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
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.
‘They saved my life’: WA eviction prevention service facing closure after funding ends
Sarah Collard and Karen Michelmore SBS (No paywall)An Aboriginal homelessness prevention service which has helped stave off eviction for 344 vulnerable families in Western Australia will close at the end of this month if funding is not restored.
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/2021/06/01/they-sa…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government.Public housing developments
Geoff Turnbull (No paywall)The Planning Proposal for Land and Housing Corporation’s (LAHC) 600-660 Elizabeth Street Redfern site, is now on exhibition ... A change the NSW Government made to the initial CoS proposal was to reduce social housing (30 per cent) and affordable housing (10 per cent) to a total of 30 per cent combined. Given the 10 per cent Aboriginal affordable housing call on Government developments in Redfern and Waterloo there is likely to be community pushback to this reduction, especially as no dedicated Aboriginal affordable housing is included. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/public-housing-developments/
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Estate renewal.Affordability – good news for the City’s renters
Cathryn Callaghan (No paywall)Earlier this month, Rob Stokes, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, announced his approval of the City of Sydney’s proposal to amend its planning controls to extend its affordable rental housing scheme across the local government area. ... The announcement of this approval is good news for the people of Sydney. It offers something practical for a group that is often overlooked – financially stressed, low- to moderate-income renters in the private residential housing market. The scheme will be pitched at these households and charge rents that are no more than 30 per cent of gross household income. Affordable housing properties are usually managed by not-for-profit community housing providers like City West.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/affordability-good-news-for-the…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government, State Government.