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
Builder's collapse leaves apartment owners fearing alleged $30m defects bill
Carrie Fellner and Nigel Gladstone The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Hundreds of Sydney apartment owners are facing an uncertain future after the collapse of a company linked to the builder of the Opal Tower, with allegations that it collectively owes them $30 million to repair seven defective builds across the city. The revelations come as another high-profile construction group, Ganellen, placed one of its companies into administration last week, midway through a court battle over defects and only days after it was fined over the worksite death of a young apprentice.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/builder-s-collapse-leaves-ap…
# Hot topic NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Public housing options
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Check out 'Letters' under the heading 'Public housing options': '... Clearly the NSW government needs to call a halt to the cruel policy of building public housing by cannabilising existing public housing and relocating the residents.' You will find another letter under the heading 'Glebe plan shows lack of respect' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/fiscal-inequality-throws-society-out-of-balance-20201231-p56qzb.html].
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/new-year-s-eve-fireworks-may…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.New Zealand’s 2020 report card: doing well but could try harder
Alexander Gillespie The Conversation (No paywall)The housing crisis in New Zealand ... The housing crisis, driven by demand outstripping supply and prices escalating much faster than comparable countries, is creating a fearful situation for those who cannot afford an abode, or the costs of it eats up too much of their money. Homelessness, which was entrapping tens of thousands before the COVID pandemic remains systemic.
https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-2020-report-card-doing-…
# International, Affordable housing.Why We Should Be Arguing About Rent
Alexandre Ferrer (No paywall)Rent is a concept that has been taken for granted for so long in the context of housing policy discussions that its definition has become invisible. The questions of housing policy, to be sure, are often conceptualized and argued along the lines of rent: rents are too high; rents are too low for housing to be repaired adequately; rents capture too much of tenant incomes; rents are theft; rents must be frozen, abolished, cancelled. Today, particular concern is directed toward the lowering of rents, given the unprecedented magnitude of the housing crisis. (Progressivecity)
https://www.progressivecity.net/single-post/why-we-should-be-arg…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Renting culture.Demand for action on racial harassment in social housing
Anna Timms The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Campaigners are calling for social housing providers to put lives above profits following an Observer report on a black tenant who was left homeless after a racist campaign by neighbours. Former social housing chiefs, Lord Victor Adebowale, Aman Dalvi, Lord Geoffrey Filkin and Barry Simons have signed an open letter to the National Housing Federation highlighting wider failings to protect victims of racial harassment.
https://theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/demand-for-action-on-r…
# International, Discrimination, Public and community housing.Cramped housing has helped fuel spread of Covid in England – study
Denis Campbell The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Overcrowded housing has helped to spread Covid-19 in England and may have increased the number of deaths, according to research by the Health Foundation. People living in cramped conditions have been more exposed to the coronavirus and were less able to reduce their risk of infection because their homes were so small, the thinktank found. Overcrowding was a key reason why poorer people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds in particular had been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, it said.
https://theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/27/cramped-housing-has-he…
# International, Security and safety, Coronavirus COVID-19.Beyoncé to donate more than $650,000 to help people in US facing eviction
(No paywall)From the United States ... Beyoncé will donate US$500,000 (A$658,000) next month to help people caught up in a housing eviction crisis sweeping the US as the economic impact of the coronavirus continues. The singer superstar, whose net worth is estimated to be around US$400 million ($A526, million), is giving away $US5,000 (around $A6500) to 100 people who are facing eviction due to coronavirus pandemic, which has so far killed 330,000 Americans. (News.com.au)
https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/beyonc-to-donate-mo…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.'I have $4 to my name.’ An extended eviction ban isn't enough for some struggling renters
Anna Bahney (No paywall)From the United States ... Millions of struggling renters will likely be protected from eviction -- at least for another month. The stimulus bill that was signed into law by President Trump late Sunday night extends a national ban on evictions until January 31. The moratorium, which was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September to stop the spread of the coronavirus, was initially set to expire at the end of this month. The package also provides $25 billion in emergency rental assistance. … Should the package go through, neither of the measures will likely be enough to keep the most at-risk renters in their homes past January. (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/23/success/what-renters-need-evi…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.