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
Her babies taken and under threat of eviction: why our system is not working for women like Mila
Tess Ingram (No paywall)Just hours after being born this month a baby boy became a statistic; another Aboriginal child taken into state care. ... Advocates argue Mila’s case exposes a pernicious pressure point in the system – the way the state’s Department of Communities, which is responsible for both child protection and housing, engages with Aboriginal people. ... Children are removed from abusive or neglectful parents, but they may also be removed if parents can’t provide an adequate home. ... The vacancy rate in Perth’s private rental market is at its lowest in 40 years, rental prices are rising and, as a result, the line for public housing is growing. There were 16,660 applications on the public housing waitlist at the end of April. The state government says these people face an average wait time of 100 weeks, or almost two years, for a property. ... In Mila’s case, the [Department of Communities] informed her of their intention to take her son into care at the same time as she was faced with eviction from her public housing unit ... [Read on]
(WA Today)
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/her-babies…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Families, Housing market.Basil built a house that takes him to the stars without leaving his wheelchair
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Architects are used to unusual requests from their clients. But astronomer and engineer Basil Borun asked award-winning architect Peter Stutchbury to take him to the stars without leaving his living room [in Blackheath].
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/basil-built-a-house-that-tak…
# NSW, Disability, Home.Private renters in England on ‘cliff edge’ as eviction ban ends
Michael Savage The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Almost two million private renters fear they will be unable to find another property if they lose their home after the eviction ban is lifted, ministers are being warned. With the ban coming to an end this week, the government is facing demands for emergency legislation to increase the permanent protection for those struggling to pay their rent as a result of the Covid pandemic. Councils are also warning of a “cliff edge” of homelessness in the months ahead unless action is taken, with a potential £2.2bn bill for the state. Private renters are those most at risk at the end of the ban, which has been repeatedly extended amid concerns about the build-up of rent arrears during the crisis. Among private renters in England who are worried about losing their home and who are already cutting back on heating and food to pay rent, 72% are worried they will be unable to find another home in the future. The finding, from a study by homelessness charity Shelter, equates to about 1.9 million privately renting adults.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/may/30/private-renters-in…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Renters in casual work during COVID-19 need more help to stay at home in lockdowns, tenant groups warn
Elizabth Redman Domain (No paywall)Renters in casual work are likely to have exhausted their savings and need more support to stay at home through coronavirus outbreaks, tenant and landlord groups warn.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/renters-in-casual-work-during-cov…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Regional NSW.Emily Maguire on family and hoarding
The Guardian (No paywall)When do the objects we love become a health hazard? In this recording of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club, author Emily Maguire discusses her latest novel, Love Objects, with features editor Lucy Clark
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2021/jun/01/emi…
# Audio NSW, Health.‘I’m not scared any more’: The unique halfway house helping ex-inmates adjust to the outside
Tammy Mills The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Greg had spent so much time in jail – 18 years out of the past 25 – that he felt more at home in prison than the outside world. ... He is one of about 70 men who have been through a unique facility for prisoners fresh out of jail, run out of the old Maribyrnong immigration detention centre in Melbourne’s west. It was supposed to be a temporary facility, slated to run for six months from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, to provide short-term accommodation to men who would otherwise be homeless and a risk of transmission. ... Usually when prisoners have nowhere to go when they leave jail, they end up in rooming houses or emergency accommodation. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show one-third of prisoners were homeless when they went inside and more than half expected to be homeless on release.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/i-m-not-scared-any-more…
# Australia, Homelessness.As 400,000 renters face eviction, JRF warns the UK risks a ‘two-tier recovery’
Grace Hetherington (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... On the day the eviction ban ends, a large-scale survey reveals: (1) Around 400,000 renting households have either been served an eviction notice or have been told they may be evicted (5% of all renters). (2) Around a million renting households are worried about being evicted in the next three months (11% of all renters), half of which are families with children. (3) 1.7 million renting households are worried about paying their rent over the same period (20%) of all renters). (4) Although renters are faring significantly worse than homeowners, their support has been cut while wealthier homeowners continue to benefit from the Stamp Duty holiday. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/400000-renters-face-eviction-jrf-wa…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market.How are eviction rules for renters and landlords changing?
Alice Aitken BBC (No paywall)A ban on evictions introduced during lockdown comes to an end in England on 1 June.
What does it mean for renters? If a landlord wants to evict tenants, there is a strict legal process to follow. There are two main types of eviction: (1) A "no-fault" or Section 21 eviction is when a landlord does not need to give a reason. Landlords can do this at the end of a fixed-term tenancy agreement, or during a tenancy with no fixed end date. (2) If the tenant breaks the terms of the rental agreement - for example by not paying rent, damaging the property or causing a nuisance - the landlord can use a Section Eight order. Usually, no-fault evictions require two months' notice. Evictions where tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy have a notice period of between two weeks and two months, depending on which terms were broken.