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
Residents of Melbourne's hard tower lockdowns mobilise against off-radar COVID misinformation
Erwin Renaldi ABC (No paywall)Every day, Abdiwasa Ismael and a small group of other North Melbourne public housing residents set up and run a grassroots stall designed to counter COVID-19 misinformation. In the lobbies of a number of housing towers, the stalls offer local residents easy access to masks, sanitiser, and the latest updates about the COVID-19 pandemic. ... Now, ahead of next week's second phase of COVID-19 vaccinations ... Mr Ismael told the ABC there's been a spike in residents eager to learn more about just what that means for them.
"A lot of elderly people have confirmed they want to get vaccinated," Mr Ismael said. "But mostly, people just want to know if it's safe."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/covid19-community-efforts…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.Why people are getting evicted for calling 911
Jerusalem Demsas (No paywall)From the United States ... In countless cities across the country, calling 911 [000 in Australia] can get you evicted. You, the caller, that is, not the person you’re calling the police on — all because of policies called “nuisance ordinances.” ... Some nuisance ordinances and “crime-free” laws will designate a property a public nuisance, usually after police are called multiple times to respond to incidents in the same place. Under these laws, landlords are forced to act as an arm of law enforcement and face fines and other punitive measures if they are unable or unwilling to abate the nuisance. Landlords are sometimes pressured to evict tenants who are in any way involved with nuisance activity, regardless of whether they are the victim, the perpetrator, or simply associated with the victim or perpetrator of an alleged crime. (Vox)
https://www.vox.com/22307509/crime-free-evictions-for-calling-911
# International, Discrimination, Domestic violence, Eviction, Local Government.Crunch time for renters as moratoriums end in key markets
Martin Kelly (Paywall)The end of rental moratoriums in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia this week, which coincide with the demise of JobKeeper on Sunday, could see rents rise by up to 20 per cent in key markets such as Perth. Increased evictions and further stress on the rental dispute resolution system are other likely outcomes, agents say. (Australian Financial Review)
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/crunch-time-for-renters…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.After a decade of lost opportunity to fix NSW’s planning mess, here’s a model for success
James Weirick The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Liberal-National Coalition came to power a decade ago promising reform of a NSW planning system ... [But] the sale of public assets ... has been justified on the basis of capital recycling to fund new infrastructure ... These are part of a long list of undertakings – the stadiums, the Powerhouse Museum, the Millers Point social housing sell-off, redevelopment of the Waterloo Estate, sale of the Bridge Street heritage buildings, sale of the Land Titles Registry, the Aerotropolis land deals, treeless suburbs in western Sydney – that have one thing in common. They are all mistakes. Or more accurately, they are the ruinous outcomes of persistence in folly ... NSW needs an Independent Planning Commission. [Read on]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/after-a-decade-of-lost-oppor…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.The housing market is exploding again
Alan Kohler The New Daily (No paywall)Australia is one of the few countries in the world that encourages speculation in residential housing, which means we get boom/bust cycles in shelter. To avoid that, many countries have rent controls or direct regulation of house prices, or both. ... After all, accommodation is an essential service ... so it’s arguably a responsibility of government to ensure we can all afford it. ... It’s also an unproductive asset, so over-investing in it can hold back a country’s productivity. But in Australia, housing speculation is actively encouraged: Tax is applied to only half of the capital gain, and if you live in it rather than rent it out there’s no capital gains tax at all. Plus, negative gearing ... But wait, there’s more ... [Read on]
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/03/22/alan-kohler-housin…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, State Government, Tax.Only a small fraction of buildings with flammable cladding have been fixed, and owners are feeling the strain
Trivess Moore and others The Conversation (No paywall)Australia has more than 3,400 buildings with flammable cladding. In Victoria alone, at least 71 of these buildings have been classified as “extreme risk” and another 368 as “high risk”. Despite the tragic evidence of the risks of cladding fires, rectification work had been completed on only 11 of these buildings by February 2021.
https://theconversation.com/only-a-small-fraction-of-buildings-w…
# Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, State Government.First homebuyers urged to proceed with caution as Sydney's housing surge continues
Kathleen Calderwood ABC (No paywall)It’s a cold reality of Sydney’s white-hot property market and experts are warning it could land newly minted homeowners in trouble. ... It’s prompted a warning some people could be taking on more debt than they can handle.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/first-homebuyers-cautione…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Housing market tipped to power on despite end of JobKeeper: economists
Tawar Razaghi Domain (Paywall)The property market is set to roll on full steam ahead despite economic support measures coming to an end from this week, defying long-held worries about a looming fiscal cliff, according to top economists. The strength of bricks and mortar barely crumbled during the pandemic-induced recession, with property prices edging lower briefly then soaring in major cities and regional towns – flying in the face of forecasts.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/housing-market-tipped-to-power-on…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.