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
Why We Should Be Arguing About Rent
Alexandre Ferrer (No paywall)Rent is a concept that has been taken for granted for so long in the context of housing policy discussions that its definition has become invisible. The questions of housing policy, to be sure, are often conceptualized and argued along the lines of rent: rents are too high; rents are too low for housing to be repaired adequately; rents capture too much of tenant incomes; rents are theft; rents must be frozen, abolished, cancelled. Today, particular concern is directed toward the lowering of rents, given the unprecedented magnitude of the housing crisis. (Progressivecity)
https://www.progressivecity.net/single-post/why-we-should-be-arg…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Renting culture.Demand for action on racial harassment in social housing
Anna Timms The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Campaigners are calling for social housing providers to put lives above profits following an Observer report on a black tenant who was left homeless after a racist campaign by neighbours. Former social housing chiefs, Lord Victor Adebowale, Aman Dalvi, Lord Geoffrey Filkin and Barry Simons have signed an open letter to the National Housing Federation highlighting wider failings to protect victims of racial harassment.
https://theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/demand-for-action-on-r…
# International, Discrimination, Public and community housing.Cramped housing has helped fuel spread of Covid in England – study
Denis Campbell The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Overcrowded housing has helped to spread Covid-19 in England and may have increased the number of deaths, according to research by the Health Foundation. People living in cramped conditions have been more exposed to the coronavirus and were less able to reduce their risk of infection because their homes were so small, the thinktank found. Overcrowding was a key reason why poorer people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds in particular had been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, it said.
https://theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/27/cramped-housing-has-he…
# International, Security and safety, Coronavirus COVID-19.Beyoncé to donate more than $650,000 to help people in US facing eviction
(No paywall)From the United States ... Beyoncé will donate US$500,000 (A$658,000) next month to help people caught up in a housing eviction crisis sweeping the US as the economic impact of the coronavirus continues. The singer superstar, whose net worth is estimated to be around US$400 million ($A526, million), is giving away $US5,000 (around $A6500) to 100 people who are facing eviction due to coronavirus pandemic, which has so far killed 330,000 Americans. (News.com.au)
https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/beyonc-to-donate-mo…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.'I have $4 to my name.’ An extended eviction ban isn't enough for some struggling renters
Anna Bahney (No paywall)From the United States ... Millions of struggling renters will likely be protected from eviction -- at least for another month. The stimulus bill that was signed into law by President Trump late Sunday night extends a national ban on evictions until January 31. The moratorium, which was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September to stop the spread of the coronavirus, was initially set to expire at the end of this month. The package also provides $25 billion in emergency rental assistance. … Should the package go through, neither of the measures will likely be enough to keep the most at-risk renters in their homes past January. (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/23/success/what-renters-need-evi…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Build to rent: new concept that could end renters’ worst nightmares – but with a catch
Benedict Brook (No paywall)It’s a radical way to rent imported from the US and now in Australia, a new concept could remove some of the age old frustrations for tenants. It’s one of the biggest frustrations from roiled renters: the hefty bond that sits in limbo and then has all or part of it withheld by the agent to pay for a cleaner, despite you spending days scrubbing every dusty crevice. One in three renters don’t get their full bond back. However, the days of the bond could be over if a radical new way to rent, rolling out first to Sydney, becomes the norm. It’s called 'build-to-rent' … The new way of renting will also mean you’ll no longer have to jump through hoops to keep pets, bang holes into walls or paint every room a different shade. As long as the rent is paid, tenants can stay put as long as they want. But there’s a catch – these privileges will cost you more in rent. As much as 20 per cent extra. And a housing policy expert was warned that build to rent 'won’t be a silver bullet for Australia’s housing affordability stress.'
https://www.news.com.au/finance/end-to-rental-nightmare-but-with…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.'Disgusting': Real estate's Christmas eviction message slammed
Penny Burfitt (No paywall)A real estate agency has come under fire after they sent a ‘Christmas reminder’ to tenants that has gone viral for what’s being called it’s ‘disgusting’ and ‘threatening’ contents. An LJ Hooker franchise sent out an email on the 16 December under the subject line ‘Christmas’ in which the popular Christmas poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ or ‘The Night Before Christmas’ was repurposed into a reminder to tenants to pay their rent or risk eviction. (Yahoo!lifestyle)
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/lj-hooker-christmas-eviction-mess…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.No COVID Evictions: Eight months in the fight for Toronto
Paterson Hodgson (No paywall)From Canada ... Paterson Hodgson, comic maker and community organizer living in Parkdale, Toronto writes: 'Hearings are underway, people are being evicted, but lessons are being learned and this is far from over. Read the full story.
https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/no-covid-evictions
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.