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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Senate committee backs plan to roll back responsible lending rules, citing home-loan approval delays
Elizabeth Redman Domain (Paywall)Responsible-lending rules could soon be rolled back, after a government report warned home loan approvals were taking too long and were too invasive. A Senate committee argued the change would not undermine consumer protections, saying the principle of responsible lending was still embedded in other bank regulation. The findings are in stark contrast to calls from consumer advocates to keep the rules, amid worries the changes would allow borrowers to take out loans they could not afford, with banks facing no penalty if they contravened the existing laws on responsible lending. Experts have also warned the change would further push up soaring property prices.
https://www.domain.com.au/money-markets/senate-committee-backs-p…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Byron second only to Sydney for homelessness with countless women on the fringes of insecure housing
Bruce MacKenzie and Bronwyn Herbert ABC (No paywall)Former investment banker Kelly Reiffer has called the Byron Shire home for the past seven years, and while her two daughters were born there and they are heavily entwined in the community, finding a stable home has been a challenge like no other. ... She said the first step was convincing landlords of the merits of secure and stable tenants rather than a short-term cash-grab through holiday rentals.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-08/countless-women-on-the-fr…
# NSW, Homelessness, Regional NSW, Women.What Happens to Your Mental Health When You Can’t Pay Your Rent?
Jason Cherkis The New York Times (No paywall)From the United States ... research shows that there is a connection between people’s ability to pay rent each month and their mental health. As politicians debated increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, I thought about the deaths I was reviewing. There’s a moral argument that Democrats should be making, but are not. Along with increasing social mobility and addressing inequality, raising the minimum wage has the potential to lower the country’s suicide rate. The Covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about a coming mental health crisis, and a wage hike should be discussed as not just good economic sense but also critical mental health policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/opinion/minimum-wage-mental-h…
# Must read International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Work, employment.CARAVAN PARK OPERATION TO PAY $2.3M AFTER LOSING HIGH COURT APPEAL
(No paywall)Companies operating a NSW Tweed River area caravan park have lost an appeal in the High Court after being ordered to pay more than $2.3 million in compensation plus interest to consumers relating to the sale of waterfront villas as “permanent residences” despite the sites not having development consent for permanent accommodation. (Medianet)
https://www.medianet.com.au/releases/197708/#:~:text=Companies%2…
# Legal significance NSW, Land lease communities, Landlords and agents.Walking through spring
Graham Hoyland (No paywall)On the way we pass the village of North Bradbury, where in the sixteenth century squatters cottages were thrown up on common land. ... The squatters cottages had an unusual legal history; if they could be built in a day and have a fire lit and smoke coming out of the chimney by sunset they were legally allowed to stay. ... Some surrounding land was allowed to be enclosed with the cottage, and this was determined by how far the new owner could throw an axe or a shovel from the four corners of the dwelling. (p 49)
https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008156138/walking-through-s…
# History International, Squatting.COVID Relief Bill
(No paywall)From the United States ... The emergency COVID-19 relief measure enacted in December 2020 included $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and an extension of the federal eviction moratorium through January 31. President Joe Biden on January 20 issued an executive order instructing the CDC to further extend the federal eviction moratorium until at least March 31. While the relief bill provided essential and desperately needed protections for renters, additional resources and protections are needed to address the health and housing needs of America’s lowest-income renters and people experiencing homelessness.
https://nlihc.org/coronavirus-and-housing-homelessness/covid-pac…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Even during a pandemic, Biden can’t declare a hold on home evictions
Jacob Sullum (No paywall)Last week, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Constitution does not give the federal government the power to decree that landlords across the country must house tenants who do not pay their rent. ... The eviction moratorium, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention originally issued in September, was renewed by Congress in December, then extended again by the Biden administration. It is based on a breathtakingly broad reading of the CDC director’s authority to “take such measures” he “deems reasonably necessary” to stop the interstate spread of communicable diseases. (Chicago Suntimes)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2021/3/4/22313591/evicti…
# Legal significance International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.‘Sydney remains in his debt’: City mourns loss of ‘visionary’ Jack Mundey
Tim Barlass The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Helen Temple ... who worked with the Historic Houses Trust of which Mundey was chairman, summed up Mundey’s contribution to Sydney. “His fingerprints are all over this city. He really gave his life in service for its conservation.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-remains-in-his-debt-c…
# Must read, History NSW, Heritage listings.