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
Building order finds 'hazard to human life', with awning in new Sydney development in danger of collapse
Amy Greenback ABC (No paywall)Government inspectors have found potential “serious defects" in a brand new apartment development in Sydney’s north-west, including an awning in danger of collapse, according to a building work rectification order. The 15-storey Baulkham Hills Modena complex has four towers, more than 230 apartments and over 4,500 square metres of retail space. The $80 million development is still being completed, but a work rectification order has been issued after compliance officers found one of Modena's retail awnings was in danger of collapse.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-18/sydney-apartment-awning-a…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Twofold crisis: regional Australia housing shortage compounding poor mental health
Natasha May and Gabrielle Chan The Guardian (No paywall)The housing crisis and mental health crisis are converging in regional Australia as rental vacancy rates in some regions fall below 1% with city people on the move, rentals converting to Airbnbs or owners cashing in on high property prices. Regional towns have experienced a significant reduction in available properties and rental affordability, particularly since the onset of the pandemic. ... [Ellen Jones, a solicitor in the NSW town of Orange said] “If something doesn’t change, we are going to see single mums sleeping under bridges. I’ve seen people with children and, even more so if they have pets, who cannot get rental accommodation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/20/twofold-c…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW.I lived in a share house with my mum when I was a kid. I got a 'sister' out of it
Yasmin Jeffery and Sabine Paglialonga ABC (No paywall)In 2002, my mum Shirley and I were renting a too-big, rundown house in pre-gentrified Preston we could barely afford. So when she told me her friend, Saskia, Saskia's six-year-old daughter Sabine and their dog would be moving in with us for a bit because they were struggling too, I was relieved even though I felt like we barely knew them. (ABC Everyday)
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/living-in-a-share-house-as-a-chi…
# Australia, Rent, Share houses, Women.How ‘managed retreat’ from climate change could revitalize rural America: Revisiting the Homestead Act
Hillary A Brown and Daniel R Brooks The Conversation (No paywall)Southern Italy’s rural Calabria region announced an innovative project in 2021 to breathe new life into its small towns. It plans to offer young professionals thousands of dollars if they move in and commit to launch a business, preferably a business the community needs. Northwest Arkansas has a similar program to draw new residents to rural towns like Springdale by offering US$10,000 and a mountain bike. Lincoln, Kansas, is offering free land to remote workers who are willing to relocate and build a home there. These efforts take advantage of the growing work-from-home culture to try to revitalize rural communities that are in decline.
https://theconversation.com/how-managed-retreat-from-climate-cha…
# International, Climate change, Housing market.Why more Australian women are choosing a solo van life
Tom Forbes and Nicole Dyer ABC (No paywall)Kellie Campbell has just given up her unit on the Gold Coast and her husband is about to move overseas so she's hitting the road to live in a van. The 50-year-old said she and her husband had been living — on and off — in their van for a year, but his decision to return to South Africa for work forced her to travel alone. ... Kellie Campbell says she'll live in her van because she can't afford to rent a unit by herself while her husband is working overseas.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/more-australian-women-are…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Rent, Housing affordability, Women.We are stretched to our limits': Advocates push for extension of Ontario rent freeze
Noushin Ziafati (No paywall)From Canada ... Monique Gordon is worried about her rent increasing next year as the pandemic wears on. The single mother was laid off at the start of the pandemic and had to make do with funds from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which left her with only a couple of hundred dollars each month after paying for rent, utilities and her phone. With Ontario’s pandemic rent freeze set to expire at the end of the year, Gordon’s monthly rent payments are set to rise by $15 in January. The Toronto resident has been called back to her job as a security guard but is concerned about potentially being laid off again while having to pay more in rent. ... Several tenant advocacy groups say they want to see the provincial government extend the current rent freeze to help individuals who have yet to fully recover from the economic fallout of COVID-19.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/10/15/we-are-stretched-to-our-l…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Cut-price mortgage battle could stymie moves to slow booming housing market
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A price war between banks trying to lure new customers with cheap interest rates could dull the impact of the banking regulator’s recent move to slow the housing market, underlining the risk of further loan curbs, analysts say.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/cut-price-mo…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Coronavirus gave rural USA a chance to lure young professionals to save their shrinking towns
Barbara Miller and Peter Jones ABC (No paywall)Quintina Mengyan is one of millions of Americans who took the pandemic as an opportunity to give up an expensive apartment in a crowded city for a new life in regional USA. ... But there are also risks associated with reshaping communities. Rural gentrification can eventually push out locals who are no longer able to afford property in their own towns. ... A smaller community's infrastructure may also not be able to cope with a sudden influx of new residents.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-20/coronavirus-sends-america…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Planning and development.