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
Rental Burdens: Rethinking Affordability Measures
(No paywall)How much of your income should you set aside for rent? With the cost of housing on the rise, researchers are reexamining the 30-percent rule of thumb for measuring rental burden. (Edge, US Department of Housing and Urban Development)
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_article_09…
# International, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability.How a cookbook brought Melbourne's inner-city public housing community together
Jessica Lodge ABC (No paywall)Almost a year on from enduring Australia's strictest lockdown, residents of Melbourne's public housing towers have turned to cooking to help them heal and reconnect their community. Jess Ho from The Guardian also writes about this cookbook. Go to: [https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/jul/13/cooking-is-a-way-for-me-to-share-my-love-recipes-from-melbourne-public-housing-residents]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/vic-how-a-cookbook-brough…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.Rent prices are soaring as Americans flock back to cities
Heather Long (No paywall)Lauren Campos opened the door to her Phoenix apartment last week to find a note stuck in the door frame. Her rent was going up nearly $400 a month, the note said, a 33 percent increase. ... Rents are starting to surge in many parts of the country as the economy reopens and young people return rapidly to cities. On top of the influx of millennials and Gen Z renters coming back after staying with family or friends, people who can work from anywhere are still relocating to lower-cost cities, and the hot home sale market has caused some baby boomers to sell their family homes and rent again now that their kids are grown. Nationwide, rent prices are up 7.5 percent so far this year, three times higher than normal, according to data from Apartments.com. Analysts expect rent prices to keep climbing for the foreseeable future, a major burden for renters and a warning sign that higher inflation could linger far longer than the White House and Federal Reserve keep predicting. (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/09/rent-prices-r…
# International, Rent, Housing market.Lawyer wins $55,000 after suing landlords over mould
(Paywall)Criminal defence lawyer Chris Murphy has won more than $55,000 after he took the landlords of his former Sydney rental property to court over mould damage. ... Here's the story. Mr Murphy argued he was not required to pay that rent because the Lewkovitzes had broken the terms of a tenancy agreement by leasing a home that was not fit for living in. Mr Murphy had said he lost 40 pieces of art along with clothing and furniture due to the mould ... His claim also included expenses incurred in dealing with the contamination. ... Judge Hatzistergos said he was satisfied the Lewkovitzes knew about water penetration issues, particularly in relation to mould, from at least 2012 - the year prior to when Mr Murphy moved into the property. But in his ruling Judge Hatzistergos said the Lewkovitzes were entitled to the rent money because Mr Murphy's obligation to pay it remained despite his ability to use the house being affected. (Daily Telegraph)
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=D…
# NSW, Rent, Mould.The tube houses of Hanoi – in pictures
Photographs by Manan Vatsyayana The Guardian (No paywall)Tall, thin and brightly coloured, Hanoi’s ‘tube houses’ dominate the city’s streets as people compete for space in Vietnam’s capital.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jul/09/the…
# History International, Housing market.Canberra homebuyers left in lurch after developer backflips on sales three years after deal
Isaac Nowroozi and Michael Inman ABC (No paywall)Peter O'Dwyer, a single dad with three daughters, bought an off-the-plan townhouse in Canberra's north in 2018. ... But in May the developer, 3 Property Group, rescinded its contract for the Throsby property — despite having been paid a deposit. ... There are currently no laws in the ACT that specifically prevent developers, such as 3 Property Group, from rescinding contracts in a rising market — unlike in New South Wales.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-11/act-homebuyers-left-stran…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.The One Trick Landlords Don’t Want You To Know About: Housing Co-Ops
Ruby Lott-Lavigna (No paywall)A group of tenants in south east London is trying to fight an eviction notice by turning their home and artistic space into a mutually-owned co-operative. Can they do it?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xq9w/the-one-trick-landlords-d…
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing.How much would Australia’s house prices have risen without COVID-19?
Ellen Lutton Domain (No paywall)Australia’s property prices have risen well above what they would have if COVID-19 had never happened, new analysis shows. Most capital cities were due for an upswing in 2020, according to a report from KPMG Economics, but ultra-low interest rates and government support to the housing market during the pandemic gave the market a further shot in the arm, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars extra to property values.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/how-much-would-australias-house-p…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing market.