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
My mum was in a good nursing home. It still failed her, and that's the problem Australia faces
Amanda Meade The Guardian (No paywall)It wasn’t the fault of dedicated staff – the system let us down, and it needs to change
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/03/my-mum-was…
# Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Bail out renters, not just landlords, unions urge Rishi Sunak ahead of Budget
Jon Stone (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Trade unions and housing campaigners are urging the government to write off debts for the 840,000 tenants who have fallen behind with their rent during the pandemic. There is speculation that Rishi Sunak is readying a bailout for landlords in Wednesday’s Budget speech. But unions ... have backed a call by renters' groups to make sure the burden of paying back debt does not fall on tenants who lost their jobs because of lockdown. (Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget/landlord-b…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Housing association to open UK’s first LGBTQ+ retirement community
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Tonic Housing, which was set up in 2014 to address the issues of loneliness and isolation among older LGBTQ+ people, has received a loan as part of the mayor’s Community Housing Fund to purchase 19 homes within Bankhouse, an assisted living scheme in Lambeth developed by One Housing.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-association-to-open…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, LGBTIQ+.Renovictions during a pandemic Landlords apologize for 'extremely insensitive' video mocking displaced tenants forced out by massive rent hikes
Ben Waldman (No paywall)From Canada ... When Sabrina Ferreira moved into her Garden City apartment in 2010, she paid $600 per month for the two-bedroom unit on Jefferson Avenue. Over a decade, that rose to $800. Then in November, the building was bought by new investors who said they’d be nearly doubling that to pay for future renovations. Tenants like Ferreira were told no leases would be renewed when they expired. ... The situation was already difficult for tenants to comprehend, and then a video was posted to the YouTube account of the buildings’ new part-owners ... In the video, the owners and others enter the building on Jefferson. One brother mimes knocking on a tenants’ door to "ask how their stay is." "Hello, we own this s--t," the other says jokingly to the camera. "There’s going to be a lot of changes from here on out." (Winnipeg Free Press)
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/renovictions-during-a…
# International, Eviction, Landlords and agents.Queensland rental crisis deepens as family pets are surrendered to avoid homelessness
Edwina Storie ABC (No paywall)Pet owners are surrendering their animals to improve their chances of securing a lease in Queensland's increasingly tight rental market.
Key points:
Animal refuges around Queensland are seeing an increase in surrendered pets due to the rental crisis
Some renters are boarding their pets in kennels while they couch-surf during their rental search
Queensland's Tenancies and Rooming Act says the property owner/manager can decide whether to allow pets. The owners of surrendered cat Rex applied for 26 homes before they came to the realisation they would have to give him up to the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge (SCARs) or risk finding themselves homeless.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-01/pets-left-behind-as-renta…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing market.Property developers are among the biggest political donors in Australia, but should they allowed to be?
Rebecca Turner ABC (No paywall)Why is property political? Here's a handy explainer to help you understand what's behind the issue of whether property developers should be allowed to make political donations.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-01/wa-property-developers-ar…
# Must read Australia, Housing market.What the split between royal commissioners means for the future of aged care
Jack Snape ABC (No paywall)The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was supposed to deliver a pathway to better care for older Australians. But that path just got a little more bumpy. We knew there was some division between the two commissioners. The final report, released on Monday, shows just how deep that division goes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-01/aged-care-royal-commissio…
# Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Surging property prices could force RBA to reassess ultra-low rates, economists warn
Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The largest one-month jump in house values in 17 years and a surge in new home loans has prompted warnings the property market is at risk of overheating and could force the Reserve Bank to reassess record-low interest rates.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/surging-property-prices-…
# Australia, Housing market.