Bridge Housing: Real Estate and Meanwhile Use Pathways Housing Projects.

Bridge Housing provides long-term accommodation for people on low to moderate incomes through our property portfolio across Sydney.

HomeGround Real Estate Sydney is a not-for-profit real estate agency providing a professional property management service to landlords and tenants.

A social enterprise of Bridge Housing, we are registered to manage properties under Affordable Housing schemes, including SEPP 70 and NRAS.

Another initiative of Bridge Housing is the Pathways Home project, a collaboration between Women’s Community Shelters, The Payce Foundation and community housing provider Bridge Housing, which is placing women and children in empty homes slated for development.

While small in scale, the project has provided transitional housing for 17 women and 12 children since late 2017.

It is one of a growing number of “meanwhile use” projects rethinking how underutilised spaces can be put to better use and aims to provide 100,000 bed nights over the next three years – with the help of more developers.

“We’d like to be able to target 100 to 200 [properties] across Sydney,” said Payce Foundation director Dominic Sullivan. “It’s not a huge amount if spread between 20 different [developers].”

“Rather than having these properties empty, there’s some great community uses and social purposes they can be used for.”

Partnership boosts affordable housing stock in Bundaberg

Regional Housing Ltd and the Qld Government cut the ribbon of a new social housing project.

The Minister for Communities and Housing, Minister for Digital Economy and Minister for the Arts The Honourable Leeanne Enoch was present for this significant event.

A new social housing unit complex has been completed four months ahead of schedule in Avenell Heights and will soon provide a safe, secure and sustainable home to 16 Queensland households.

Minister Leeanne Enoch said the complex of two-bedroom units was built through a partnership with Regional Housing Limited.

“The Palaszczuk Government has funded the construction of this $3.96 million project under our Partnering for Growth initiative,” Minister Enoch said.

What Berlin’s radical vote for social housing says about the global battle for affordable cities

In Berlin, rents have more than doubled over the last decade.

The city used to be known as an affordable place to live for, say, an artist. But someone earning an average salary would now have to spend more than 60% of their net income to live in Mitte, one popular neighbourhood.

On Sunday, more than a million voters in the city-backed a radical referendum: The government should, they say, take apartment buildings from large landlords and turn them into public property, so rents can be kept affordable.

The Berlin model should be possible elsewhere, says Frey. “I hope that tenants and organizers can really capitalize on this energy,” she says. “I really hope [this campaign] could be an inspiration to other places, where people maybe feel like, ‘Oh, you can’t change things.

It’s just how capitalism works.’ I don’t think people should let themselves be convinced that you can’t change anything.”

Boost for build-to-rent

Established players and new market entrants are stepping up their investment in build-to-rent, following the relative outperformance of the asset class in the COVID-19 era.

Mirvac has completed projects at Sydney’s Olympic Park and has set its sights on 5,000 build-to-rent apartments under management within five years.

Lendlease is looking to convert some of its proposed developments, while Queensland has new large-scale schemes underway led by Frasers Property Australia and Mirvac.

In February, US build-to-rent specialist Greystar amassed a $1.3 billion war chest to fund new Australian projects.

The fund’s first two projects are expected to kick off in inner Melbourne later this year and will deliver around 1,300 new rental homes and create 2,000 jobs in construction.

According to Puian Mollaian, CBRE’s associate director of structured transactions and advisory services, offshore institutional funding accounts for around 57 per cent of the total pipeline.

Affordable housing contributions

Some development in the City of Sydney local area may require a contribution towards the cost of providing affordable housing.

Providing affordable housing is a key focus of the City of Sydney’s long-term development strategy across the local area.

As land values increase, the cost of buying or renting homes is beyond the reach of very low to moderate-income households.

Providing affordable housing ensures people living in low to moderate-income households can continue to live and work in the city.

One of the following affordable housing contributions programs may apply depending on the location of the proposed development and the time when the development application was lodged. The map below shows where the City of Sydney may require an affordable housing contribution.

The Green Square and employment lands affordable housing programs apply to development applications lodged before 1 July 2021.

The City of Sydney affordable housing program applies to development applications lodged from 1 July 2021.

The City of Sydney affordable housing program supplements the City West affordable housing program.

“My Home” Demonstration

The “My Home” concept is based on the Housing First model and is delivered to a site provided by the Western Australian State Government at a peppercorn lease.

It is devised by Michelle Blakeley a local architect with a keen interest in homeless housing.

Michelle has brought together several partners including Offsite a Perth construction technology company that create and deliver the prefabricated timber wall and floor cassettes.

Rotary WA will fit the house out with furniture and homewares as well as creating gardens and St. Patrick’s Community Support Centre who will eventually manage the completed property and tenants.

National Association of Woman in Construction Award

The team of contributors and supporters of the “My Home” project for housing homeless people has won the 2020 WA Women In Construction – Social Responsibility Award.

This award recognises the achievements of an outstanding woman who has shown significant commitment to others, or another social cause within the construction industry.

The Global Housing Market Is Broken, and It’s Dividing Entire Countries

The dream of owning a home is increasingly out of reach.

Democratic and authoritarian governments alike are struggling with the consequences.

Soaring property prices are forcing people all over the world to abandon all hope of owning a home.

The fallout is shaking governments of all political persuasions.

It’s a phenomenon given wings by the pandemic.

And it’s not just buyers — rents are also soaring in many cities.

The upshot is the perennial issue of housing costs has become one of acute housing inequality, and an entire generation is at risk of being left behind.

Study reveals annual £28m cost of evicting tenants from social housing

Evicting tenants from social homes cost the public purse at least £28 million in a single year, according to new research published by Shelter Scotland.

The housing campaign group commissioned academics from the University of Liverpool to establish the true cost of evictions by councils and housing associations. The study goes beyond the direct costs like legal fees, to get a more accurate cost of the 1,866 evictions by councils and housing associations in 2019-2020.

The charity said that £28m is a “conservative estimate” but a significant proportion of this comes from the cost of providing homelessness services for those households who went on to present as homeless.

This research supports similar research undertaken in Australia.

Queensland Government has made changes to some COVID-19 arrangements for residential tenancies

The Queensland Government has made changes to some COVID-19 arrangements for residential tenancies, effective 1 May to 30 September 2021. These apply to all general tenancies and rooming accommodation, including social housing.

The amendments are designed to help the Queensland residential rental sector transition back to normal tenancy arrangements and processes under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008.

Only a locally-led planning system can fix the housing crisis

This article comes from the UK.
Its relevance in terms of the underpinning principles it refers to the Australian context is evident.

Algorithms and formulas can never be a substitute for community knowledge,
We need to build the right homes in the right places that enable everyone to have a home that they can afford and with the security of tenure.
Not only does this mean enabling a mix of tenures, allowing more people to get on the housing ownership ladder through Right to Buy, First Homes, shared ownership and other schemes, but also more homes that people can afford to rent, whether delivered through the private sector or through councils and housing associations.
It also means having the right homes for people, not driven by developer profits but by local need.