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
Keeping an Eye on Landlord Tech
Erin McElroy, Wonyoung So and Nicole Weber (No paywall)From the United States ... Most renters know too well that COVID-19 has exacerbated racialized housing injustice, despite the powerful organizing efforts of an ever-growing housing justice movement. ... While numerous eviction moratoriums have passed in the U.S., these protections are weak and place the burden of proof on tenants. Most have only deferred rent debt, evictions, and houselessness. ... At the same time, an array of new real estate-oriented tech startups has emerged with tools to help landlords evict unruly or non-paying tenants. ... Manifestations of landlord tech can include tenant screening services, app-based short-term rental platforms, biometric facial recognition, and tools for real estate speculation. (Shelterforce)
https://shelterforce.org/2021/03/25/keeping-an-eye-on-landlord-t…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Landlords and agents.Fire and flood: 'Whole areas of Australia will be uninsurable'
Royce Kurmelovs The Guardian (No paywall)Extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency are an existential threat to homeowners and industry alike.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/02/fire-and-…
# Australia, Housing market.Answering the persistent call of the NIMBY
Jon Feine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Every Easter, we have a debate about replacing the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby. This year, another exotic native has also emerged from its comfortable nest. Its distinctive cry, the warbling sound of the Angry Nimby, echoes around our suburbs. ... A new sub-species of the Nimby has been seen in the inner city this past week – the plumage showing a new green outer skin. The City of Yarra, with a Greens councillor majority, ... rejected a state government proposal for a social housing development in the precinct around the Collingwood Town Hall. Years of work on a plan to provide 200 units — 100 of them for social housing — has been abandoned as the council refused to endorse the state government plan.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/answering-the-persisten…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Local Government.Green Valley's social housing experiment still being fixed 60 years later
Jonathan Hair ABC (No paywall)Green Valley was built under unusual circumstances 60 years ago. Walk through some parts of it today and you'll be able to spot remnants of that bygone era. The south-west suburb was developed by the NSW Housing Commission during the affordable housing crisis in the 1960, on farming land at the fringes of Sydney's suburban sprawl.. ... "[But] they transported people away from their homes, their families and their social networks."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-04/green-valley-social-housi…
# History NSW, Public and community housing, Planning and development.The unlikely resident fighting back against the NSW Government’s war on public housing
Daniel Lo Surdo (No paywall)Leading an emotion-fuelled campaign against the monoliths of the NSW Government is a responsibility Louisa Blair never thought she would shoulder. The 30-year resident of the Explorer Street public housing estate in Eveleigh describes herself as more bashful than boisterous; not the sort to ordinarily welcome newcomers into her living room with tea and chocolate biscuits. But when Blair spots injustice, she refuses to stay silent. (Inner West Independent)
https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2021/03/the-unlikely-resident-fight…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Estate renewal, State Government.Melbourne is getting closer to overtaking Sydney in population – what does it mean for both cities?
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)The southern capital is now the closest it has been since 1930 to overtaking Sydney as Australia’s most populous city. Sydney grew by 57,100 people to 5.4 million residents over the 2019-20 financial year, an increase trumped by the 80,100 residents Melbourne added in the same period to bring its population to 5.2 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/04/melbourne…
# Australia, Housing market, Planning and development.Across the UK, environmental protest is surging. So why don't we hear about it?
Ros Coward The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... It’s not surprising that politicians downplay and “localise” such protests as lacking national significance. Given the government’s “build, build, build” agenda, it’s best not to let voters know that what’s happening to other communities will soon happen to them. But why isn’t the media paying more attention, especially outlets with environment correspondents? There were a few headlines about “greedy” Eton selling 500 acres of unspoilt countryside on the edge of the South Downs national park for 3,000 houses, but most environmental protests go unreported. So cumulative issues about the suburbanisation of the countryside, the scale of the loss of open space, and the catastrophic failure to protect our biodiversity, are simply not addressed.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/04/uk-environ…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.Liberal senator backs redeploying of superannuation early access scheme
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg wants the Morrison government to redeploy an emergency scheme introduced at the height of pandemic letting workers withdraw $20,000 from their superannuation for other purposes such as first home deposits.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/liberal-senator-backs-re…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.