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
Aged care facing impending shortage of 110,000 workers, report finds
Katharinne Murphy The Guardian (No paywall)Urgent action is needed to address a looming shortage of at least 110,000 aged care workers over the coming decade, including boosting pay and conditions and creating a new dedicated migration path to boost the labour force. The stark warning is contained in a new report to be released by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (Ceda) on Tuesday. The report says unless the Morrison government takes action now, Australia’s aged care workforce shortage will balloon to more than 400,000 workers by 2050.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/aged-care…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Summit called to address inland regional housing crisis
Lottie Twford (No paywall)A complex web of factors is causing a housing shortage to become a crisis in regional NSW – and more broadly across inland Australia – and it can only be solved with collaboration between business, and at all levels of government, according to Regional Development Australia (RDA) Riverina. (about regional)
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Regional NSW, State Government.Rental crisis forces south-west residents to live with extended family
Monique Patterson (Paywall)The south-west's rental shortage is forcing people to live with extended family members for long periods of time. Brent Vanstone has been living in a shed on his mother's property for more than two years. In the first 18 months I applied for a lot of properties, but after constantly waking up to emails saying I was unsuccessful, I gave up for six months as it was taking a huge toll on my mental state," he said. In addition to that, he has been contacted by a number of people about properties who he later found out were scammers. Mr Vanstone, who has joint custody of his 11-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, is looking for a two to three-bedroom property. "The constant rejection is very disappointing," he said. (The Standard)
https://www.standard.net.au/story/7369248/rental-crisis-forces-s…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market.‘Massive toll’: Sydney apartment buyers languishing years after paying deposits
Matt Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than four years after paying a deposit, Sydney woman Kim Morris has no idea when she can move into an apartment she bought off the plan. “The worst thing is the deafening silence from the developer. It is just the total uncertainty – we just can’t get a word out of them,” she said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/massive-toll-sydney-apartmen…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market.The new real estate normal
Eli Saslow (No paywall)From the United States ...In the record-setting housing market of 2021, homeownership has become the dividing line for a fractured economy that’s racing toward extremes. Real estate values have surged by almost 25 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, creating more than $1 trillion in new wealth for existing homeowners. Many of them have used that money to buy investment properties and second homes, further driving up prices while first-time buyers increasingly struggle to afford anything at all. Homeowners on average are now reported to have as much as 80 times greater net worth than renters, who continue to suffer disproportionately from some of the pandemic’s worst effects: high rates of unemployment, eviction and a historic increase in the cost of living. (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/18/idaho-housing-m…
# International, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Opal Tower builder denies involvement in separate Sydney apartment complex found with defects
Josh Bavas ABC (No paywall)The builder of Sydney's infamous Opal Tower has been hit with an order by the NSW Building Commissioner to fix a number of defects in a separate residential complex. Icon Co (NSW) Pty Ltd was issued with the order last Thursday over a number of defects in the Roseberry complex but has denied any link to the project, telling the ABC it will dispute the claim. The list of defects included waterproofing issues on the roof and in the basement, corroding balustrades which pose a "threat of collapse", as well as fire safety issues.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-11/opal-tower-builder-denies…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Multibillion-dollar land sales target imposed on NSW departments
Tom Rabe The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has imposed a $3 billion land and property sales target on its departments, including education, to buffer the state’s budget and bankroll future infrastructure projects.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/multibillion-dollar-land-sal…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.'My flat is now a commodity’: Berlin to vote on seizing rental properties
(Paywall)Bid to confiscate apartments from publicly listed landlords could set precedent for other cities with high rents. (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/ad96da11-d012-440a-b1d9-05718aac47a5
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Local Government.