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
Housing crisis
(No paywall)The housing shortage has reached crisis point on the coast with demand far out-stripping supply. (Prime 7)
# Video NSW, Housing market, Regional NSW.We Don’t Just Need More Houses, We Need Real Homes
Hayley Stone (No paywall)It’s a poor indictment on our housing industry when PDCN members tell me that in the last 20 years they have never had a home that completely suits their access needs. When they tell me that they spend weeks trying to find rentals that tick at least some of the boxes, or that there are parts of their homes they literally cannot use; when they tell me that they miss out on dinner parties with relatives because they can’t get into their homes or can’t use the bathroom at a friend’s house. (PDCN)
https://www.pdcnsw.org.au/article/we-dont-need-more-houses-we-ne…
# Must read NSW, Rent, Disability, Housing market.What does it cost to move rental properties?
William Jolly (No paywall)2021 looks set to be a renter’s market, depending on your circumstances. Rental affordability is apparently the best it’s been in 13 years for some, and vacancy rates in capital cities have seen massive spikes, mostly caused by the economic fallout of that virus thing. ... But the true costs of moving might shock you. ... Moving to a new rental property can cost hundreds of dollars, even more if you don’t end up getting your bond back. (Savings.com.au)
https://www.savings.com.au/home-loans/buying-first-home/what-doe…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Bond, Rent, Affordable housing.How cities can unlock the potential of laneway housing
Shelagh McCartney and others The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... Cities across North America are experiencing a housing affordability crisis. Key workers such as teachers, nurses and social workers are being forced out of large cities because they can’t pay rent.
https://theconversation.com/how-cities-can-unlock-the-potential-…
# International, Affordable housing, Planning and development.How China’s Belt and Road Initiative is changing cities – and threatening communities
Ella Apostolopoulou The Conversation (No paywall)The projects of the New Silk Road have caused problems for vulnerable communities in these cities. In Athens and London, Chinese investment has led to rising rents which tends to undermine the security of local people in their homes. ... In London, ABP’s development is aimed at wealthy investors rather than local residents – the Royal Albert Dock is located in Newham, a deprived borough of East London. ... In Colombo, the Port City is based on a type of urban regeneration that targets corporate investors and aggravates the displacement of low-income residents and multi-ethnic communities.
https://theconversation.com/how-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-…
# International, Housing affordability, International, Planning and development.Oh no: one landlord is set to own all of Christchurch by the year 2053
Hayden Donnell (No paywall)[Ana Meredith] has 10 houses now. She wants 25 by 2025. She is a collapsing star, sucking property after property into the black void of her gravitational field, and spitting them out in return for positive cash yields. Read on ... (The Spinoff)
https://thespinoff.co.nz/money/07-02-2021/oh-no-one-landlord-is-…
# International, Landlords and agents.Australia’s incipient eviction crisis: No going back
Chris Martin (No paywall)Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia was facing an incipient eviction crisis, the gravity of which had been obscured by inadequate data and the gradual mounting of systemic problems of unaffordability and insecurity. This article reviews the legal framework around tenancies and evictions and the sparse data it produces. Tribunal data obtained by the author shows that Australia’s two largest jurisdictions had, prior to the pandemic, a termination application rate somewhat more than half that of the US ‘crisis’ rate. The article concludes with directions for further research and reforms to address evictions in an enduring way, beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. (Alternative Law Journal)
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:74126/binc2…
# Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Eviction, Security and safety, Housing affordability.The Housing Cliff
Justin Agrelo and others (No paywall)From the United States ... Experts say an eviction avalanche is coming. But thousands of Chicago renters have already been pushed to the brink of the housing cliff. (City Bureau)
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Personal stories.