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
Wales sets new social housing rules for climate change goals
Nicholas Thomas (No paywall)New-build social homes will not be heated using fossil fuels from October, under fresh Welsh Government environmental rules. Plans to build 20,000 new social homes for rent over the next five years will also have to comply with carbon targets, and those properties will not be heated with fossil fuel-fired boilers or heating systems. Builders will also be encouraged to use timber in construction as a way of storing carbon, and will have to plan for the future reuse of materials should any of the social homes be knocked down. Storage space for recycling containers and food waste will also have to be factored into designs under the new rules, and the government hopes to have private developers in Wales on board by 2025. (South Wales Argus)
https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/19518545.wales-sets-new-s…
# International, Public and community housing, Climate change, Housing market.The reasons behind our housing crisis are clear…if we care to look
Tim Williams The Fifth Estate (No paywall)We hear lots about the housing crisis in Australia. And the UK. And the US. We hear lots about what – apparently – each needs to do. That usually boils down to “liberalise the planning system even more” and “let the private sector build more homes”. What is missed is that, given the differences in systems and governance between all these countries, a) why are they all experiencing a “housing crisis” at the same time and b) why is it the same crisis of affordability everywhere, taking the forms of declining access to home-ownership and of stagnant or declining supplies of public housing? ... In Australia we over-incentivize residential development through cheap money and tax benefits for investors, meaning we deliberately encourage people to become second and third home owners, meaning those on low incomes cannot get into homeownership. That is to say, we are creating a nation of rentiers and also of renters, who are kept out of home ownership because the former is using its tax benefits, assets and cheap money to outbid them.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/the-reasons-behin…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Home ownership, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.Evicted, Despite a Federal Moratorium: ‘I Do Not Know What I Am Going to Do’
Neil MacFarquhar The New York Times (Paywall)Many local governments and courts were not sure how to apply the extension of the protections, and dockets in some places overflowed with evictions. If you face a paywall, try the link at: [https://usanewslab.com/us-news/evicted-despite-a-federal-moratorium-i-do-not-know-what-i-am-going-to-do/]
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/us/eviction-moratorium-vegas…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19, Local Government.High density, greenery-rich cities are possible: but there’s a catch
Poppy Johnston The Fifth Estate (No paywall)We don’t need to choose between urban infill and greenspace, says The Forever Project’s Chris Ferreira. Although, to avoid chopping down trees to make way for increased density, the director of the Western Australian-based cross disciplinary sustainable design company says we need to “unshackle” ourselves from two enduring beliefs: That our homes must be enormous, and that they must have space for several cars.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/high-dens…
# Australia, Home, Housing market.Curlwaa Caravan Park owners $16 short of qualifying for COVID-19 assistance, before finding another way
Sarah Tomlinson and Emmie Dowling ABC (No paywall)This wasn't the dream that Ric and Margot Young had for their regional NSW caravan park when they took ownership five years ago. Since the Victorian border slammed shut and the COVID-19 breakout in Sydney worsened, the riverside park is eerily quiet. [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-14/curlwaa-caravan-park-was-…
# NSW, Land lease communities, Coronavirus COVID-19, Renting culture.The B.C. NDP and the Residential Tenancy Board are failing renters
Ben Ger, Rebecca Kantwerg, and Steph Langford (No paywall)From Canada ... David Eby, B.C.'s attorney general and minister responsible for housing, and MLAs like Spencer Chandra Herbert have recently been promoting their changes to the Residential Tenancy Act. These changes relate to the eviction method of choice for landlords wanting to get around the limitation on raising rents of current tenants. Now when a landlord wishes to evict a tenant for renovations (known commonly as “renovictions”), they must first apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB)—the province’s landlord-tenant dispute body—for approval.
Though a welcomed step in the right direction, these provincial changes will not end the displacement of working-class people from what little affordable housing is left. Profit will continue to motivate the eviction of tenants; renovictions will move forward; and other evictions will occur for similarly questionable reasons, such as moving a caretaker into a suite. (The Georgia Straight)
https://www.straight.com/news/bc-ndp-and-residential-tenancy-boa…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Affordable housing.Small businesses float a national rent relief plan for economic recovery
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Regarding commercial leases ... Small businesses want a national approach to rent relief during lockdowns, including federal government-backed loans to help repay debt racked up from lease deferrals. Council of Small Business Organisations Australia interim chief executive Alexi Boyd said a new plan assisting employers across the country needs to be introduced to ensure small businesses are not left at the mercy of negotiating with large landlords.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/small-businesses-float-a…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Asking rents rise despite latest round of lockdowns: SQM Research
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Pockets of the rental market are picking up despite the latest round of lockdowns, with asking rents rising or holding steady in major cities and regional areas, new figures show. But the number of vacant properties also edged up, with rental vacancy rates holding at elevated levels in the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs, hard hit by the loss of international students last year.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/asking-rents-rise-despite-latest-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.