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
‘It feels gross’: ad for Sydney’s ‘luxury’ Sirius building criticised as insult to former social housing tenants
Naaman Zhou The Guardian (No paywall)A glossy newspaper ad selling “reimagined” luxury apartments in Sydney’s iconic Sirius Building has been condemned as tone-deaf and “gross” for implying the previous public housing tenants did not deserve to live near Sydney Harbour. The Sirius building was built in the 1970s to provide social housing for low-income residents of Sydney’s The Rocks district. The Berejiklian government sold it to private developers in 2019 for $150m as property prices in the harbourside location skyrocketed.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/15/it-feels-…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Estate renewal, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.There are many battles to be fought over the housing reforms outlined in the Queen’s Speech
Jules Birch Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Scratch beneath the surface of the reforms planned for the next parliamentary session and you see a story of delays and battles yet to be fought ... At first glance this is a Queen’s Speech that looks full of welcome reforms to planning and the delivery of new homes, conditions for renters and leaseholders, and building safety. Scratch beneath the surface in the background briefing notes, though, and big questions remain and there are big battles to come. ... sounds great until you realise two things. First, a Renters’ Reform Bill was promised 17 months ago in the Queen’s Speech in December 2019 with no mention of a white paper first. Extra scrutiny in a white paper may reduce the chances of bad legislation but reform is receding into the distance. Second, while that reference to landlord registration is welcome, this was recommended 13 years ago in the Rugg Review for the last Labour government. What took this one so long? The only question seems to be which will take longer: “as soon as practicable”, or “in due course”, or “exploring”?
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/there-are-many-battles-t…
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, No-grounds evictions.Fighting dispossession
Ben Verghese and Ilham Rawoot (Paywall)From South Africa ... Twenty-five years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, land and housing inequalities remain marked. Citizens’ groups are resisting gentrification, evictions and housing inequality in urban South Africa in a variety of creative ways. ... [Read on] (New Internationalist)
# International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Squatting, Women.Victorian property investors hit with land tax, stamp duty increase in state budget
ABC (No paywall)[New windfall gains tax ...] Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas says next week's state budget will include tax increases and public sector savings as the government takes the "hard and necessary actions" needed to rebalance the books. ... The changes will see the land tax increase by 0.25 per cent for taxable land holdings between $1.8 million and $3 million, and 0.30 per cent for taxable land holdings in excess of $3 million. A new windfall gains tax will be also introduced for properties whose value is boosted by a council rezoning. The tax will only apply to properties where the value is boosted by more than $100,000, with a 50 per cent tax on windfalls above $500,000. Mr Pallas said the move would claw back around $40 million a year from developers and speculators who made huge profits after a local council's "stroke of a pen" to rezone industrial land for residential use. ... "There needs to be a balance between those wanting to buy their first property and large property investors who continue to profit from soaring property values," he said.
[And read about Victoria' new social housing ground-lease model ... ] The government has also laid out how a private-public partnership will create hundreds of social housing units as part of its $5.3 billion public housing build. Under the plan, 1,110 new homes will be built on government-owned land in Brighton, Flemington and Prahran — which the government said would replace 445 "outdated" social housing units at the sites which had already been demolished. The homes will be a mix of 619 social housing dwellings, 126 affordable homes and 365 market rental homes, including 52 specialist disability accommodation dwellings. The government will put in $50 million while a private consortium will provide $465 million upfront to construct the homes. The consortium will have a lease on the sites for 40 years, collecting income from the rent and maintaining the properties. The state government will repay the $465 million to the consortium during that 40-year period. Planning Minister Richard Wynne said after that time, all the property and homes would return to government hands to become social housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-15/victorian-budget-property…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government, Tax.Federal Budget 2021: Measures will boost housing demand without increasing much-needed supply, experts say
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)This year’s federal budget has been dubbed yet “another missed opportunity”, with experts concerned measures will only further fuel rapid price gains and do little to improve housing affordability. Measures that could improve housing affordability long term, particularly increased funding to build more social and affordable housing, were overlooked in favour of schemes that brought forward housing demand – which experts say support individual buyers but ultimately push up property prices.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/federal-budget-2021-measures-to-b…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.Coalition’s $17.7bn aged care budget pledge ‘falls well short’ of what is needed, experts warn
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Aged care experts are warning the Morrison government’s budget commitment of $17.7bn for the sector “falls well short” of what is needed for generational reform and to avoid workforce and transparency “vulnerabilities”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/12/budget-20…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Eviction notice periods reduced to four months from June
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Minimum eviction notice periods will be cut from six months to four from June for most renters in England, the government has announced. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that longer notice periods for tenants facing eviction during the pandemic will remain in place until at least October, although the term will be reduced to four months from next month. Before the coronavirus crisis hit the UK last March, the standard minimum notice period in England was two months. ... In yesterday’s Queen’s Speech it was announced that government will publish a white paper in the autumn, with further protections for renters including proposals to abolish so-called ‘no-fault’ evictions. Former prime minister Theresa May first promised to scrap Section 21 evictions two years ago in April 2019. A recent survey commissioned by Generation Rent found that nearly one in 12 private renters have been served with a Section 21 notice since the start of the pandemic.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/eviction-notice-period…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, No-grounds evictions.The Queen’s Speech: what legislation is coming for the social housing sector?
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... the Queen listed a number of policies and measures that will have a direct impact on social housing providers. Many proposals were expected, such as the Building Safety Bill and the Planning Bill. But for many in the social housing sector, the speech will be defined by its omissions as much as what was included. ... The Queen’s Speech also contained a commitment to help more people own their own home while enhancing renters’ rights. Central to reforms in the private rented sector is the idea of scrapping Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions – first announced by former prime minister Theresa May in April 2019. Documents published today show that the government has vowed to publish its consultation response to the proposal “later this year”. The government also said it will bring forward reforms to “drive improvements in standards in rented accommodation, including by ensuring all tenants have a right to redress, and ensuring well targeted, effective enforcement that drives out criminal landlords, for example exploring the merits of a landlord register”. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said that the Queen’s Speech “offers hope to England’s 20 million private and social renters”. She added: “We stand ready to work with the government to deliver a Renters’ Reform Bill that includes scrapping Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions and introduces a national landlord register. It’s also time to bring forward long-overdue legislation that improves standards for social tenants with safety at its core.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-queens-speec…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Minimum habitability standards, No-grounds evictions.