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
Build-to-Rent-to-Buy Initiative Launched for At-Risk Women
Phil Bartsch (No paywall)A breakthrough social housing initiative to explore pathways to home ownership for at-risk and vulnerable women has been unveiled. The innovative concept is aimed at developing a build-to-rent-to-buy model to provide women with the ability to transition from renting to ownership. It will involve the identification of potential sites in the Australian Capital Territory and investigate an appropriate funding model. If the pilot proceeds, construction could begin later this year and eventually lead to creating a potentially generational impact for vulnerable and at-risk women and their families throughout Australia. (The Urban Developer)
https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/build-to-rent-to-buy-…
# Australia, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Women."For four days my bedroom didn't drop below 30 degrees": Rosa rents in Perth, she says tenants should have the right to a 'healthy home'
Geoff Hutchinson ABC (No paywall)Rosa Hicks rents in South Fremantle and over the course of the summer she has been tracking the temperature in her bedroom. During Christmas, she told Geoff Hutchison her bedroom didn't not drop below 30 degrees for four days. One in three Australians are renters and Rosa argues it's time for minimum standards to ensure tenants have healthy housing - keeping them warm in winter and cool in summer. (ABC Radio Perth Drive) You also can read Rosa's story in an article by Kate Leaver entitled: 'Should landlords be responsible for keeping tenants cool as Perth swelters through record heat?' at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-22/perth-heatwave-leaves-renters-sweltering/100773520]
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/perth/programs/drive/hot-rentals-ne…
# Audio Australia, Rent, Health, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.No Name Lane mural transforms crime hotspot in Port Macquarie neighbourhood
Alexandra Jones ABC (No paywall)A community is tackling neighbourhood crime with art in Port Macquarie, or Guruk, as it's known in the Gathang language of the local Birpai people. No Name Lane connects two cul-de-sacs in Guruk's west and used to be a dark, overgrown alley that had become a hotspot for vandalism, violence and drug use. It's now been transformed with a colourful, spray-painted mural celebrating Birpai culture. "People didn't feel safe walking through here, and the alternative was going quite a lengthy way around," said Community Housing Ltd's Steve Neale, who spearheaded the project. ... After consultation with Aboriginal elders, the local council, community groups and residents, the laneway has been cleaned up and the fencing decorated with a design incorporating the seven totems of the Birpai people: an eagle, kangaroo, crab, stingray, three bass, two dolphins and a shark.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-23/birpai-laneway-mural-no-n…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Neighbours, Regional NSW.Rental affordability a ‘growing concern’ as prices skyrocket
Eliza Bavin (No paywall)It is becoming increasingly difficult for Aussie renters to find a home and the experts warn the problem will get worse. Find out which capital cities to avoid. ... [And] rental affordability is a growing concern, particularly for lower-income households. (yahoo!finance)
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/rental-affordability-growing-c…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.The story explained: the Social Housing Regulation Bill
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The government has long-standing plans to increase what is known as consumer regulation in the social housing sector. This means the powers of the regulator to oversee the services provided to residents and intervene if they are not good enough. The existing Regulator of Social Housing has been working up plans to implement this for some time, but bringing it into force requires legislation. That is what the Social Housing Regulation Bill is for.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-story-explai…
# International, Public and community housing.Loud loos: the court case that ruled flushing at night was anti-social
The Guardian (No paywall)An Italian couple spent 19 years trying to silence their neighbours’ toilet habits. They complained that they couldn’t get a good night’s sleep after their neighbours installed a new bathroom. The supreme court in Rome ruled that the sound of flushing coming through the wall exceeded the legal limit by three decibels … What is the point? Well, it’s about noisy neighbours, and human rights, and the ECHR protecting the right to respect for a person’s private and family life, and their home and their correspondence.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/19/loud-loos-t…
# International, Home, Human rights, Neighbours.Tower twice Grenfell’s height planned nearby with single staircase
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... A new apartment skyscraper with just one fire escape staircase is being planned just a few hundred metres from Grenfell Tower in a move that survivors of the disaster have called “shocking”. The proposed tower would be around twice the height of Grenfell and accommodate hundreds of households, but it will rely on the same “stay put” strategy that failed on 14 June 2017 contributing to deaths, according to planning documents. That means that under current building regulations it will require only a single escape staircase.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/20/tower-twice-gren…
# International, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.G15 landlord breached equality duty over eviction case, Court of Appeal rules
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) failed to comply with the public sector equality duty over its decision to continue with eviction proceedings against a resident with a mental health condition, a judge has ruled. The Court of Appeal has quashed MTVH’s possession claim and said the failure of the landlord to review its decision has led to three court cases and the “squandering of scarce resources”. ... The resident has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia. MTVH brought a possession claim against the individual following an incident in which they assaulted an employee of Sanctuary, which was contracted by MTVH to provide support at the development. The tenant hit the employee on the side of the face and jaw. The employee had to take six weeks off work as a result of the injury and the incident led to Sanctuary withdrawing support. (G15 is the group of London's largest housing associations. Its members house one in ten Londoners and are the biggest providers of affordable homes in the capital.)
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/g15-landlord-breached-…
# International, Eviction, Tribunal NCAT, Affordable housing, Disability.