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
A Major Government Housing Policy Will Only Deliver 184 New Affordable Homes, Analysis Finds
John Buckley Vice (No paywall)Only 2 percent of the 1 million homes being promised by the Housing Accord will be affordable. All of them are in Greater Darwin.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88q7ap/a-major-government-housin…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing affordability.Do tenancy reforms to protect renters cause landlords to exit the market? No, but maybe they should
Chris Martin, Milad Ghasri, Sharon Parkinson, Zoe Goodall The Conversation (No paywall)More Australians are renting their housing longer than in the past. But they have relatively little legal security against rent increases and evictions compared to tenants in other countries. When state governments suggest stronger protections for tenants, landlords and real estate agents claim it will cause disinvestment from the sector, increasing pressure on already tight rental markets.
https://theconversation.com/do-tenancy-reforms-to-protect-renter…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government.Rental repression
Nick Sas ABC (No paywall)The rental squeeze is tightening across the country and more and more Australians are trapped. So, how bad is it out there?
Maddy Parsons never thought it’d turn out this way.
For almost 15 years she’s been a renter, jumping from share house to share house, moving, she reckons, “about 13 times”.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-29/australia-rental-crisis-h…
# TUNSW in the media, Research alert Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing affordability.Shane Rattenbury to introduce legislation on rental laws to ban no-cause evictions
Lucy Bladen Canberra Times (Paywall)The ACT government has moved ahead with laws to ban no-cause evictions after Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury introduced legislation on Wednesday.
Original media release: https://greens.org.au/act/news/media-release/ending-no-cause-evictions-act
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8001094/act-govt-introduc…
# Legal significance Australia, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions.Doors are slamming shut on SA renters and their rights
Alice Clark InDaily (No paywall)Renters are being increasingly evicted for no cause while rents, bidding and bond values are on the rise. Shelter SA’s Alice Clark outlines the human impact of a housing crisis.
The number of people renting is on the rise and the review of the Residential Tenancies Act underway in South Australia is very timely.
But I wonder if it will make a real difference? Let’s be clear: changes to the law won’t impact the most pressing issues that are hurting renters right now – the lack of affordability in the market, skyrocketing rents and the scarcity of available properties.
https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2022/11/24/doors-are-slamming-shu…
# Australia, Bond, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions.Federal Labor removes gag on legal aid centres that banned political advocacy
Paul Karp The Guardian (No paywall)The Labor government has removed the Coalition’s gag on legal aid organisations taking part in political advocacy and lobbying, saying it “is ending this political censorship”.
On Tuesday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announced the gag on community legal centres receiving federal funding had been removed from the deal with states and territories regulating legal aid, as part of Labor’s broader commitment to allow social, legal and environmental charities to lobby government.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/29/federal-l…
# Legal significance Australia, Campaigns and law reform, Community Legal Centres, Federal Government, Strong communities.Property managers to be regulated, meth testing changes, and healthy homes extension announced
Radio NZ Radio NZ (No paywall)esidential property managers will soon need to be registered, trained, and licensed under new rules unveiled this morning.
Landlords will now have another year to get their rentals up to healthy home standards - including Kāinga Ora and community housing providers.
Housing Minister Megan Woods said Covid-19 supply chain issues had stunted compliance.
But a renters' advocacy group said that was not good enough and meant more people would end up in hospital.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/479237/property-managers-to-…
# International, Public and community housing, Repairs, Health, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.Lisa Borthwick: Another step to strengthening rights
Lisa Borthwick Scottish Housing News (No paywall)Changes to local connection legislation, which come into force today, that suspends the power of Scottish local authorities to refer people who present as homeless to another area is a long time coming, says Lisa Borthwick at Shelter Scotland.
Tuesday 29 November is a momentous day for housing and homelessness rights in Scotland. As of today, anyone presenting as homeless can seek support from a local authority of their choosing, because people no longer need to have a connection to the local authority they are seeking homelessness assistance from – so-called ‘local connection’ rules.
https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/lisa-borthwick-anot…
# International, Public and community housing, Homelessness, Housing affordability.