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
Tenant screening software faces national reckoning
Cyrus Farivar (No paywall)In November 2018, Marco Antonio Fernandez, returned home after a yearlong Navy deployment in South Korea and searched for an apartment near his next posting in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Fernandez, whose national security work had already earned him a top-secret clearance, had little to worry about when he was asked to undergo a tenant screening — a process involving credit, criminal records and eviction checks. But the screening’s algorithm-based software rejected him for an apartment: It found he had a drug conviction and three misdemeanors for petty theft. That’s because it confused him with Marco Alberto Fernandez Santana, an alleged Mexican drug trafficker.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tenant-screening-software…
# International, Rent, Tenant databases.‘Everyone In’ scheme exposed faults in government’s rough sleeping strategy, MPs say
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has today published a report highlighting weaknesses in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) understanding of the number of rough sleepers across England. The cross-party MPs noted that MHCLG statistics show 37,430 people had been helped into accommodation by January 2021 as a result of Everyone In, aimed at putting a roof over rough sleepers’ heads during the COVID-19 crisis. But this figure is nearly nine times MHCLG’s official estimate for the number of rough sleepers in the country, which stood at 4,266 in March 2020.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/everyone-in-scheme-exposed-…
# Hot topic International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.After years of discrimination, many LGBTQ people are 'terrified' of going into aged care
Norman Hermant ABC (No paywall)When Geoffrey Ostling first considered going into aged care, Australians were voting on marriage equality. Living in his own home — with multiple staircases — had become too hard for the 73-year-old gay man and so he began looking for an alternative. He said he visited at least 10 homes, but none was right for him. "They were all pretty horrible ... ' [Read on]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-18/lgbtqia-aged-care-experie…
# Australia, Discrimination, LGBTIQ+, Older people.'Hopes up, hearts broken': Tasmanian property market pushing home buyers to take risks without legal safety net
Laura Beavis ABC (No paywall)For Tasmanians trying to buy a home in 2021, hope can be a dangerous emotion. Georgia Heiniger and her partner have been trying to secure their first home in Launceston for five months, making five unsuccessful offers so far. ... Ms Heiniger and her partner have felt pressure to take risks to make their offers more competitive, by foregoing building inspections, or making cash offers, even though they need to borrow money.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-16/tas--housing-market/13249…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.House prices up 3.6% in past year
Lucy Battersby The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)House prices increased 3 per cent in the December quarter and are up 3.6 per cent year on year despite Australia’s economy falling into recession in 2020, according to figures just released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics. (Check posting at 12.09pm)
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/asx-to-climb-as-dow-s-an…
# Australia, Housing market.Australian house prices set to jump further before any curbs on lending by APRA
Elizabeth Redman Domain (Paywall)Housing prices appear set to rise before the bank regulator takes any action to slow the market, with the latest official figures showing little deterioration in lending standards late last year. Soaring property prices have caught the attention of the nation’s regulators, but they have emphasised they do not yet see any worrying rise in risky loans.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/australian-house-prices-set-to-ju…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.City slickers encouraged to go regional in new campaign, despite housing affordability concerns
Kate Burke Domain (Paywall)Finding an affordable home has become tough in parts of regional Australia and could become tougher still, with a new campaign launched to encourage city slickers to move to the regions.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/cityslickers-encouraged-to-go-reg…
# Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Housing market, Regional NSW.NSW government sells inner-Sydney social housing terrace for $2 million
Sarah McPhee The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has been criticised for offloading a publicly owned Glebe terrace for more than $2 million and cashing in on the booming Sydney property market rather than keeping it for social housing, which has a waiting list of more than 50,000 people.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-government-sells-inner-s…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Housing market.