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
Why are tenants being charged just for paying their rent?
Michael McGowan The Guardian (No paywall)In 2018 Melbourne tenant Orlando Skeete was told he would have to start paying rent via a company that planned to charge him a series of fees, including a 1.1% charge on all credit- or debit-card payments. This is not uncommon – real estate agencies are increasingly outsourcing the process of rent collection to third-party companies, which charge tenants just for paying their rent. Reporter Michael McGowan explores this confusing system, which is leaving many tenants out of pocket, and Skeete explains how he fought back, using nothing but a bike, an ATM and relentless determination
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2021/jun/29/why…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.‘A step in the right direction’: Stokes reveals plans for 3000 homes and three towers at Waterloo estate
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Planning Minister Rob Stokes has smoothed the path for 3000 homes to be built in towers reaching 30 storeys under the first stage of the Waterloo public housing estate redevelopment in Sydney’s inner south. Mr Stokes has approved revised plans for Waterloo South to go on public exhibition, in a compromise aimed at breaking a deadlock between the City of Sydney and the state’s housing authority over the scale of development. The plans - which will go on exhibition later this year - push hundreds of vulnerable residents at the estate closer to having their homes demolished for a mix of private, affordable and public housing. ... Waterloo Public Housing Action Group chairman Richard Weeks, briefed on the plans on Tuesday, said residents had long been in limbo and “the majority of tenants down here have just given up worrying about anything”. Mr Weeks was pleased the towers would be arranged around the large public park but said the development should include more affordable housing for Indigenous workers who couldn’t afford homes in Redfern-Waterloo. For a comment from Shelter NSW, go to: [https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/waterloo-south-estate-renewal-proposal-minister-for-planning-gives-the-green-light-for-next-stage?e=91e8d836a5].
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-step-in-the-right-directio…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Estate renewal, Housing market, Local Government, State Government.Rent arrears grants as eviction ban ends in Wales
Cemlyn Davies BBC (No paywall)From Wales ... Tenants who have failed to pay rent due to the pandemic will be able to apply for a grant as part of a £10m package announced by the Welsh government. The tenancy hardship grant is designed to support people who have fallen behind on their payments by more than eight weeks between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021. The announcement comes as the ban on evictions in Wales ends on Wednesday.
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Northern Territory urged to accommodate homeless Aboriginal people during Covid lockdown
Lorena Allam The Guardian (No paywall)Aboriginal organisations have expressed frustration at the Northern Territory government’s “flawed” pandemic response, demanding it do more to accommodate hundreds of Aboriginal people sleeping rough around town centres they say are at risk of Covid-19. Both Darwin and Alice Springs were in lockdown amid concerns about the significant risk posed to Aboriginal communities. The CEO of the Danila Dilba Aboriginal health service, Olga Havnen said the lack of support for homeless people created a “ridiculous situation”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/30/northern-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.Real estate agents should be the first to be replaced by robots
Jack Derwin (No paywall)Real estate agents are a scourge on humanity, and conveniently one that can be scrubbed from it with the latest technology or, failing that, a good Excel spreadsheet. (Business Insider Australia)
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/real-estate-agents-automation…
# Australia, Landlords and agents.Berlin May Vote on Expropriating Landlords Amid Tenant Ire
Patrick Donahue (No paywall)Berlin’s local government faces the prospect of being forced to buy out large landlords such as Vonovia SE after activists said they collected enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot in September. Campaign organizers said on Friday they had more than 343,000 signatures, exceeding what they said was a threshold of 175,000. The milestone was announced at a rally outside Berlin’s interior ministry. Known as Deutsche Wohnen und Co. Enteignen, the movement gained momentum in April after Berlin’s rent freeze was overturned by Germany’s highest court, forcing thousands of tenants to repay rent reductions. The city’s booming real-estate market has sparked demonstrations as once-cheap apartment costs soar in the German capital. (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/berlin-heads-…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Local Government.Tenant Organizers Are Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords... and Winning
Luke Ottenhof (No paywall)From Canada ... Evictions usually happen behind closed doors and individually. That is slowly changing. ... On Easter weekend, at least a dozen cruisers from Toronto Police Service swarmed an apartment building complex in northwest Toronto to enforce the eviction of a single father from his unit. We know about this because organized neighbours and concerned renters stopped the police from evicting him. Faisal Hassan, the NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the single father’s riding, was on the scene to support the tenant defence. “It was a horrible thing,” said Hassan of the police-led eviction. Hassan eventually helped negotiate for the tenant to stay in his unit and secure a new lease, but it was only possible because organized tenants made sure their neighbour wasn’t evicted in the first place. (Vice)
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyvdea/tenant-organizers-are-fig…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform.By Bringing Down Sweden’s Government, the Left Party Saved Rent Controls
Nooshi Dadgostar (No paywall)On Monday, Sweden's Social Democratic government lost a vote of no confidence after it tried to abandon the country's system of collective bargaining on rents. The Left Party was decisive to the defeat — and now, the proposal to introduce market rents has been dropped. (Jacobin Magazine)
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/06/swedish-parliament-government-noo…
# International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market.