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
Developers to be levied for affordable housing across City of Sydney
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s centre will be the first place in the state to implement an affordable housing scheme that will see developers face levies to build new homes across the local government area. The NSW government has given the go-ahead for the City of Sydney to extend its scheme requiring new developments to make financial or floor-space contributions towards new rental housing throughout the municipality.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developers-to-be-levied-for-…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government, Tax.States Struggle to Give Out Over $45 Billion in Rental Assistance as Evictions Continue
Annie Nova (No paywall)From the United States ... Congress has allocated more than $45 billion in rental assistance. But states are struggling to get the money to renters, many of whom are still facing the threat of eviction. ... The delays are due to the fact that states are figuring out how to distribute an unprecedented amount of money, experts say. In addition, housing advocates say that some states are unnecessarily slowing things by imposing arduous documentation requirements for tenants to qualify. Another issue is that state programs have the option of giving the money directly to a renter if their landlord refuses to participate, but most aren't doing so ... (CNBC)
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/business/money-report/states-…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Victoria grants 40-year lease on public land for new social housing
Duncan Murray The Fifth Estate (No paywall)The Victorian government hopes to deliver an Australian-first social housing project through the leasing of public land to private developers. Three publicly owned precincts in Melbourne will be leased for 40 years at a nominal peppercorn fee to allow construction of more than 1100 new dwellings, 619 of which will be social housing. At the end of the 40 years, the entire portfolio will come under the ownership of new state government agency, Homes Victoria.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/victoria-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, State Government.Lord Haughey plans to build 11,000 affordable homes
BBC (No paywall)From Scotland ... [Business tycoon Lord Willie Haughey] wants to make renting more affordable for young people. [He] plans to spend more than £1bn on building 11,000 affordable homes in Scotland over the next nine years. His Glasgow-based company, City Facilities Management Holdings, has formed a partnership with property group Ediston. He said the plan would reduce rental costs and make renting preferable to taking out a mortgage. Ediston, based in Edinburgh, has bought a 24% stake in his company for £640m. Lord Haughey hopes the housebuilding partnership will help to address the housing shortage in Scotland.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-57145516
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Housing market.How London’s Property Boom Left Black Britons With Nothing
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu (No paywall)Buying a place to live is the single most important way of achieving prosperity in the U.K. and is so central to life that scrutinizing the property market is a national pastime. Yet, Black people risk falling further behind for generations as urban gentrification exposes gaping racial wealth disparities. (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-18/uk-property-w…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market, Race and ethnicity.Mould in your rental? It could be making you sick
Dee Salmin ABC (No paywall)Getting your landlord to fix simple things like leaking taps or broken lights can be a drama - so what do you do if you've got a full-blown mould problem? You do have rights. Especially if the mould is making you sick. (ABC triplej HACK)
https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/mould-in-rentals-is…
# Australia, Rent, Repairs, Mould.Calls for sunset clause on developers to stop 'land banking' amid soaring northern NSW house prices
Leah White, Bruce Mackenzie, and Bronwyn Herbert ABC (No paywall)Councils on the New South Wales north coast, where skyrocketing property prices have sparked a growing housing crisis, say thousands of blocks of land approved for residential development are being kept off the market. The latest house price figures from CoreLogic show property values on the Northern Rivers have risen more in the past 12 months than anywhere else in Australia. House values in the Richmond-Tweed climbed 21.9 per cent in the 12 months to April, while unit values increased by 15.5 per cent, according to the data.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-19/calls-for-sunset-clause-t…
# NSW, Housing market, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government.Wealth divide between young and old narrowed during pandemic
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The record gulf between the wealth and wellbeing of the oldest and youngest Australians is shrinking for the first time in seven years despite the coronavirus pandemic, but some of the improvement has been at the expense of retirees who are increasingly needing help for homelessness. ... The improvement in the index in 2020 was partly due to better outcomes for young people, including longer life expectancies, a lift in first home buyers getting into the property market and ramped up federal government assistance for workers. But another factor narrowing the divide was a reduction in the welfare of older people. While young Australians remain the most likely to access homelessness services, the report found the biggest rise in demand for this help in the past year was from older people. “This steep rise for older Australians suggests that challenges in securing affordable housing is affecting increasingly greater swathes of the population,” the report says. (Refers to 2021 Australian Actuaries Intergenerational Equity Index report.)
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/wealth-divide-between-yo…
# Research alert Australia, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, Young people.