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
Editorial: Californis's plan to 'cancel rent' could miss too many low-income tenants
(Paywall)From the United States ... Allowing landlords to opt out of rent relief means some tenants won't get the full benefit of the federal aid program.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-01-28/rent-relief-ten…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Slash interest rate bill on reverse mortgages for retirees: Seniors lobby group
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A lobby group representing more than 130,000 older Australians wants an overhaul of the federal government’s reverse mortgage scheme for retirees, warning the interest bill is too high and out of step with the record low official cash rate.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/slash-interest-rate-bill…
# Australia, Home ownership, Older people.‘Shocking’: dodgy plumbing jobs rife at new home building sites
Zach Hope The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An inspection blitz by Victoria’s building regulator has uncovered a “shocking” level of shoddy workmanship and corner cutting in plumbing jobs at new home construction sites, with unwitting property owners forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars for repairs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/shocking-dodgy-plumbing…
# Australia, Housing market.Don't make us move in a pandemic, plead tenants in 'dire' council housing
Harriet Grant The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Families living in temporary accommodation in a dilapidated former care home in south London – some for several years – are fighting moves to rehouse them miles away to make way for a new development which doesn’t yet have planning permission. Despite government guidelines urging social landlords not to put pressure on residents to move during lockdown, the families say they have been under constant stress since last summer when they discovered that plans had been drawn up for the new development.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/31/dont-make-us-mov…
# International, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Human rights.Forget the tree change: Why cities are more important than ever
Tawar Razaghi Domain (Paywall)Since the pandemic hit, tree changes have been in the spotlight, but cities will be key for innovation and social tolerance in a post-COVID-19 world, experts say.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/forget-the-tree-change-why-cities…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Planning and development.The West Australians paying off their mortgage by renting out their campervans
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)West Australians are making tens of thousands of dollars renting out old campervans and caravans sitting idle in their backyards to locals holidaying at home.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/the-west-austr…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Short-term holiday letting.Inequality Watch
(Paywall)From the United States:
Empty homes vs homeless people in the US
14.2 Million empty homes in the US
0.5 Million homeless people in the US
(Sources: US Census Bureau, National Alliance to End Homelessness)
(New Internationalist)
Social housing production continues to languish, while demand has soared
Hal Pawson City Futures (No paywall)Official figures released this week reveal that Australia’s social housing stock actually declined in 2019-20. The combined total of public housing, community housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing and Indigenous community housing dwellings, dropped from 429,316 to 428,497 over the year. ... Australian governments have been woefully failing to grow social housing to keep pace with growing need. Read the full article.
https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2021/01/social-housin…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Housing market.