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
Fears holiday-maker influx could deepen NSW north coast's housing crisis
Leah White and Joanne Shoebridge ABC (No paywall)A single mother of three caught up in the Northern Rivers' housing crisis fears even a tent space at a caravan park may soon be out of reach, with all forms of accommodation booked solid heading into the Christmas holidays. The region is bracing for an influx of visitors as intrastate travel bans lift from November 1. Rental vacancies are already at record lows and many long-term locals have been priced out of the market. ... The head of community services provider Social Futures, Tony Davies, said the affordable housing situation in northern New South Wales was the worst it had ever been. Mr Davies said the pandemic, combined with unprecedented migration to regional areas, had made a difficult situation almost impossible, and there were concerns things would only get worse with holiday homes and caravan parks snapped up over the Christmas break. "That absolutely is a worry because it means people might need to camp in dangerous and risky areas," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-31/rental-woes-north-nsw-hol…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.September 2021 Bulletin
Housing for the Aged Action Group (No paywall)Read about 'Outcomes of At Risk 2021' and more
https://mailchi.mp/2433af912792/older-tenants-voice-summer-editi…
# Australia, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Older people.Tenants and advocates call for Just Cause Ordinance to end no-fault evictions
Grace Asiegbu (No paywall)From the United States ... [Donna] Mayfield raised her two sons in her two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom apartment and lived there for 27 years without issue, always paying her rent on time, she said. So she was shocked and confused when she came home to a notice on her door in July from a new management company saying that she had two months to find a new place to live or face eviction. “It was like, ‘What is going on? This is unreal,’” she said. “It was like someone punched me in my gut.” ... Evictions such as this, when the tenant has done nothing wrong, are called no-fault or no-cause evictions, and they are legal in Chicago as long as the landlord gives the tenant enough notice. Advocates say no-cause evictions speed the pace of gentrification and price out longtime renters such as Mayfield, leading to further neighborhood destabilization and more demand for an insufficient supply of affordable housing.
https://www.injusticewatch.org/news/housing/2021/just-cause-ordi…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions.Caravan park opens only to homeless as pandemic drives Perth’s housing crisis deeper
Holly Thompson (No paywall)A caravan park in the Perth Hills will now only allow long-term residents to stay, in the hopes of helping to combat the city’s “through the roof” housing crisis. Perth Hills Caravan Park announced the plan to stop accepting tourists this week, stating they would be focusing on providing a place for those having trouble finding a house. Owner Shorrelle Watkins said the caravan park had always allocated about 50 per cent of spots to those needing a place to stay, but demand had risen drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/caravan-pa…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Homelessness, Housing market.Biden announces revamped $1.75 trillion social spending plan
BBC (No paywall)US President Joe Biden unveiled a revamped $1.75tn (£1.27tn) spending plan on Thursday, calling it a historic investment in the country's future. ... What's in the proposed new spending plan? [It includes] $150bn to build one million affordable housing units.
# International, Affordable housing, Housing market.Pingelly pioneers virtual aged care to keep older residents in their homes
Eliza Borrello ABC (No paywall)With a population of 800 the small town of Pingelly, about 160 kilometres southeast of Perth, is too small for a nursing home so the community has pioneered "virtual aged care" to help seniors stay in their homes longer with the help of volunteers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-29/close-knit-town-pingelly-…
# Australia, Housing market, Older people.‘This may save lives’: Ditching dark roofs drops mercury by up to 10 degrees
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Ditching dark roofing across Sydney will lower the city’s summer ambient temperatures by up to 2.4 degrees, according to University of NSW research commissioned by the federal government. A switch to cool-roofing options as simple as a coat of white paint could also drive down indoor temperatures in uninsulated homes in western Sydney by an average of 4 degrees, and 10 degrees during heatwaves, making them potentially life-saving measures. ... The NSW government has already mandated lighter-coloured roofs in Sydney’s south-west growth area to dial back the heat island effect, with Planning Minister Rob Stokes saying Australia’s obsession with dark roofing was leading to “astronomical electricity bills”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/this-may-save-lives-ditching-dar…
# Australia, Health, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development, State Government.Unregistered holiday rentals to be de-listed from booking websites in new code of conduct
Ainslie Drewitt-Smith ABC (No paywall)Holiday rental properties in New South Wales will be de-listed from booking websites including Airbnb and Stayz if providers fail to register with the Department of Planning by Monday. The registration is part of a new code of conduct being introduced by the state government to regulate the industry in a bid to guard against negligent hosts and disruptive guests. he chair of the Australian Short Term Rental Association said, as of Thursday, there were around 50,000 properties across the state still to be registered with the department. "Those properties won't be eligible to be promoted and take any further bookings until they're actually registered with the Department of Planning," Rob Jeffress said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-29/holiday-rental-property-r…
# NSW, Short-term holiday letting.