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
Podcast: Building Tenant Power – With IUTs Barbara Steenbergen
(No paywall)Barbara Steenbergen from the International Union of Tenants, European Union office, joins Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar. Together they discuss the role of the tenant unions in Europe as well as their advances in housing policies and protecting tenant rights.
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/podcast-building-tenant-power-wit…
# Video International, Campaigns and law reform.The Carpenter Who Built Tiny Homes for Toronto’s Homeless
Catherine Porter The New York Times (No paywall)On his way to work on a construction site, Khaleel Seivwright surveyed the growing number of tents lining an intercity highway and in parks with increasing discomfort. How would these people survive Toronto’s damp, frigid winters, let alone the coronavirus, which had pushed so many out of overcrowded shelters? He remembered the little shanty he had once built out of scrap wood while living on a commune in British Columbia. ... [Today Mr. Seivwright] has built about 100 similar shelters with a crew of 40 volunteers and more than $200,000 in donations. He has hauled them to parks across Toronto where homeless encampments have slumped into place — jarring reminders of the pandemic’s perversely uneven effects.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/world/canada/khaleel-seivwrig…
# Must read International, Homelessness, Housing market.Berlin’s Rent Cap: What Did the Constitutional Court Decide?
Andrej Holm (No paywall)From Germany ... With today’s decision by the Second Senate of Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, the judges in Karlsruhe have declared that the rent cap law in Berlin is inadmissible. In particular, they denied the state’s competence to regulate rents and thus rejected the attempt to at least temporarily halt rent hikes in Berlin. ... For many tenants, the ruling from Karlsruhe is dramatic news, because the decision turns back the housing policy clock to regular rent hikes, excessively high rents on new contract, and a growing threat of displacement. The rent freeze stipulated in the rent cap has been lifted, and rent increases can now be demanded again even on already valid contracts. However, the restrictions mandated by the German Civil Code (BGB), which tie rent increases to the average local rent and limits it to a maximum of 15 percent in three years (at least in Berlin), still apply. ... The decision in Karlsruhe shows once again how difficult it is to enforce affordable rents via legal means. We know this from almost all big cities: the interests of private profit and affordable rents are mutually exclusive. If legal measures are not allowed to take effect, the only logical way to stop the rent madness is to expand non-profit housing stock.
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/44118/berlins-rent-cap-what-di…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Federal Government, State Government.Zahra should never have ended up living in her car after giving birth
Jamila Rizvi The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Zahra is a 44-year-old Victorian mother who works full time. Zahra isn’t her real name. She has chosen to remain anonymous for privacy reasons. She has a master’s degree and speaks eloquently, intelligently and passionately about social justice. Everything from gender equality to First Nations people’s campaign for a treaty. Zahra is highly educated, confident and accomplished. She’s anything but the stereotype of a person who has experienced homelessness. ... While there are more homeless men than women, among the fastest growing cohorts of homeless Australians are women aged over 55. ... [Check out] Launch Housing Roughin’ It Challenge. Between 16-23 April 2021, participants can show their solidarity for people experiencing homelessness. To get involved go; [https://www.launchhousing.org.au/].
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/zahra-sh…
# Australia, Homelessness, Women.Housing crisis: Byron rents soar; now more expensive than most of Sydney
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Regional NSW’s housing crisis requires rent regulation similar to other international cities, experts say, to curb the spiralling cost of towns like Byron Bay, where prices now outstrip most of Sydney. ... The rapid rental increases of the past year warranted the state government looking into rent regulation similar to international cities around the world, said Chris Martin, senior research fellow at UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre. ... Many countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Scotland all have various forms of rent regulation, which caps rental increases, Dr Martin said. ... Joel Dignam, executive director of Better Renting, [said] “[Landlords] are playing by the rules of the game,” he said. “That’s why we have governments to change the rules of the game when things aren’t working.” He also backed calls for governments to step in to protect locals from unaffordable, insecure housing.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/calls-for-rent-control-as-regiona…
# NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.‘Very big package’: $10 billion aged care boost at heart of federal budget
James Massola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Morrison government will promise at least $10 billion over four years for aged care in the May federal budget, including allowing more people to stay in their own homes for longer.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/very-big-package-10-bill…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.'The Tenants' Is a Great Game About Landlord Jobs That Shouldn't Exist
Gita Jackson (No paywall)The Tenants is a fun game, and one clearly made with a lot of passion for the genres it's straddling. ... The Tenants tries to portray the system of renters and landlords as fair and easily navigable make the game seem like a cruel joke. You have to change too much about the imbalance of power between renters and landlords to make it into a game that's satisfying to play. It's a fantasy where landlords have to work hard for their customers, and renters have lots of choices. It's nothing like the real world, where landlords have all the leverage, and renters have to live in decaying homes on the crumbs they leave behind.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg8emb/the-tenants-is-a-great-ga…
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Fuelling the property fire? The stir-crazy Australians seeking better homes and gardens
Polly Dunning The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)In March last year, when the apocalypse seemed upon us (fire, flood and plague, anyone?) and the most stable investment opportunity appeared to be 48 rolls of 4-ply, economists predicted a rapid collapse of housing prices. ... But, one year on, prices are in fact rising at the fastest rate in 32 years. ... This is why house prices are rising much faster than apartment prices ... apartments are great when you’re out of the house at work all day and strapped for time – they’re easy to maintain, and tend to be close to local amenities. But when you’re stuck in them for long periods, especially with little kids, well, frankly, they suck.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/fuelling-the-property-fire-the-s…
# Australia, Housing market.