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
Here's what's in Biden's $1.9 trillion economic rescue package
Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco (No paywall)And here's what's in Joe Biden's rescue package ... Rental assistance and eviction moratorium: The plan would provide $25 billion in rental assistance for low- and moderate-income households who have lost jobs during the pandemic. That's in addition to the $25 billion lawmakers provided in December. Another $5 billion would be set aside to help struggling renters to pay their utility bills. Biden is also calling for $5 billion to help states and localities assist those at risk of experiencing homelessness. The plan would extend the federal eviction moratorium, set to expire at the end of January, to September 30, as well as allow people with federally-guaranteed mortgages to apply for forbearance until September 30. (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/biden-economic-rescu…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Budget 2021: experts react ... Housing
Alexander Tziamilis The Conversation (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Rishi Sunak has unveiled his second budget as UK chancellor a year into the coronavirus pandemic and during the worst economic collapse in centuries. Our panel of experts offer their views on what he has announced.
https://theconversation.com/budget-2021-experts-react-156414
# International, Housing market.This is how we create the age-friendly smart city
Sonja Pedell and Anna Borda The Conversation (No paywall)Senior citizens need help and encouragement to remain active as they age in their own communities. Given the choice, that’s what most would prefer. The smart city can provide the digital infrastructure for them to find and tailor the local neighbourhood information they need to achieve this. Australia has a growing population of older adults, the majority living in cities. The challenge, then, is to ensure city environments meet their needs and personal goals.
https://theconversation.com/this-is-how-we-create-the-age-friend…
# Australia, Older people, Planning and development.My mum was in a good nursing home. It still failed her, and that's the problem Australia faces
Amanda Meade The Guardian (No paywall)It wasn’t the fault of dedicated staff – the system let us down, and it needs to change
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/03/my-mum-was…
# Australia, Federal Government, Older people.Bail out renters, not just landlords, unions urge Rishi Sunak ahead of Budget
Jon Stone (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Trade unions and housing campaigners are urging the government to write off debts for the 840,000 tenants who have fallen behind with their rent during the pandemic. There is speculation that Rishi Sunak is readying a bailout for landlords in Wednesday’s Budget speech. But unions ... have backed a call by renters' groups to make sure the burden of paying back debt does not fall on tenants who lost their jobs because of lockdown. (Independent)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget/landlord-b…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Housing association to open UK’s first LGBTQ+ retirement community
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Tonic Housing, which was set up in 2014 to address the issues of loneliness and isolation among older LGBTQ+ people, has received a loan as part of the mayor’s Community Housing Fund to purchase 19 homes within Bankhouse, an assisted living scheme in Lambeth developed by One Housing.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-association-to-open…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, LGBTIQ+.Renovictions during a pandemic Landlords apologize for 'extremely insensitive' video mocking displaced tenants forced out by massive rent hikes
Ben Waldman (No paywall)From Canada ... When Sabrina Ferreira moved into her Garden City apartment in 2010, she paid $600 per month for the two-bedroom unit on Jefferson Avenue. Over a decade, that rose to $800. Then in November, the building was bought by new investors who said they’d be nearly doubling that to pay for future renovations. Tenants like Ferreira were told no leases would be renewed when they expired. ... The situation was already difficult for tenants to comprehend, and then a video was posted to the YouTube account of the buildings’ new part-owners ... In the video, the owners and others enter the building on Jefferson. One brother mimes knocking on a tenants’ door to "ask how their stay is." "Hello, we own this s--t," the other says jokingly to the camera. "There’s going to be a lot of changes from here on out." (Winnipeg Free Press)
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/renovictions-during-a…
# International, Eviction, Landlords and agents.Queensland rental crisis deepens as family pets are surrendered to avoid homelessness
Edwina Storie ABC (No paywall)Pet owners are surrendering their animals to improve their chances of securing a lease in Queensland's increasingly tight rental market.
Key points:
Animal refuges around Queensland are seeing an increase in surrendered pets due to the rental crisis
Some renters are boarding their pets in kennels while they couch-surf during their rental search
Queensland's Tenancies and Rooming Act says the property owner/manager can decide whether to allow pets. The owners of surrendered cat Rex applied for 26 homes before they came to the realisation they would have to give him up to the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge (SCARs) or risk finding themselves homeless.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-01/pets-left-behind-as-renta…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing market.