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
‘I’m not scared any more’: The unique halfway house helping ex-inmates adjust to the outside
Tammy Mills The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Greg had spent so much time in jail – 18 years out of the past 25 – that he felt more at home in prison than the outside world. ... He is one of about 70 men who have been through a unique facility for prisoners fresh out of jail, run out of the old Maribyrnong immigration detention centre in Melbourne’s west. It was supposed to be a temporary facility, slated to run for six months from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, to provide short-term accommodation to men who would otherwise be homeless and a risk of transmission. ... Usually when prisoners have nowhere to go when they leave jail, they end up in rooming houses or emergency accommodation. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show one-third of prisoners were homeless when they went inside and more than half expected to be homeless on release.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/i-m-not-scared-any-more…
# Australia, Homelessness.As 400,000 renters face eviction, JRF warns the UK risks a ‘two-tier recovery’
Grace Hetherington (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... On the day the eviction ban ends, a large-scale survey reveals: (1) Around 400,000 renting households have either been served an eviction notice or have been told they may be evicted (5% of all renters). (2) Around a million renting households are worried about being evicted in the next three months (11% of all renters), half of which are families with children. (3) 1.7 million renting households are worried about paying their rent over the same period (20%) of all renters). (4) Although renters are faring significantly worse than homeowners, their support has been cut while wealthier homeowners continue to benefit from the Stamp Duty holiday. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/400000-renters-face-eviction-jrf-wa…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market.How are eviction rules for renters and landlords changing?
Alice Aitken BBC (No paywall)A ban on evictions introduced during lockdown comes to an end in England on 1 June.
What does it mean for renters? If a landlord wants to evict tenants, there is a strict legal process to follow. There are two main types of eviction: (1) A "no-fault" or Section 21 eviction is when a landlord does not need to give a reason. Landlords can do this at the end of a fixed-term tenancy agreement, or during a tenancy with no fixed end date. (2) If the tenant breaks the terms of the rental agreement - for example by not paying rent, damaging the property or causing a nuisance - the landlord can use a Section Eight order. Usually, no-fault evictions require two months' notice. Evictions where tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy have a notice period of between two weeks and two months, depending on which terms were broken.
‘They saved my life’: WA eviction prevention service facing closure after funding ends
Sarah Collard and Karen Michelmore SBS (No paywall)An Aboriginal homelessness prevention service which has helped stave off eviction for 344 vulnerable families in Western Australia will close at the end of this month if funding is not restored.
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/2021/06/01/they-sa…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government.Public housing developments
Geoff Turnbull (No paywall)The Planning Proposal for Land and Housing Corporation’s (LAHC) 600-660 Elizabeth Street Redfern site, is now on exhibition ... A change the NSW Government made to the initial CoS proposal was to reduce social housing (30 per cent) and affordable housing (10 per cent) to a total of 30 per cent combined. Given the 10 per cent Aboriginal affordable housing call on Government developments in Redfern and Waterloo there is likely to be community pushback to this reduction, especially as no dedicated Aboriginal affordable housing is included. (South Sydney Herald)
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/public-housing-developments/
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Estate renewal.Affordability – good news for the City’s renters
Cathryn Callaghan (No paywall)Earlier this month, Rob Stokes, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, announced his approval of the City of Sydney’s proposal to amend its planning controls to extend its affordable rental housing scheme across the local government area. ... The announcement of this approval is good news for the people of Sydney. It offers something practical for a group that is often overlooked – financially stressed, low- to moderate-income renters in the private residential housing market. The scheme will be pitched at these households and charge rents that are no more than 30 per cent of gross household income. Affordable housing properties are usually managed by not-for-profit community housing providers like City West.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/affordability-good-news-for-the…
# NSW, Affordable housing, Local Government, State Government.Concerns tight Gold Coast rental market means tenants won't assert their rights
Dominic Cansdale ABC (No paywall)There are concerns that low vacancy rates in the Gold Coast rental market are discouraging tenants from asserting their rights with real estate agents and landlords. ... Burleigh Waters resident Aline Christ said her real estate agent proposed a 15 per cent increase to her rent, due to the competitive market. ... "[The owner] had no idea the real estate was proposing to raise my rent that much," she said. ... enants Queensland chief executive Penny Carr said that, with such low vacancy rates, many renters were desperate. "People are taking things sight unseen, tenants are up-bidding the rent and offering long periods of time upfront to pay the rent," she said. "The past few months have created a lot of problems for renters."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-01/gold-coast-rental-market-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Australia’s five biggest cities on course for double-digit house price growth
Euan Black The New Daily (No paywall)Sydney home owners will see their wealth increase by more than double the nation’s average wage this year if economists’ house price predictions come true. Economists are tipping property values to rise by at least 6 per cent in Australia’s five largest cities over the next seven months and by 8 per cent in Sydney and Perth.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/05/31/house-pri…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.