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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Renting in Victoria Snapshot 2021
(No paywall)The purpose of the Renting in Victoria Snapshot 2021 (the Snapshot) is to help improve general knowledge about renting in Victoria and to correct some of the misconceptions that exist about the scale and nature of renting. It can also assist policy makers and service providers. The Snapshot once again provides summary data about what is happening in the Victorian rental sector, utilising available data sets from the Australian Census, the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, and the main organisations renters turn to for assistance such as Tenants Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, welfare agencies and community legal services. (Commissioner for Residential Tenancies, Victoria)
https://www.rentingcommissioner.vic.gov.au/renting-in-victoria-s…
# Australia, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Housing market, State Government.Federal government receives an F on housing in ANU's health inequity report card
Finn McHugh Canberra Times (No paywall)The Coalition has entrenched health inequities by failing on housing during COVID-19, an Australian National University report says. The ANU has released its health equity report card, ranking federal and state responses to the pandemic across housing, employment, and income support.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7502226/anu-gives-coaliti…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Housing market.Mum’s heartbreak at endless rental battle, with 48 rejections in four months
(Paywall)A mother of three young children has applied for 48 homes in four months – and 48 times her heart has been broken. Paige Robertson-Wood is worried she and the children, aged 10, 8 and 2, will spend a second Christmas without a place to call home. “It’s my children I worry about,” she said. “I think landlords see I’m a single parent with three children and on Centrelink and they think we will destroy their house. “They discriminate against single parents and I’ve been told I should get a babysitter and turn up without the kids, but that is very hard. (The Mercury)
https://www.themercury.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TMWEB…
# Australia, Discrimination, Rent, Families, Homelessness, Landlords and agents, Women.E-news, November 2021
National Shelter (No paywall)Adrian Pisarski, Executive Officer, is retiring; The National Housing Investment Finance Corporation Review; Searching for renters ... and more
https://mailchi.mp/dfddb09ebcc8/enews-november-4834390?e=d6b612f…
# Australia, Campaigns and law reform.The Sydney suburbs that have joined the million-dollar-plus club
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)A string of suburbs across Sydney’s west and south have joined the ranks of the city’s ever-expanding million-dollar club, as seven-figure house sales become the norm in the booming property market.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-sydney-suburbs-that-have-join…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market.Canberra developers urged to build 'better quality' apartments as rising house prices push first-home buyers out of market
Harry Frost ABC (No paywall)With rapidly rising property prices making apartments the only option for many first-home buyers in Canberra, housing advocates say potential owners should be demanding better quality and liveability from new residential developments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-09/canberra-first-home-buyer…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Urban equality: equity of acxcess to green space in Melbourne
Farahnaz Sharifi, Wendy Stone, Christian (Andy) Nygaard and Iris Levin (No paywall)Throughout history, cities have struggled to provide equality for all citizens. Issues of equality extend to the ways that urban form can affect residents’ experiences and wellbeing [1]. At the time of writing, this issue is crucial, with Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory all emerging from extended lockdowns due to Covid-19. For residents of metropolitan Melbourne lockdowns have become a familiar tool in the race to contain the pandemic with residents having experienced more than 200 days of some of the strictest lockdown conditions globally. The issue of inequity in access to green space is particularly important in cities like Melbourne, where heatwaves are likely to reach 50°C by 2040. ... (Cities People Love)
https://citiespeoplelove.co/article/urban-equality-equity-of-acc…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Planning and development.As backyards get smaller and trees are removed, urban heat islands could be making suburbs hotter
Prianka Srinivasan and Hellena Souisa ABC (No paywall)Flanked by two looming townhouses, Jyoti Dhakal's suburban bungalow might look out of place. The engineering consultant moved to Clayton in south-east Melbourne in 2013, with her husband and two young children. Back then, she said the neighbourhood felt like a typical Melbourne suburb, dominated by family homes and single-storey units. But things have quickly changed. ... There are currently no controls in Clayton to regulate the removal of trees on private land, and some residents are noticing gardens being eaten up by this demand for higher-density housing. "You see more of concrete buildings, [so] obviously there is … bound to be less vegetation," Ms Dhakal said. "It is a bummer." ... "It is hotter because you have that concrete built over there," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-11/townhouses-development-he…
# Australia, Climate change, Health, Housing market, Planning and development.