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
Housing crisis: Resilience of people living in bad conditions is remarkable, but cultural change is needed
Daniel Hewitt (No paywall)From United Kingdom ... Every week, I visit people living in homes with leaks, mould, damp, overcrowding, holes in the ceilings, rodent problems: conditions their landlords (whether housing association, council or private) wouldn’t tolerate for their families for a single day. (ITV News)
https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-04/housing-crisis-resilience-of…
# Audio International, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs, Utilities water energy internet, Health, Housing market, Mould.Sadiq Khan aims to help social landlords with £10bn ‘retrofit revolution’
James Wilmore Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The Innovation Partnership scheme will give housing associations access to a “high-quality supply chain of solution providers for deep and whole-house retrofits”, a spokesperson for the London mayor’s office told Inside Housing. The scheme is open to social housing providers across the UK and could see around £10bn worth of retrofit works carried out, according to the mayor’s office. Around £5bn of this would be spent in the capital. ... Housing associations themselves have been making efforts to collaborate on addressing the challenges around retrofitting. In April, five large landlords – including Hyde and Sanctuary – agreed a partnership to improve the energy efficiency of homes and develop decarbonisation solutions.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/sadiq-khan-aims-to-hel…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities water energy internet, Climate change.Focus on housing
Cassie McCullagh ABC (No paywall)This episode of Focus is all about housing, and from around 7 mins and 30 seconds in, you can hear from Leo Patterson-Ross, CEO of the Tenants' Union of NSW, about what's going on for NSW renters. After this, from around the 19 minute mark, there's a very informative piece from Mark Khoo from WelcomeMat which is an independent digital platform that matches people eligible for Affordable Rental housing with providers and properties.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/focus/focus/13369208
# TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Tax.Opinion: 'Landlord' feudal, outdated term that help paint housing providers as villians
Roger Valdez (No paywall)From the United States ... First of its kind legislation has been proposed in Ohio to change references in state law from “landlord” and “tenant” to “housing provider” and “resident.” ... [The argument is] often, housing providers in Ohio and the United states are small family-owned businesses, not powerful land barons. Updating language is an important first step to accurately reflect this in the law, and it should lead to better policy.
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2021/06/04/…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Canana's Housing Market Is Out of Control
Dan Darrah (No paywall)House prices and rents in Canada are skyrocketing. There’s only one solution to the social crisis this has caused: a massive expansion of public housing, releasing people from dependence on a rigged market.
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/06/canada-housing-rising-rent-real-e…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.'More need for compassion' from some landlords - Housing Minister
Nita Blake-Persen (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Housing Minister Megan Woods is encouraging some landlords to show more compassion to ease the country's housing crisis.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/20187…
# Audio International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Where there’s smoke, there’s call for crackdown on cigarettes in units
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Apartment dwellers who annoy their neighbours with cigarette smoke could face stricter rules under proposed changes to the law being considered by the Queensland government.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/where-there-s-smoke-t…
# Australia, Strata, Health, State Government.Aged care: How do we honour our obligations to the elderly?
ABC (Paywall)Victoria finds itself in the middle of its fourth lockdown since the COVID-19 pandemic began fourteen months ago. Once again — and in an ominous symmetry — it is aged care facilities that are at the centre of the outbreak, and therefore at the centre of public and political attention. ... This is all the more bewildering in light of the release, earlier this year, of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which highlighted the dangers of permitting aged-care staff to work across multiple facilities, and the inadequacy of training requirements — not least when it comes to infectious disease control.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/aged-…
# Audio Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Older people.