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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
If cities don’t want homeless encampments they should help people, not punish them
Penny Gurstein The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... Encampments of those experiencing homelessness have become a fixture in large cities as well as smaller communities. It should not be surprising that people who are unsheltered seek out the relative security, community and resources encampments can provide. Yet, the ineffective, and often punitive, responses by various levels of government are alarming. These policy failures are most evident in the troubling encampment evictions occurring across North America. More than 235,000 people are estimated to be homeless in Canada. In addition to these visibly homeless, another 450,000 to 900,000 are among the “hidden” homeless: those staying with family and friends because they have nowhere to live.
https://theconversation.com/if-cities-dont-want-homeless-encampm…
# International, Federal Government, Homelessness, State Government.Rents are still soaring in south-east Queensland, is buying becoming a cheaper option?
Lexy Hamilton-Smith ABC (No paywall)The housing crisis in south-east Queensland is getting so bad some tenants are finding, even with rising interest rates, a mortgage would be cheaper than renting. The problem is many simply cannot raise a deposit to take that first step onto the property ladder.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/qld-real-estate-property-…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market.Fixed or variable? A look at how home loan rate options across Australia stack up
Peter Hannan The Guardian (No paywall)After crunching the numbers, it’s clear that mortgage holders shouldn’t just do nothing, says RateCity’s head of research.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/15/fixed-or-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Albany landslide to be surveyed as WA government 'leans in' to help affected properties
Olivia Di Iorio ABC (No paywall)A home owner in the path of a landslide on Western Australia's south coast hopes a geotechnical survey of the hillside will finally provide answers to what is causing the disaster.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-13/albany-landslide-geotechn…
# Australia, .‘Stuck with useless land’: Harry Triguboff fights council over Bondi synagogue
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A synagogue in Sydney’s eastern suburbs faces an uncertain future as Meriton founder Harry Triguboff battles a local council over permission to build flats on the site.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/stuck-with-useless-land-harr…
# NSW, Landlords and agents, Local Government, Planning and development.If the Tories U-turn on no-fault evictions, they’ll be guaranteeing misery for renters
Daniel Lavelle The Guardian (No paywall)The Tories have not exactly hidden their contempt for the British public over the past 12 years, but they’re not even trying to maintain the facade any more. In Liz Truss’s latest gambit to hand Keir Starmer the keys to Downing Street, the government may be about to break its promise of banning no-fault evictions. It risks creating a homelessness catastrophe this winter.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/11/tories-evi…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, No-grounds evictions.Are there any short term fixes for the rental crisis?
Michele Weekes ABC (No paywall)The latest figures show residential rental vacancies at their lowest levels ever. Fixing the rental crisis means releasing more land, building more homes and other measures that are longer term solutions. So what can be done in the meantime? (ABC Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/are-th…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Housing market.No-fault eviction ban and affordable housing face chop under new reforms, say reports
Ella Jessel Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Ministers are drawing up plans to slash affordable-housing requirements and shelve a planned ban on no-fault evictions in a new set of reforms ... According to The Times, Simon Clarke, the housing secretary, has written to prime minister Liz Truss, putting forward a series of measures and policies to boost housebuilding and fuel economic growth. Under current planning rules, developers must include affordable housing in any scheme of more than 10 homes, but it is understood Mr Clarke now wants to hike this threshold up to 40 or even 50. ... Other policies that do not “boost growth” could be put on the back burner, The Times reports, including a proposed ban on controversial no-fault evictions. This was a promise made in the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto. The ban is not considered a “priority” now, according to the report, despite a surge in the number of renters being made homeless by landlords using Section 21 notices.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/no-fault-eviction-ban-…
# International, Eviction, Affordable housing, Housing market, No-grounds evictions, Planning and development.