Macedon Ranges Shire Council adopts interim affordable housing policy

“The draft interim policy has been developed as a time-sensitive priority of council. Inputs have included environment review of local government approaches and engagement with relevant local peak bodies.”

The policy received eight written submissions and had one participant in an online forum, with a major response to the policy identifying the need for council to advocate for people living with disabilities because they were disproportionally affected.

Changes to the policy were made to ensure people with disabilities were included, such as to ‘understand that choice and control principles should be reflected in decisions related to housing needs of people with disability’ and to ‘understand the value of community, and the importance of an individual being able to stay close to his/her/their support networks’.

Median Australian home rockets $126,700 in value over the past year

Australia’s housing market continues to surge, with prices lifting for the 14th consecutive month and the median home adding a staggering $126,700 in value over the past year.

CoreLogic’s latest figures show a 1.3 per cent increase in November, taking the annual price growth rate to 22.2 per cent.

But it was the softest rise since January when values gained 0.9 per cent.

Since peaking in March, when housing values jumped by 2.8 per cent, there has been a notable easing, CoreLogic says.

The group’s research director Tim Lawless puts that down to a number of reasons.

“Virtually every factor that has driven housing values higher has lost some potency over recent months,” Mr Lawless said on Wednesday.

“Fixed mortgage rates are rising, higher listings are taking some urgency away from buyers, affordability has become a more substantial barrier to entry and credit is less available.”

Brisbane and Adelaide are the only capital cities yet to experience a slowdown.

In the Queensland capital, home values put on 2.9 per cent last month – the highest rate of growth since October 2003.

Interest rates are expected to rise in 2023.

NEWS Goldman Sachs AM invests in Australian disability housing fund

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is to invest at least A$137m (€85m) in Synergis, a fund that invests in disability housing in Australia.

Synergis already has superannuation fund HESTA among its investors and hopes to raise enough capital to invest more than A$1bn over the next five years.

The platform aims initially to provide homes to more than 2,000 people with disabilities through a portfolio of properties that qualify as Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).

The Synergis fund is managed by Social Infrastructure Investment Partners (SIIP), a joint venture between Federation Asset Management and Social Ventures Australia (SVA).

Sisters of Mercy looking to build affordable social housing for community

Sisters of Mercy are looking to build local cost housing in the region in response to the growing rental crisis facing Griffith and surrounding suburbs.

Sister Teresa Foley said the mission to build affordable housing in Griffith had been ongoing for a number of years, as people on low incomes continue to struggle accessing and securing affordable housing.

The Sisters of Mercy will base their project of the Argyle Housing Project which will see the construction of 35 lots of affordable dwellings, space for a new community centre, a basketball court, playground equipment, and 4600 square metres of open of green space.

‘Affordable housing is not a pipe dream’: How some developers are making a difference

The concept of affordable housing has changed significantly since the uniform state houses of the 1950s and ‘60s.

These days, many social houses are deliberately indistinguishable from their KiwiBuild scheme counterparts, which are aimed at helping first home-buyers into a challenging housing market.

The author, Mikalea Wilkes sat down with some of the people behind award-winning developments to talk about why an affordable and appealing home doesn’t have to be a pipe dream.

The article provides access to videos of a range of stakeholders in the mixed tenure, shared equity affordable housing developments.

Social housing tenants block roads in protest outside £345-a-head UK Housing Awards

Suited and booted guests endured shouts of “shame on you” from protesters as they made their way inside.

Kwajo Tweneboa, a housing activist and housing association tenant, told The Big Issue he considered the protest a success.

“I was disgusted at the CEOs walking past and laughing at us protesting for decent housing provided by them, meanwhile they spent £4,000 on tables, no doubt funded by the rent we pay. Completely immoral and inhumane,” he said.

“Just goes to show how little they care, but well done to everyone that came out.”

Ahead of making their way to the hotel, protesters gathered at North Greenwich station to hold a mock awards ceremony, presenting golden toilets to councils and housing associations for their poor records.

Rental Affordability Index reveals the cost of rent now skyrocketing in some Queensland regions

The latest annual report based on the Rental Affordability Index (RAI) reveals there has been a significant decline in affordability across some regions in Queensland, with the cost of rent now skyrocketing.

Families being forced to live out of tents and caravans meant for a holiday not as a permanent living situation.

Mr Pisarski said the other concern was under-investment in social housing at the bottom end of the housing system.

“There’s a lot of people in the rental market that really should be in social housing, paying much less of their meagre incomes to acquire housing, and that would take pressure out of the rental market.

“The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute estimates that there are at least 1.3 million Australian households in rental stress in Australia — that’s a hell of a lot of people.”

Contracting with the Community

Local government agencies often say they find it difficult to identify and reach marginalized populations and gain their trust or time to contribute to a planning process.

During a typical municipal planning process, those agencies often hire an outside consultant to conduct community outreach and incorporate that feedback in a final report.

However, consultants from outside of the community tend to lack the historical context of the area as well as the kinds of relationships that are only built with trust.

As a result, relying on them risks eliminating the perspective of a broad subset of community members, often people of color.

Without the expertise and true lived experience of all residents informing the outcomes, plans are often based on skewed narratives that in turn accelerate inequitable housing practices.

National Anti-Racism Framework

The Concept Paper outlines the reasons why a national framework is needed.

The Commissioner states:

“A framework would outline a coordinated, shared vision to tackle racism and promote racial equality in Australia. It would be a statement of our commitment to tackling racism and our intention to protect and promote racial equality. The Framework would seek to not only guide work to address racism but also reflect our commitment to inclusion, equality and social cohesion. It would be an important step in building a common vision of the society we want to build.
It is time that we looked at the scourge of racism in the same way that we look at the scourge of domestic violence or child abuse. On those issues, we have in place longstanding national frameworks, signed onto by all governments in Australia with multi-year plans with priorities, backed up by measurement and evaluation.
Let me be clear: racism is a significant economic, social and national security threat to Australia. It is time we treated it as such.
We need a new approach to combatting racism – one that is more cohesive across government, that builds community partnerships to prevent racism from flourishing, and one that is smarter and more effective.
This paper sets out my initial thinking as Race Discrimination Commissioner of the key elements of a new approach to anti-racism for Australia.”

QAHM and Q Shelter release position paper: Mental Health and Housing October 2021

Together, Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH) and Q Shelter are calling for coordinated action by both the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy and Queensland Health, to commit to increased investment in supported accommodation programs. This is to ensure better access to safe, supported and long-term housing for people with lived experience of mental illness, particularly in Queensland’s regional areas. Read the full position paper here.