagine homes “as far as your eye can see”. “There are so many opportunities we can explore,” he told Channel Nine. “Different types of housing, larger homes, smaller homes, and all types of recreational activities will happen there.” Ayres was talking about Penrith Lakes, a 2,000-hectare site owned by a consortium of businesses, including the Kerry Stokes-owned Seven Group through its majority stake in the building materials supplier Boral. Eight years later, just how many – if any – homes will be built is subject to some uncertainty. Penrith Lakes is located around the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain, and has been among the areas inundated in the numerous floods to hit that part of western Sydney in recent months and years. ... In March the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, scrapped a set of flood-risk design principles introduced by his predecessor Rob Stokes only two weeks after it came into force, . He also dropped a set of draft planning rules promoting more sustainable development that some, including the ICA, wanted to include flood risk.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/10/stark-rav…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Knives out for Commissioner Chandler
Jimmy Thompson (No paywall)This week’s Flat Chat Wrap has a look at something we predicted a few weeks ago – that the knives would soon be out for Building Commissioner David Chandler ... Why? Maybe because he’s been a bit too successful at doing exactly what he was asked to do – get rid of of a crooks and shonks in the property development industry. (Flat Chat)
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Where are the 300,000 empty homes in NSW
Caitlin Fitsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney recorded tens of thousands of empty homes on census night, with the Delta lockdown and hard international border closure pushing vacancies higher than 2016. Meanwhile, in traditional seaside holiday towns, up to a quarter of dwellings were unoccupied despite the severe housing crisis. Figures from the 2021 census, sorted for The Sun-Herald by local government area, show the location of nearly 300,000 unoccupied homes across NSW. You will find useful maps in this article. Also, read Rachael Dexter's and Craig Butt's article about Victoria entitled: 'Silent suburbs: where are our state’s 300,000 empty homes?' in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/silent-suburbs-where-are-our-state-s-300-000-empty-homes-20220706-p5azk7.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/where-are-the-300-000-empty-…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting, State Government.Addressing the affordable housing crisis
Judy Skatssoon (No paywall)Local government can play a role in addressing the national housing crisis by introducing incentives and requirements for new developments to include affordable and low-cost dwellings, a new report says.
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/addressing-the-affordable-hous…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Local Government.Mother of eight struggles to find new rental as prices spike across South Australia
Josephine Lim ABC (No paywall)Inside Natasha Malone's three-bedroom rental home are three beds in the front lounge room — for herself and two of her eight children. The single mother has been told she will need to find a new rental by December because her current place will soon be up for sale. In the meantime, her landlord has increased the weekly rent from $360 to $500. "I now have to say what's more important, having a house or medication? And currently it's having a house." ... She has applied for 46 new rentals in the past four months but has been rejected for every single one. "What the real estate agents are saying is that everyone's offering more, like $100 more a week, and if you're not in a position to be able to do that, it makes it really defeating," she said. "I'm worried that we're going to end up on the street and have nowhere to go."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-07/sa-mother-struggles-to-fi…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Health, Homelessness, Welfare, Women.