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
Government wants housing plan to include private investment on public land
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government will urge the private sector to come up with new development ideas for its extensive public property portfolio as part of a new 20-year plan for housing across the state. Housing Minister Melinda Pavey will launch the government’s first housing strategy and said the plan would ensure the government better delivers housing in city and country areas over 20 years.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/government-wants-housing-pla…
# New policy announcement NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.NY lawmakers vote to extend eviction moratorium as Brooklyn demonstration leads to arrests
(No paywall)State lawmakers voted Monday to extend the moratorium on evictions. A vote to extend the moratorium to Aug. 31 was expected to be passed last week, but the decision was pushed because of a clerical error. The vote passed on Monday.
That vote came after several demonstrators calling for an end to evictions and rent cancellation were arrested on Monday in Downtown Brooklyn. (News12 Brooklyn)
https://brooklyn.news12.com/police-12-arrested-in-brooklyn-at-de…
# Video International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.The latest data reveals just how insane the Australian housing market has become
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)With ongoing record low interest rates and government desires to support the market come what may, Australians are taking out home loans in record numbers and as a result house prices look set to keep rising across the country. If you had any doubt that Australia’s housing market is driven more by governments than actual market forces, you need look no further than the latest housing finance data that shows despite a year in which unemployment soared, and the economy staggered, the number of new mortgages taken out in March was 55% higher than it was in March last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/may/06/the…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government.New government debt scheme prevents landlords issuing arrears eviction notices to some tenants
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Landlords will be temporarily prevented from issuing Section 8 eviction notices or reclaiming rent arrears from tenants facing problem debt under a new scheme launched by the government yesterday. ... Named ‘Breathing Space’, the scheme will give tenants facing financial difficulties 60 days to get their finances back on track without debts piling up and the threat of enforcement. ... For landlords, this means they will be unable to serve Section 8 eviction notices for arrears during this period, while also putting on hold any other action in relation to rent arrears, including court claims.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/new-government-debt-scheme-…
# International, Eviction, Rent.Nightmare landlord drives tenants out, but court action has left them unable to rent again
Amy Ridout (No paywall)From New Zealand ... A landlord’s actions and bizarre requests made a couple’s tenancy unbearable. But turning to the Tenancy Tribunal for help has left Elizabeth Fryer and her partner feel unable to rent again and disillusioned with a process they feel is weighted to landlords.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/124788759/night…
# International, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents.‘Real thuggery’: Cornwall boats vandalised amid ‘incomer’ tensions
Steven Morris The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The spot could hardly be more idyllic. A Cornish creek fringed by apple trees where boats bob at high tide and dogs and children frolic in the mud at low. But there is trouble in the parish of Feock after a string of acts of vandalism aimed at those bobbing boats led to a wave of anger, fear and suspicion. Some of the victims blame second-home owners and “incomers”... especially given the exit from cities that the Covid crisis has caused, making homes unaffordable for most locally born people.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/03/real-thuggery-co…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market.Friendship formed over new designs for homes
Vanessa Mills ABC (No paywall)The importance of family, and multi-generations living under one roof, is just one of the uniting factors behind a new way of designing and building homes. Studio Kinship is an organisation founded by Perth based architect Lisa Anne Halton and Walmajarri artist Clifton Bieundurry. Lisa Anne grew up in Ireland and Clifton in Kimberley Aboriginal communities, and they've formed a strong friendship. The pair has designed, and plan to build, homes that allow Aboriginal people to adhere to strict kinship rules and traditions. (ABC Kimberley Breakfast)
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/kimberley/programs/breakfast/kinshi…
# Video Australia, Aboriginal renters, Families, Housing market.COVID and the need for better standards in high-rise living
AHURI Brief AHURI (No paywall)Although issues with the design and quality of living spaces in high density, high rise residential apartment buildings existed pre-COVID, the pandemic response restrictions that forced people to stay and work at home have focussed community concern on the problems of poor design and operation in some of these buildings. AHURI research in 2020 during the pandemic identified that households in apartments (particular people in smaller apartments) experienced limitations in their living environment during their extended lockdown ...
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/ahuri-briefs/covid-and-the-nee…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.