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
NSW Government introduces a 60-day freeze on evictions
(No paywall)The New South Wales Government has announced a 60-day moratorium on evictions to support the state as it battles through extended COVID-19 lockdowns. (rent.com.au)
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Rental spike
(Paywall)Rental prices have jumped up in the last 12 months; increases not seen in more than a decade. (Prime 7 Ballarat)
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.COVID-19: Lockdown support for Greater Sydney tenants
(No paywall)COVID-19 restrictions are in force for Greater Sydney and have been extended for at least another two weeks until Friday, 30 July. Here’s what you need to know about the lockdown and where to get tenancy support. (rent.com.au)
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.COVID-19: Lockdown support for Victorian tenants
(No paywall)COVID-19 restrictions are in force once again for Victoria and in place until 11:59 PM on 20 July. Here’s what you need to know about the hard lockdown and where to get tenancy support. (rent.com.au)
# Must read Australia, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Growing eviction risk as rent freezes end in Europe, IUT quoted
Arthur Neslen (No paywall)Millions of European households may have to leave their homes in the coming months because they cannot afford to pay rent, housing experts say, as pandemic-related rent moratoriums wind down across the continent. Housing Europe, a Brussels-based social housing association, estimates that 10 million households are at risk ... The U.N. special rapporteur on adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, described that figure as “a rather conservative estimate ... given the high percentage of renters in many European countries”. Freezing rent payments for vulnerable groups is still “necessary” in regions and cities where the housing crisis is most acute, he added. (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/article/europe-housing-evictions/analysi…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Renters' Guide to COVID-19
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)The NSW Government has introduced a new 60-day eviction ban for some tenants. The 'July 2021 Moratorium' commenced on the 14th July 2021 and will end on the 11th September 2021. During this time landlords will be prevented from serving a notice of termination or making an application to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for rent arrears if the tenant is an 'impacted tenant', they have provided notice to the landlord they are an impacted tenant and they continue to pay at least 25% of the weekly rent. The Government also announced that it will provide financial incentive to landlords who provide tenants with a rent reduction during this July 2021 Moratorium. ... Check out The Renters' Guide to COVID-19 which has been developed to provide legal information about situations that may arise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Privacy and access, Rent.Why a killer US heatwave points to a stifling future for our cities
Nick O'Malley and Miki Perkins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It was the hellish evening temperatures that finally caused the authorities to start busing the homeless into heat shelters where they had access to fans, air-conditioning and water. Three hours from sundown last Saturday the temperature in Las Vegas peaked at 47.2 degrees ... Dr Sebastian Pfautsch, a specialist on urban heat at Western Sydney University, says though Australian attention has drifted from the terrible summer of 2019 and 2020, he fears for the future of residents of some suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne. The heat is coming, he says, and we are not prepared for it. ... Until better computer models are created all we can know is that as the climate heats due to global warming such heatwaves will in some areas increase in intensity and duration. Areas particularly prone to the phenomenon include northern Europe, North America and south-eastern Australia ... It is not just that large houses on small blocks leave no room for trees, Pfautsch says. The little space left between them provides no room for recreation and serve to increase heat, with side-passages often home to air-conditioning systems that spew heated air across dividing fences. But Pfautsch sees other wilful mistakes. Unshaded black roads absorb heat during the day only to radiate it at night, extending the heat of day into the evening. This contributes to the urban heat island effect. Roofs, exterior walls and even driveways created by developers in currently fashionable dark shades serve to exacerbate the impact, he says. But, according to Pfautsch, the problems begin even before the new suburbs are laid out, when developers clear new sites of all existing trees, ponds and watercourses to maximise space and save on construction costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/why-a-killer-u…
# NSW, Climate change, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.Landlords Are Going to Take Away All Your Wage Gains
Hamilton Nolan (No paywall)From the United States ... Economic crises can happen fast. So can the printing of government stimulus checks to counteract those crises. But building large quantities of housing — to say nothing of affordable housing — is a slow process, beset on all sides by angry neighbors, predatory developers and a general lack of political will. And so Americans emerging from a devastating pandemic find ourselves facing a wry, ironic sort of recovery. The good news is that wages are going up. The bad news is, you’ll have to give them all back to your landlord. ... Landlords large and small are in a dream situation. The combination of rising wages and housing shortages means they can simply adjust rents upwards forever until they have effectively redirected every last bit of outstanding economic growth into their own pockets. Though mega-billionaires and soulless global corporations have (rightfully) replaced them as the primary moneyed villains of a democratic society, landlords are now poised to make a strong comeback as class war enemies in the public mind. (In These Times)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/landlords-housing-stimulus-rent…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Landlords and agents.