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
France's winter housing 'truce' ends, advocates warn of record evictions
RFI Yahoo News (No paywall)Housing advocates in France are sounding the alarm over what they say is a worrying increase in the number of people who could end up kicked out of their housing as the yearly winter eviction moratorium comes to an end. People who are unable to pay rent are once facing police evictions and many will find themselves on the street for lack of other housing options. The annual five-month winter housing truce came to an end Sunday, and advocates are warning that some 140,000 people are facing eviction notices in 2024.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/frances-winter-housing-truce-ends-1522…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent.The Guardian view on tenants’ rights: the Tories have betrayed renters
The Guardian (No paywall)More than four years ago, the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged to abolish no-fault evictions in England, in an effort to make tenancies more secure and remove the right of private landlords to evict people from their homes at will. In the past few years, a huge campaigning effort went into ensuring that this commitment would be kept. Last week, it became clear that it wouldn’t be. Jacob Young, a minister in Michael Gove’s levelling up department, revealed in a letter to Tory MPs that the government plans to amend the bill now making its way through parliament. The promised ban on no-fault evictions (also known as section 21 notices) will not be enacted until “the courts are ready” – at some unspecified future date.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/31/the-guardi…
# International, Eviction.New research shows NSW renters want action on eviction reform; strong backing from landlords and community
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)NSW renters want to see action from the NSW Government on promised rental reforms to end ‘no grounds’ evictions. New polling, undertaken by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Tenants’ Union of NSW, shows significant support from landlords for the reforms. The research also shows the community expects reforms should apply uniformly for all renters.
https://www.tenants.org.au/reports/new-research-shows-strong-sup…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Research alert NSW, .If we taxed land properly, we'd have billions of extra dollars to fund big tax cuts elsewhere. So why don't we do it?
Gareth Hutchens ABC (No paywall)It's a basic principle of tax design. If you want less of something you tax it more, and if you want more of something you tax it less. So why do we tax workers and businesses so heavily in this country, and why do we tax speculation and pollution and monopoly rents so lightly? It's a persistent mystery that Prosper Australia has highlighted for decades. And it published a new report last week that asked the question again, showing if state governments only taxed land in smarter ways, they'd have $27 billion more in tax revenue every year to fund large tax cuts in other parts of the economy.
Isn't that something we'd benefit from?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-24/tax-land-properly-27-bill…
# Hot topic Australia, .Tenants forced to choose between their pets and a roof over their heads amid rental crisis
A Current Affair 9 News (No paywall)It's a decision no family should have to make - a home or a pet - but it's one many are facing amid the rental crisis. Dogs, cats and other furry friends are being abandoned to appease landlords and animal rescue organisations at capacity, say something's got to give. Sayem got his Siberian husky Julius six years ago and says it was life-changing." There's this unconditional love between the pet and the owner, it's just amazing," he said. So you could imagine his heartbreak when Sydney's rental crisis forced him out of a townhouse and into a small two-bedroom unit. "It was very hard, every day it was heartbreaking," he said.
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/rental-crisis-forces-p…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent.Community legal centres turn away 1,000 Australians each day despite growing need for help
Josh Butler The Guardian (No paywall)Community legal centres report having to turn away more than 1,000 people every day last year due to budget constraints and short staffing – twice the number they were able to help. The sector has asked for an urgent funding boost as cost-of-living pressures and poverty drive an increase in legal need, while its federal funding has slipped behind inflation amid staff burnout and huge workloads. The Community Legal Centre Australia chief executive, Tim Leach, warned that a lack of proper legal representation would lead to people facing unnecessary jail terms, homelessness or being forced to stay in unsafe relationships.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/mar/25/community-legal-cent…
# Must read Australia, .NT, federal governments still negotiating 'landmark' housing deal amid backlog of homelands awaiting urgent repairs
Oliver Chaseling ABC (No paywall)The Northern Territory and federal governments are continuing to negotiate whether new housing can be built on homelands under a new $240 million deal, after some homelands have already waited up to six years for repairs and maintenance announced under previous deals. Between 400 and 600 homelands or outstations surround the territory's remote communities, belonging to specific Aboriginal clan groups and held under land trusts established by the 1976 Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Since 2007, federal and NT governments have refused to fund the construction of new housing in homelands, limiting funding to maintenance, as well as essential and municipal services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-23/nt-federal-governments-24…
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters.In Queensland’s ‘feeding frenzy’ housing market, renters are paying the price
Andrew Messenger The Guardian (No paywall)Queensland renter Anne Dirks has spent three months struggling to find a new home. Brisbane last month surpassed Melbourne as Australia’s third-most expensive city, now just behind Canberra and Sydney. She said it has been a hard search, and she has been turned back several times. One barrier: rent bidding. Some forms of rent bidding are banned in Queensland, but Dirks said she has turned up to properties where a real estate agent had jacked up the advertised price on the spot. “I had one agent say ‘Oh just so you all know the rent’s gone up $70, from $470,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/22/in-queens…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.