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
Build to rent: new concept that could end renters’ worst nightmares – but with a catch
Benedict Brook (No paywall)It’s a radical way to rent imported from the US and now in Australia, a new concept could remove some of the age old frustrations for tenants. It’s one of the biggest frustrations from roiled renters: the hefty bond that sits in limbo and then has all or part of it withheld by the agent to pay for a cleaner, despite you spending days scrubbing every dusty crevice. One in three renters don’t get their full bond back. However, the days of the bond could be over if a radical new way to rent, rolling out first to Sydney, becomes the norm. It’s called 'build-to-rent' … The new way of renting will also mean you’ll no longer have to jump through hoops to keep pets, bang holes into walls or paint every room a different shade. As long as the rent is paid, tenants can stay put as long as they want. But there’s a catch – these privileges will cost you more in rent. As much as 20 per cent extra. And a housing policy expert was warned that build to rent 'won’t be a silver bullet for Australia’s housing affordability stress.'
https://www.news.com.au/finance/end-to-rental-nightmare-but-with…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.'Disgusting': Real estate's Christmas eviction message slammed
Penny Burfitt (No paywall)A real estate agency has come under fire after they sent a ‘Christmas reminder’ to tenants that has gone viral for what’s being called it’s ‘disgusting’ and ‘threatening’ contents. An LJ Hooker franchise sent out an email on the 16 December under the subject line ‘Christmas’ in which the popular Christmas poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ or ‘The Night Before Christmas’ was repurposed into a reminder to tenants to pay their rent or risk eviction. (Yahoo!lifestyle)
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/lj-hooker-christmas-eviction-mess…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.No COVID Evictions: Eight months in the fight for Toronto
Paterson Hodgson (No paywall)From Canada ... Paterson Hodgson, comic maker and community organizer living in Parkdale, Toronto writes: 'Hearings are underway, people are being evicted, but lessons are being learned and this is far from over. Read the full story.
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/no-covid-evictions
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Evictor Structures: Erin McElroy and Azad Amir-Ghassemi on Fighting Displacement
(No paywall)From the United States ... The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP) describes itself as “a data-visualization, data analysis, and storytelling collective documenting dispossession and resistance upon gentrifying landscapes.” That compact summary emerges out of projects that sprawl across seven years and now three chapters—the group’s original San Francisco Bay Area chapter, as well as newer chapters in New York and Los Angeles. Volunteers in each city have collaborated with tenants unions and housing justice groups in those places to produce dozens of oral histories, maps, reports, and zines. Read more ...
https://logicmag.io/commons/evictor-structures-erin-mcelroy-and-…
# Hot topic International, Eviction.'I eat two meals a day': The suburbs and towns that will hurt the most in JobSeeker cut
Katrina Curtis, Shane Wright and Lanie Tindale The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Tourist regions and outer suburbs will take the biggest hit when the coronavirus supplement is cut by another $100 a fortnight from January 1. The reduction in the payment means the 2 million people on JobSeeker unemployment benefits, Youth Allowance, parenting payments and other welfare will have a collective $205 million a fortnight less to spend.
https://smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-eat-two-meals-a-day-the-su…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government.Sydney's investor-grade towers crush their tenants and kill the city's soul
Elizabeth Farrelly The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)I love cities, especially Sydney, and especially their ancient inner cores. I support density and renewal. But not like this. Even by comparison with the seventies, this new wave of solid, cheek-to-cheek concrete egg-crates spreading across Sydney feels positively cruel. Read her opinion piece.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/sydney-s-new-investor-grade-…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development.Five ways landlords can find a tenant in a tough rental market
Melissa Gerke Domain (Paywall)f you think it’s harder to rent out your property than ever before, you’re not imagining it.
Not only are there fewer international migrants renting due to border restrictions, but many short-term rentals have converted to long-term. Tenants are spoilt for choice, with vacancy rates in Sydney and Melbourne continuing to rise. There were 21,800 vacant rental listings in Sydney and over 27,000 in Melbourne at the end of November.
https://www.domain.com.au/advice/five-ways-landlords-can-find-a-…
# Australia, Housing market, Landlords and agents.'I am so scared for my future': jobseeker cuts are devastating for millions of Australians
Cassandra Goldie The Guardian (No paywall)'I am so scared for my future and feel as if I am worth nothing to anyone. I am begging the government to see that affordable housing for a single female is impossible to find. I really won’t be able to go back to the $40 a day, I won’t be able to afford food, let alone the internet. Please, I’m begging the government because I can’t cope.' Read the full article ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/31/i-am-so-sc…
# Must read Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing affordability.