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
‘It would just ruin it’: The Sydney suburb wriggling its way out of the state’s housing policy
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)When Jim Softsis spots the local mayor and the Herald loitering outside his Croydon home, he is quick to emerge and say hello. And check what we are doing, of course. John Faker, the Labor mayor of Burwood, is trying to recall whether this Federation house was his uncle’s 40 years ago. It turns out it was next door. But on this wide, suburban street, many houses look the same. That’s the whole point. We are in the Malvern Hill Estate heritage conservation area, one of Sydney’s “garden suburbs” developed from 1909 under a rubric of single-storey, brick and stone detached homes with slate or terracotta tile roofs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-would-just-ruin-it-the-sy…
# Hot topic NSW, .Housesitter asked to pay $500 to give 'pet love'
Rebecca Franks Yahoo News (No paywall)Australians have traditionally been able to pet or house sit as a legitimate way to make money, but the housing crisis appears to be blurring the lines. A house in the Sydney beachside suburb of Maroubra was recently advertised to rent for $500, roughly a third of the average price. But to score that “minimal” rent, the tenant was expected to care for the house as well as the owner’s cat and dog. House sitters can charge a daily rate of between $50 and $100, depending on added responsibilities like gardening or pet care, according to AirTasker.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/housesitter-asked-to-pay-500-t…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, .From a wasteland to million-dollar views: Sydney apartment building with a message for the future
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Galina Doroshina’s homemade curtains frame a million-dollar view of Sydney Harbour from Greenway, NSW’s first social housing high-rise block that is celebrating its 70th birthday. “When I first came and saw this great ugly building, I thought, ‘Is it a prison?’” said 94-year-old Doroshina. “As it turned out, it is so comfortable. The location’s perfect. There is a shop, there is a medical centre, doctors come to our building. [And the view] is like a photo in a frame.” Greenway in Milsons Point is bucking trends.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-a-wasteland-to-million-…
# Hot topic NSW, .Search for buildings with defect notices across Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Since 2021, the NSW Building Commission, led by David Chandler, has issued almost 100 building rectification orders around the state. This year already, dozens of developers have been ordered to fix defects ranging from hollow fire doors, to faulty waterproofing to serious slab damage. As development continues apace to address Sydney’s housing crisis, the Herald has mapped each location with a summary of the defects. You can read the commission’s orders in full by clicking on the link at the end of each summary.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/search-for-buildings-with-de…
# Hot topic NSW, .The proof that Minns’ housing policy is the right call
The Herald's View The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)With many empty-nesters staying put as their children leave home, possibly to join immigrants moving to greenfield suburbs, the population crush is coming down heaviest on western Sydney and it is skewing housing resources. The imbalance has serious consequences for the Minns government’s attempts to inject some constraint on Sydney’s runaway real estate market through increased housing density in the inner-city and eastern suburbs, a shift from dumping housing developments on Sydney’s western fringes and fast-tracking construction of new housing across Sydney, including a quota for affordable accommodation.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/the-proof-that-minns-housing…
# Hot topic NSW, .Federal government promising a 'renters' bill of rights' in upcoming budget
Darren Major CBC (No paywall)Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government will introduce new measures — including a new "bill of rights" — that he says will help protect those who rent their homes as part of the upcoming budget. Trudeau said the new measures are specifically geared toward younger people, who are renting more than previous generations. "It's about changing the rules of the game in a way that meets young people where they are," he said on Wednesday. Ottawa will work with provinces and territories to develop a "renters' bill of rights" that would introduce a national standard lease agreement and implement requirements for landlords to disclose an apartment's pricing history to allow tenants to negotiate their rent.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/government-renters-bill-of-righ…
# Hot topic International, .AOC and Sanders aim to place public housing at center of Green New Deal
Dharna Noor The Guardian (No paywall)With a sweeping legislative proposal, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders are attempting to place public housing at the center of the green energy transition, tackling the twin crises of global warming and soaring housing costs. “Public housing should be the gold standard for affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe communities,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an email. “This bill is how we ensure that.” The Green New Deal for Public Housing aims to decarbonize all of the nation’s public housing units – and build more of them – with an investment of between $162bn and $234bn over the next decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/aoc-bernie-sande…
# Must read International, Public and community housing.How much can my landlord increase my rent and can they keep my deposit or evict me?
Lauren Potts BBC (No paywall)The average cost of renting in the UK rose by 9% in the year to February - the highest annual increase since records began in 2015. What are your rights if your landlord tries to increase your rent, keep your deposit, or evict you? How often can my landlord increase my rent? It depends on your rental agreement and where you live in the UK. Most tenants in England's 4.6m privately rented homes - about one in five households - have an assured shorthold tenancy. These are usually for a fixed term of six or 12 months, or rolling - which means there's no end date.
# Hot topic International, .