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
‘I am panicking’: the vulnerable renters at risk as housing subsidy expires
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)The end to the National Affordability Rental Scheme could leave thousands at the whim of the private market. ... [Marion Trench] has been renting her townhouse in Bethania, halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, for just under two years, and she loves it. ... [But] Trench is one of 32,000 renters benefiting from the National Affordability Rental Scheme (NRAS), a program developed and implemented by the federal Labor government under former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. NRAS was designed to draw in the private sector to the provision of cheaper housing, by paying property owners a subsidy in exchange for them making new homes available at below-market rents for a decade. ... [And] over the next three years, the vast majority of NRAS properties are going to lose their subsidy – and those renters benefiting from it are starting to feel stressed. ... Community housing advocates say many NRAS renters are likely to transfer across to social housing waitlists when their rent goes up. ... Leo Patterson Ross from the Tenants’ Union of New South Wales says more tenants are calling the organisation, asking about their rights when the rent goes up on their affordable housing. ... Patterson Ross would like to see the federal government reconsider direct capital grants to the states for housing and state tenancy laws overhauled to disallow no-grounds eviction and control rent hikes, both of which he says reduce funding efficacy by making tenancies less sustainable.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/15/i-am-pani…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, No-grounds evictions, State Government.Why building more homes won’t solve the affordable housing problem for the millions of people who need it most
Alex Schwartz and Kirk McClure The Conversation (No paywall)From the United States ... Even before 2020, the U.S. faced an acute housing affordability crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic made it a whole lot worse after millions of people who lost their jobs fell behind on rent. While eviction bans forestalled mass homelessness – and emergency rental assistance has helped some – most moratoriums have now been lifted, putting a lot of people at risk of losing their homes. One solution pushed by the White House, state and local lawmakers and many others is to increase the supply of affordable housing, such as by reforming zoning and other land-use regulations. As experts on housing policy, we agree that increasing the supply of homes is necessary in areas with rapidly rising housing costs. But this won’t, by itself, make a significant dent in the country’s affordability problems – especially for those with the most severe needs. In part that’s because in much of the country, there is actually no shortage of rental housing. The problem is that millions of people lack the income to afford what’s on the market.
https://theconversation.com/why-building-more-homes-wont-solve-t…
# International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market.Evergrande dodges default for third time in a month
Avatar Anshuman Daga, Clare Jim and Andrew Galbraith The New Daily (No paywall)Cash-strapped developer China Evergrande Group has averted a destabilising default at the last minute for the third time in the past month, with a source saying several bondholders had received overdue coupon payments.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/11/11/evergrande-dodges-…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Minor Defendants: Kids Are Being Named in Evictions
Shelby R King (No paywall)From the United States ... Linda’s children were too young to write their own names when they were entered as defendants into a New York state housing court computer. Both kids, now 3 and 7, are identified as legal parties in a pending eviction case against their mother. Absurd as that may sound, it’s not a fluke. Minor children are sometimes named in eviction filings. When it happens, the damage is acute and difficult to repair even if it’s caught quickly. If a child’s name makes in onto official court records, especially if those records are public and online, the damage can be irreversible. Almost a year ago, Linda’s landlord banged on her apartment door and quizzed her then-6-year-old, asking the child to spell both kids’ names. The landlord showed up unannounced while Linda was in the bathroom, and her older child opened the door before Linda could intervene. (Shelterforce)
https://shelterforce.org/2021/11/11/minor-defendants-kids-are-be…
# International, Eviction, Privacy and access, Tribunal NCAT.‘Highly stressful’: Red-hot property market tests banks’ home loan factories
Clancy Yeates and Charlotte Grieve The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Lucy McLelland has experienced first-hand the stress of trying to secure a speedy loan approval in Sydney’s fiercely competitive property market. ... Her story underlines the pressure on banks to quickly process loan applications in a red-hot market, fuelled by ultra-low interest rates and low stock levels. For others, however, delays in getting approved for a loan can be a deal-killer.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/highly-stres…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, Personal stories.The Millennial migration: Qld records highest interstate arrivals as people leave NSW, Vic
Cloe Read and Jocelyn Garcia (Paywall)More young people are leaving NSW and Victoria to move to Queensland as the “Millennial migration” between Australian states is expected to peak. The shift comes as Brisbane’s emerging global-city status continues to draw interstate interest, and will soon attract international migrants and overseas investment. ... Problems of housing affordability, congestion and infrastructure bottlenecks in Sydney and Melbourne amplified the shift. (Brisbane Times)
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-millenn…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Planning and development.Small mortgage increase will hurt as outer suburbs struggle post-COVID
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Thousands of households who used record-low interest rates to buy into the property market would struggle to survive a small increase in their mortgage repayments, new research shows with warnings people in Australia’s outer suburbs are struggling after COVID-19 lockdowns.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/small-mortgage-increase-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Home ownership, Housing market.ACT govt proposes insulation standards to help make Canberra rental homes more energy efficient
Brittney Levinson Canberra Times (Paywall)In the peak of Canberra winter, Jessica McConnell and her three housemates did everything they could to keep their Deakin rental house warm.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7501924/canberra-renters-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.