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
Less than 2 per cent of illegal evictions lead to prosecution of landlords, figures indicate
Ben Chapman (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Campaigners are calling on police commissioners to take action against criminal landlords as figures reveal alarmingly low rate of prosecutions. (Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/illegal-evictio…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Berlin’s rent cap, though defeated in court, shows how to cool overheated markets
David Madden and Alexander Vasudevan The Guardian (No paywall)The housing question is one of the central issues of our time, and events last week in Berlin underscored what’s at stake. In a much-anticipated ruling, Germany’s constitutional court in Karlsruhe ruled that Berlin’s Mietendeckel or rent cap was unconstitutional, and therefore null and void. The product of years of concerted organising by housing movements and leftwing parties in the city, the rent cap is wildly popular with Berlin’s tenants, who make up three-quarters of the city’s households. But it was hated by landlords, real-estate investors and members of Germany’s conservative political parties. ... Last week’s ruling represents a defeat for Berlin’s housing movement, but it may yet prove to be a pyrrhic victory for the city’s landlords and speculators. Anger over the nullification of the rent cap is fuelling support for the expropriation and remunicipalisation of thousands of units of public housing that had been privatised.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/23/berlin-ren…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market.HUNTER FAMILY BECOMES HOMELESS AFTER MONTHS OF RENTAL APPLICATIONS
Lauren Kempe (No paywall)A month ago, NBN News brought you the story of a Hunter family on the brink of becoming homeless, after they were evicted from their Raymond Terrace rental. Sadly, even though they applied for dozens of homes, their worst fear has been realised. (NBN News)
https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2021/04/24/hunter-family-becomes-home…
# Hot topic, Video NSW, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Regional NSW, State Government.Pathways to regional housing recovery from COVID-19
Julia Verdouw and others AHURI (No paywall)This study examined the consequences of COVID-19 for households in regional Australia, and considered that post-pandemic recovery models designed for large cities such as Sydney or Melbourne may not work in regional areas or less-urbanised states like South Australia or Tasmania. ... Findings indicated that regional housing markets experienced few serious consequences as a result of the pandemic. Regional markets had experienced increased demand, including from inward migration, and this has put upward pressure on prices, reducing affordability in these areas. The research also found housing impacts of COVID-19 had been uneven and challenging, especially for lower income tenants in the private rental market. This group has been overexposed to income protections such as JobKeeper which buffered the effects of job and income losses while they were available.
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/354/_nocache?utm…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Government accused of not growing social housing fast enough
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The Queensland government has been accused of falling well short of its own targets to open thousands of new social homes over the next decade, while 47,000 people sit on the waiting list. ... Greens MP Amy MacMahon said the figures were “alarming”, but Ms Enoch accused the Greens of “chasing a headline before they fully understand the facts”. ... The Queensland government’s definition of social housing also included programs such as crisis accommodation and the national rental affordability scheme, ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/government-accused-of…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Families, Housing market.Calls for rental price caps as families struggle with major increases
Amy Sheehan ABC (No paywall)Sunshine Coast resident Tina and her husband had expected their rent to increase when their lease was due for renewal in February, but they were shocked to receive an email stating it would jump by $100 a week. ... "I tried to negotiate a lower price, which they just refused," she said. ... National Shelter, a not-for-profit organisation lobbying for affordable housing access, is calling for legislation to cap exorbitant rent increases.
Executive officer Adrian Pisarski said the Sunshine Coast was one of the most unaffordable places to rent right now.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-23/sunshine-coast-rental-pri…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Kent council fined after mother and son left to live in tent in pandemic
Patrick Butler The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A council has been fined after it removed a homeless teenager and his mother from temporary housing during the pandemic, leaving them to sofa surf and live in a tent for two months. ... “It should have been clear to the children’s services department’s funding panel that the family would suffer hardship following the withdrawal of funding as they had no other housing arrangements in place,” the ombudsman’s report concluded. “While we are sympathetic to the pressures on councils, we expect them to consider national guidance issued during the pandemic and the failure to do so was fault.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/23/kent-council-fin…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Victorian town of Apollo Bay on brink of healthcare crisis due lack of housing
Rachel Clayton ABC (No paywall)A Victorian town fears it's on the brink of collapse, as its only medical centre fails to find enough doctors and nurses to fill gaping holes in its roster due to "dire" rental conditions. Apollo Bay on Victoria's Surf Coast has a population of about 1,000 people and has already lost 20 rentals this year due to owners moving in or putting their home on platforms such as Airbnb. The town's rental vacancy rate has hit zero ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-24/apollo-bay-healthcare-cri…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Housing market.