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
How Nomadland shines a light on an ignored America
Adrian Horton The Guardian (No paywall)Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s exquisite, empathic Oscar-tipped feature about a sixtysomething woman who takes to itinerant van life after the closure of a mine vanishes her livelihood and Nevada town, doesn’t flinch from the vagaries of the human body.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/17/nomadland-chloe-…
# Video International, Homelessness, Older people.The Privatising Public Housing Con: An Interview With UNSW City Future’s Dr Alistair Sisson
Paul Gregoire (No paywall)The Explorer Street public housing estate in inner city South Eveleigh is comprised of 46 one and two storey town houses built in the early 1990s. To stand in front of it, it’s hard to see why the Berejiklian government is determined to see it demolished. In November last year, Explorer Street residents and those at the Franklyn Street public housing complex in Glebe, received notice from NSW housing minister Melinda Pavey informing them that sometime in the next couple of years, they’ll be losing their homes. (Sydney Criminal Lawyers)
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-privatising-pu…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, State Government.Hundreds of homes being 'left vacant' by landlords in Adelaide's CBD, welfare group warns
ABC (No paywall)Welfare group Shelter SA has said offering landlords incentives to unlock a vast body of vacant dwellings in Adelaide's CBD could help significantly reduce homelessness, as well as rental stress.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-21/sa-welfare-group-pushes-f…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Penthouses and poor doors: how Europe's 'biggest regeneration project' fell flat
Oliver Wainwright The Guardian (No paywall)Few places have seen such turbocharged luxury development as Nine Elms on the London riverside. So why are prices tumbling, investors melting away and promises turning to dust? ... “There was once a world where you could build riverside council homes,” said [Aydin Dikerdem, a Labour councillor]. “We’ve gone backwards since then. That’s why what has happened here is so upsetting. We are never again going to have all this abandoned industrial space on the river, which could have really transformed the lives of people in a borough in which thousands of people are statutorily homeless, and tons of professionals are spending all their income on private rent. It was a historic opportunity, but we’ve ended up with loads more luxury skyscrapers, which is not what the city needed.” (The long read, The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/feb/02/penthouses-…
# International, Affordable housing, Housing market, Planning and development.Government extends eviction ban until end of March, but loopholes for landlords to remain
Jon Stone (No paywall)In the United Kingdom ... The government will extend its eviction ban for another month, ministers have announced – but loopholes for landlords will stay in place. Most renters will now be protected from bailiffs until 31 March after another decision made just a week before the lapse of the current period.
But campaigners point to exemptions that are already seeing many of those worst hit by the pandemic summoned to court for possession hearings and facing homelessness. Under exemptions introduced at the start of 2021, landlords can now evict tenants who accrue six months of arrears in rent – even if it has been built up during lockdown.(Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eviction-ban-exte…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.The Sydney suburbs where it’s cheaper to buy than rent
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Record low interest rates and sluggish property price growth have made mortgage repayments more affordable than rent across Sydney suburbs, new analysis shows.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-suburbs-where-its-weekly-mort…
# NSW, Rent, Home ownership, Housing market.COVID stamp duty holiday reveals big problems in the housing market
Michael Ball The Conversation (No paywall)The UK housing market has been affected by the pandemic, but in ways that were not anticipated at the outset. Initially, forecasters thought that the sharp reduction in economic activity could lead to a housing market crash. That didn’t happen. Parts of the market have instead been buoyant while others languish. Forecasting is tricky, but the result of the government’s temporary stamp duty cut raises some perennial issues about market efficiency and fairness.
https://theconversation.com/covid-stamp-duty-holiday-reveals-big…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Tax.Developers forced to fix defects after commissioner wields new powers
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Developers have been slapped with orders to fix serious defects in apartment buildings and townhouses, as the NSW Building Commissioner signals he will not hesitate using his strongest powers to stamp out shoddy work in the construction industry. Almost six months after his powers came into force, commissioner David Chandler has issued prohibition orders in the past week to developers of four buildings in Sydney and Forster, north of Newcastle, stopping them gaining occupation certificates until defects have been fixed.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developers-forced-to-fix-def…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.