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
New government debt scheme prevents landlords issuing arrears eviction notices to some tenants
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Landlords will be temporarily prevented from issuing Section 8 eviction notices or reclaiming rent arrears from tenants facing problem debt under a new scheme launched by the government yesterday. ... Named ‘Breathing Space’, the scheme will give tenants facing financial difficulties 60 days to get their finances back on track without debts piling up and the threat of enforcement. ... For landlords, this means they will be unable to serve Section 8 eviction notices for arrears during this period, while also putting on hold any other action in relation to rent arrears, including court claims.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/new-government-debt-scheme-…
# International, Eviction, Rent.Nightmare landlord drives tenants out, but court action has left them unable to rent again
Amy Ridout (No paywall)From New Zealand ... A landlord’s actions and bizarre requests made a couple’s tenancy unbearable. But turning to the Tenancy Tribunal for help has left Elizabeth Fryer and her partner feel unable to rent again and disillusioned with a process they feel is weighted to landlords.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/124788759/night…
# International, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents.‘Real thuggery’: Cornwall boats vandalised amid ‘incomer’ tensions
Steven Morris The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The spot could hardly be more idyllic. A Cornish creek fringed by apple trees where boats bob at high tide and dogs and children frolic in the mud at low. But there is trouble in the parish of Feock after a string of acts of vandalism aimed at those bobbing boats led to a wave of anger, fear and suspicion. Some of the victims blame second-home owners and “incomers”... especially given the exit from cities that the Covid crisis has caused, making homes unaffordable for most locally born people.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/03/real-thuggery-co…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market.Friendship formed over new designs for homes
Vanessa Mills ABC (No paywall)The importance of family, and multi-generations living under one roof, is just one of the uniting factors behind a new way of designing and building homes. Studio Kinship is an organisation founded by Perth based architect Lisa Anne Halton and Walmajarri artist Clifton Bieundurry. Lisa Anne grew up in Ireland and Clifton in Kimberley Aboriginal communities, and they've formed a strong friendship. The pair has designed, and plan to build, homes that allow Aboriginal people to adhere to strict kinship rules and traditions. (ABC Kimberley Breakfast)
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/kimberley/programs/breakfast/kinshi…
# Video Australia, Aboriginal renters, Families, Housing market.COVID and the need for better standards in high-rise living
AHURI Brief AHURI (No paywall)Although issues with the design and quality of living spaces in high density, high rise residential apartment buildings existed pre-COVID, the pandemic response restrictions that forced people to stay and work at home have focussed community concern on the problems of poor design and operation in some of these buildings. AHURI research in 2020 during the pandemic identified that households in apartments (particular people in smaller apartments) experienced limitations in their living environment during their extended lockdown ...
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/ahuri-briefs/covid-and-the-nee…
# Research alert Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.Sydney and Melbourne property prices slow after record-breaking boom
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Buying a house in Sydney and Melbourne is now tens of thousands of dollars more expensive than it was just a month ago but there are signs the strongest property boom in decades is slowing.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sydney-and-melbourne-pro…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.‘No one knew we were homeless’: relief funds hope to reach students missing from virtual classrooms
Linda Jaconson The Guardian (No paywall)From the United States ... Portia and her two boys were living at the St Ambrose Family Shelter in Dorchester, Massachusetts, located in an old Catholic church, when the pandemic hit. ... Her story is a common one among families that have gone without stable living arrangements over the past year. With students learning remotely – and sometimes leaving their cameras off during Zoom sessions – teachers and other school staff have missed many of the clues that students lack permanent housing. Under the $1.9tn economic stimulus bill passed in March, the federal government has dedicated $800m to support homeless students, a commitment that advocates say will go a long way to finding those students and addressing their needs.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/30/us-homeless-st…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Homelessness.Property price growth outstrips rents, especially for inner-city apartments, data shows
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Property price growth is outstripping rent growth in Australia’s largest cities as the housing market booms, with the gap most pronounced in the weakened inner-city apartment markets.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/property-price-growth-outstrips-r…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.