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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Supreme Court Ends Biden’s Eviction Moratorium
Adam Liptak and Glenn Thrush The New York Times (Paywall)The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Biden administration’s latest moratorium on evictions, ending a political and legal dispute during a public health crisis in which the administration’s shifting positions had subjected it to criticism from adversaries and allies alike. The court issued an eight-page majority opinion, an unusual move in a ruling on an application for emergency relief, where terse orders are more common. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. The decision puts hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while the administration struggles to speed the flow of billions of dollars in federal funding to people who are behind in rent because of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic hardship. Only about $5.1 billion of the $46.5 billion in aid had been disbursed by the end of July, according to figures released on Wednesday, as bureaucratic delays at the state and local levels snarled payouts. The majority opinion, which was unsigned, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/eviction-moratorium-ends.h…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Disabled pensioner losing six-year fight to stay in south-west Sydney home of 21 years
Kamin Gock ABC (No paywall)Aunty Carol Carter has been fighting to stay in her home for six years. But in just a matter of weeks, the 72-year-old pensioner could be kicked out. She says she's not going anywhere. "I'm upset because no-one's listening, they never listen to me," the Kamilaroi elder said. Aunty Carol has lived in public housing in Revesby, in south-west Sydney, for 21 years. ... For the last two decades she has lived with Guillain-Barre syndrome — a rare neurological disorder that's caused her to lose feeling from her "nose to toes" and means she must use a wheelchair to remain mobile. ... Since 2015, she has been fighting to stay in her home — if she were to move, she said, the house must suit her specific health needs. The NSW government wants to relocate her to a new home a few blocks away so they can develop the area and build 18 new public housing dwellings. But Aunty Carol says it's not that simple.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/disabled-sydney-pensioner…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Public and community housing, Disability, Estate renewal, Older people, State Government.Investor inspections allowed to go ahead in Sydney, with health orders updated to address confusion
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Property investors in NSW can continue to inspect homes during lockdown, it has been confirmed, with changes made to the stay-at-home orders that many believed prohibited them from inspecting properties in person. The state government tweaked the wording of the public health orders late on Wednesday afternoon, in a bid to clear up industry confusion which resulted in some real estate agents preventing investors from inspecting homes in person. The orders now state it is a reasonable excuse to leave home to inspect an investment property, but previously said a person could only leave home to inspect a potential new place of residence for that person. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said he also felt investors’ inspections had been clearly banned under the orders, and was disappointed to learn they could go ahead amid growing COVID-19 case numbers – especially when investors could turn to virtual inspections and professional building and pest inspections instead. “Health orders have been consistent on that since July,” he said. “Investors really don’t need to be inspecting property at the moment. “I can see a public health argument for someone who needs a home to live in, but it’s not consistent to say someone should be entering someone else’s place of residence and potentially spreading the virus in order to buy property. “Every other industry is making adjustments; it’s pretty wild that the property industry is forging ahead.” Mr Patterson Ross said allowing investor inspections would make it all the more important for agents and landlords to follow restrictions, which should be limited to two one-on-one inspections per week for tenanted properties, under rules in the health orders and tenancy agreements. Large numbers of renters had been unlawfully asked to leave properties during inspections, he said, while others had reported multiple people going through their home at one time. Many renters felt too vulnerable to retaliation to report those doing the wrong thing, he added.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/investors-inspections-allowed-to-…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Privacy and access, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Banning Airbnb and shipping in portable homes considered as housing crisis bites in coastal towns
Rachel Clayton ABC (No paywall)Soaring prices. Low wages. Competition. Desperation. The unaffordable conditions for Australian home buyers are spilling into the rental market for coastal families, and locals say it's destroying the very reason these towns are popular in the first place. Landlords from Byron Bay, Yamba and Noosa to Lorne and Apollo Bay are jacking up rents as the popularity of seaside towns continues climbing while lockdowns roll on in cities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-28/coastal-families-lose-hom…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW, Short-term holiday letting.Lyn retired with little super and unable to pay the rent. Her story is not uncommon
Leigh Sales, Kirsten Robb, and Laura Francis ABC (No paywall)Lyn Bailey lived a comfortable life before her divorce, travelling overseas and even putting her four children through private school. She never expected to be staring down the barrel of homelessness. After her divorce was finalised, Lyn thought she would be able to buy herself a unit along the coast of New South Wales with her share of the proceeds from the sale of the family home. The bank told her it would not lend money to someone in their late 50s. "For the first time in my adult life, I had to find somewhere to live to rent," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-30/women-financially-disadva…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Older people, Women.Bushfire survivors win landmark climate change case against NSW EPA
Michael Condon and David Claughton ABC (No paywall)In a landmark ruling and a win for a bushfire survivors group, the Land and Environment Court has ordered the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to take steps to safeguard against climate change. Bushfire Survivors For Climate Action (BSCA) took the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to court over its climate change policy, arguing the that the EPA had not done enough to stop the pollution of the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. Lisa Cox writes about the same decision in the Guardian at: [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/26/nsw-bushfire-survivors-win-legal-battle-ordering-epa-to-take-action-on-climate-crisis]. Preston CJ of the NSW Land & Environment Court found that the Environment Protection Authority is to develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to ensure environment protection from climate change. You can read the decision at: [https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/17b7569b9b3625518b58fd99]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-26/bushfire-survivors-win-ca…
# Legal significance NSW, Climate change, Planning and development.Australia’s homebuilder scheme may have just been a sugar hit in the pandemic recovery
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)A key aspect of the Morrison government’s economic recovery plan was the homebuilder program designed to spur the building of houses. It worked as intended but the latest construction data suggests it might have been a sugar hit that has now gone, while the impact of the pandemic on the economy continues. ... And so we find ourselves in the next stage of the pandemic – not just one where we are rolling out the vaccine, but where the need for government incentives and stimulus remains at a time the Morrison government was planning for it to be over.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/aug/26/aus…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing market.Adam Bandt says house prices are rising by $1,200 a day. Is he correct?
RMIT ABC Fact Check ABC (No paywall)The seemingly inexorable rise in house prices has been the subject of political debate for decades, with many blaming Australia's tax rules for favouring investors at the expense of first home buyers. In a July 30 tweet, Greens leader Adam Bandt claimed house prices are rising by $1,200 a day, warning that younger workers have been locked out. "House prices are going up $1200 a day," Mr Bandt said. "Great for property investors, a disaster for every casual worker with smashed savings." Is it correct that house prices are rising by $1,200 a day? RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates. ... While his claim accords with the average daily increase in the median house price in Sydney, the situation in the rest of the country is different.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-26/fact-check-are-house-pric…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax, Young people.