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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
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Archive
Tenant News
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Lots of stories ...
Who is using the Tribunal and why?
Healthy Homes - Parliament Briefing
New Resources - Easy Read factsheets, New podcasts, Rent Tracker tools
How to solve the housing crisis?
Increased government investment needed
Evicted! A Modern Romance
https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?e=7cb9765e09&u=29c79d2825cb376…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Climate change, Health, Homelessness, Housing market, Human rights, Landlords and agents, Mould, No-grounds evictions, Renting culture.The insecurity and uncertainty of renting: 'A constant exercise in weighing up options.'
My name is Sarah Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)At the recent Briefing on Healthy Homes for Renters held at NSW Parliament on 13 October 2022, Sarah shared her experience renting her home. Though a lawyer and academic researcher, Sarah explained that as a renter she does not feel confident asserting her rights to a healthy home.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/insecurity-and-uncertainty-renti…
# NSW, Rent, Repairs, Utilities water energy internet, Disability, Health, Mould.Podcast: Death threats and no-fault evictions
Jimmy Thomson (No paywall)Can you imagine that you simply want to exercise your rights to have your defects fixed and a representative from the developer bails you up in the street and tells you people have been killed for less. (Flat Chat)
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Rent, Repairs, Strata, Landlords and agents, Mould, No-grounds evictions, State Government.Young woman’s home demolished due to ‘gross’ mould
Hamish Spence news.com.au (No paywall)A young woman has revealed the ‘gross’ reason she was evicted from her home following a year long battle with a common issue. It started as a small patch in the corner of a room. Now Juliana has been evicted from her home on NSW’s east coast because the property needs to be knocked down after it became overrun with mould. The 23-year-old and her roommates were not overly concerned when they noticed mould after moving into the Newcastle home last year, even though they thought it might be an issue. But after a year of severe wet weather and constant dampness it grew “out of hand” and they could not “contain it anymore”.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/young-w…
# NSW, Rent, Mould, Regional NSW.‘Punitive’ rental laws condemning Aboriginal families to homelessness, prison and death
Giovanni Torre (No paywall)Punitive rental laws are condemning Aboriginal families to homelessness, child removal, prison and even death, a WA parliamentary inquiry heard on Monday. Several Noongar advocates spoke to the Inquiry into the Financial Administration of Homelessness Services, including former residents of the “tent cities” that were established in Perth. Also appearing were families who have been made homeless due to no reason or fault evictions, and relatives of people who have died homeless on Perth streets over the past two years. New data published in August showed Aboriginal people remain radically over-represented in Western Australia’s homeless population. (National Indigenous Times)
https://www.nit.com.au/punitive-rental-laws-condemning-aborigina…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Homelessness, Housing market, No-grounds evictions, Race and ethnicity.Govt signs off on eviction ban from November to March
Micheal Lehane (No paywall)From Ireland ... The Government has signed off on an ban on evictions to run from 1 November until the end of March. It will mean that if a tenant is issued with an eviction notice from next month to the end of March 2023, it cannot be implemented until April. However there will be exceptions for those who do not pay their rent or damage a property. (RTE)
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2022/1018/1329820-cabinet-evict…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Housing market.Think private renting is hard? First Nations people can be excluded from the start
Wendy Stone, Andrew Peters, Piret Veeroja and Zoe Goodall The Conversation (No paywall)Private rental housing provides homes, often long-term homes, for one in four Australian households. People can experience various forms of discrimination when seeking, living in or leaving a rental property, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples it’s another one of many barriers they face. Our new research presents their views about what needs to change in Victoria’s private rental sector. Read the report at: [https://www.rentingcommissioner.vic.gov.au/the-aboriginal-private-rental-access-project-report-and-recommendations-have-been-delivered]
https://theconversation.com/think-private-renting-is-hard-first-…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Discrimination, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Race and ethnicity.Sydney’s new ‘Apple-style’ shop to slash energy bills
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)New tech is coming to Australia that aims to slash electricity prices for households and small businesses by up to 120 per cent – with excess energy generated sold back to the grid. Off the back of increases in electricity prices so far this year, and dire warnings of hikes of up to 35 per cent in 2023, an Apple-style one-stop shop selling and advising on a whole range of integrated green products is to open early next year in Sydney. “This really delivers the home of the future and the more quickly we can accelerate our path there, the better,” said Australian clean-tech entrepreneur Chris Williams. ... “The epicentre of it all is the new Heartbeat technology which synchs everything together, optimises the solar battery and makes it all work to provide the best possible outcome for every customer.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/living/sydney-s-new-apple-style-…
# Australia, Utilities water energy internet, Climate change, Sydney.