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
Housing: Shelter calls for 90,000 social homes to be built
Doug Faulkner BBC (No paywall)Housing charity Shelter has called on the government to build 90,000 good-quality social homes a year. It commissioned a survey which suggested that around a third of adults do not have safe or secure homes, based on criteria including whether the accommodation had enough bedrooms, was mouldy or structurally unsound.
Shelter calls it a "housing emergency".
Insecure housing and overcrowding risk children’s health. But we’ve found a way to help
Matthew Ankers and Yvonne Parry The Conversation (No paywall)More than 19,000 Australian children were recorded homeless on census night in 2016. That’s about one in six of the nation’s homeless population. Many more children live in insecure housing, overcrowded spaces with a lack of privacy or security, or have to move often between accommodation, making it difficult to establish a routine.
https://theconversation.com/insecure-housing-and-overcrowding-ri…
# Australia, Health, Homelessness, Young people.Tenants in England fear losing homes after eviction ban ends, says Shelter
The Guardian (No paywall)From the United KIngdom ... Many private tenants across England are worried about losing their home, according to Shelter, after a ban on bailiff-enforced rental sector evictions in England ends on 31 May. A survey by Shelter found 22% of tenants in England are worried they will be asked to leave their current home at short notice. Four in 10 said their experience of finding and trying to keep a home makes them worry about finding another home in the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/may/29/tenants-in-england…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Building an off-grid house for zero dollars
Ingrid Zhang ABC (No paywall)For 19-year-olds Rachel Ware and Jarryd Sime, from East Gippsland in Victoria, a light-hearted idea on a night out to construct an entire house with zero dollars has become a project that now takes up their weekends and earned them a loyal online following. The vision: an off-grid home built entirely by their own efforts, with zero dollars spent on materials and labour.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/building-off-grid-house-for-zero…
# Australia, Home ownership.These are the suburbs where housing affordability meets liveability
Matthew Elmas The New Daily (No paywall)When it comes to buying a house, there’s a sweet spot between location and price – affordable yet liveable suburbs can be elusive.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/05/27/affordabl…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market.Reality Check Campaign seeks to assist low cost housing
Aslan Shand (No paywall)A sense of frustration and helplessness is being felt by many in the community as they or their friends become homeless as the housing and rental prices continue to increase. But local Liz Friend has decided that it is time to take action and help people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. She has started the Reality Check Campaign that is asking people who are relatively secure in their lives to help those who aren’t. (The Echo)
https://www.echo.net.au/2021/05/reality-check-campaign-seeks-to-…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Regional NSW.Hobart is in the grips of a rental crisis that isseeing prices soar and vacancy rates dive
Chelsea Cosgrove (Paywall)Residents are calling for caps on rental prices and more social housing as the tight rental market reaches a crisis point. ... Kate Wadley established ‘The Ethical Tasmanian Residential Rental Property Owners Association’.“The issue at the heart of this endeavour is the exploitation of the rental market ... owners need to be held accountable,”Ms Wadley said.“Landlords are charging an exorbitant amount for rent not because they need to but because they can.” But Tasmanian Residential Rental Property Owners president Louise Elliot says the finger should be pointed at local and federal governments. (Mercury)
https://www.themercury.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TMWEB…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Retrofitting leaky homes would cost £5bn over next four years, UK ministers told
Fiona Harvey The Guardian (No paywall)Renovating the UK’s draughty homes to low-carbon standards would cost the government only £5bn within the next four years and would create 100,000 jobs, cut people’s energy bills, increase tax revenue and bring tens of billions in economic benefits, the construction industry has estimated. Sector leaders have written to ministers proposing a new “national retrofit strategy” that they say would boost a green recovery in the UK and put Britain on track to meet its climate targets.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/28/retrofitting…
# International, Repairs, Utilities water energy internet, Housing market.