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
Another policy designed to worsen inequality
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)Effective from today, banks, building societies and credit unions will not be permitted to accept mortgage applications from people born under the three astrological “fire” signs – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. ... Meanwhile, yet another housing inquiry is under way, this time chaired by Sydney North Shore Liberal MP, Jason Falinski, who has declared a dislike of social housing and a belief that housing affordability is all about supply. It’s taken for granted that he’s a fan of maintaining the present negative gearing and capital gains tax settings. As explained by Peter Mares, author of No Place Like Home: Repairing Australia’s Housing Crisis and lead moderator at Monash University’s Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, there have been some fine submissions but the inquiry is fated to be a crock ... Clarification: I made up the early stuff about mortgage birthday bingo. The rest, unfortunately, is factual.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/10/08/michael-pascoe-ine…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Housing market.Housing is healthcare: Poor rental rights lead to bad outcomes
David Pearson and Carmel Williams (No paywall)There is a direct link between insecure housing and poor health outcomes, write David Pearson and Carmel Williams, who argue that addressing the problem could be a low-cost way to ease pressure on our hospitals. ... Organisations like Shelter SA and Better Renting have set out a range of measures to improve the situation ... [Read on]. (In Daily)
https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2021/10/06/housing-is-healthcare-…
# Australia, Rent, Health, No-grounds evictions.Tenant organizers poised to secure significant protections for US renters
Amanda Holpuch The Guardian (No paywall)Pandemic housing crisis brought new attention to need for eviction protection and affordable housing. ... [17-year old Faith Plank's] visit to [Washington] reflects the seismic shift in how elected leaders, and the public, understand access to housing and the rights of people to stay in their homes during a pandemic. ... The tenants also appeared at a press conference with Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Representative Cori Bush, of Missouri, where the legislators introduced the Keeping Renters Safe Act. The bill would give the health department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the power to implement an eviction moratorium to respond to public health crises. ... “Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the treasury has engaged tenant advocacy groups as part of our broader effort to ensure the Emergency Rental Assistance program serves as many vulnerable renters as possible,” a treasury department spokesperson said. “We are committed to continuing that engagement going forward.” The tenant delegation’s visit coincided with the debate in Congress over a $3.5tn infrastructure bill which includes a $327bn investment in affordable housing, a sum not seen in the US for generations.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/08/tenant-organizer…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government.Call to improve energy efficiency in homes
Norman Hermant ABC (No paywall)
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) wants to see low-income homes undergo an energy transformation. It's released a report on the economic impact of the proposed National Low-Income Energy Productivity Program, which would retrofit 1.8 million energy inefficient homes. (ABC AM)
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/call-to-improv…
# Audio Australia, Utilities water energy internet, Minimum habitability standards.Tablelands caravan park residents say council order will leave them homeless
Phil Brandel ABC (No paywall)Long-term residents at a Tablelands caravan park are facing homelessness after being told to leave by the end of next month, when the local council puts the park up for commercial lease. In late 2020, the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) made the decision to "get out of the caravan business" and put Lakeside Caravan Park in Yungaburra and the Malanda Falls Caravan Park up for commercial tender.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-08/homeless-tablelands-carav…
# Australia, Eviction, Land lease communities, Homelessness.Victoria's new $500m Homebuyer Fund will see the government own part of up to 3,000 homes
ABC (No paywall)Victoria is launching a $500 million fund to get homebuyers into the market, in exchange for a share in the property. Treasurer Tim Pallas said the Victorian Homebuyers Fund (VHF) is expected to help about 3,000 residents buy a home. ... Under the plan, would-be homeowners need to have a 5 per cent deposit, with the government able to kick in up to 25 per cent of the value of the home. They do not need to be first homebuyers, but cannot currently own a property. "They'll be able to buy homes with the help of the Victorian government, which will be an equity partner in the purchase," Mr Pallas said. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians will be able to apply for the fund with only a 3.5 per cent deposit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-08/victoria-announces-500m-h…
# Audio Australia, Home ownership, Housing market, State Government.The Tech That Slumlords Hate
Ethan McLeod (No paywall)Housing activists, officials and researchers are deploying new tools to empower tenants, spotlight negligent property owners and curb evictions in U.S. cities. The first words on the sign — “VACANT PROPERTY” — posted on the front door of a boarded-up rowhouse in Baltimore’s Upton neighborhood may overstate the obvious: The two-story brick home, its front steps sandwiched between tall weeds and a pile of garbage, clearly hasn’t been inhabited for some time. But the QR code sitting in the sign’s bottom right corner is a window to a trove of more expansive information about this building. ... Several new tools are aiming to confront opaque systems that tend to benefit property owners at neighbors’ and tenants’ expense. Some, like Baltimore’s QR code program, boost transparency and help the public hold property owners and landlords accountable. Others are advocate-led projects that aim to shine a spotlight on serial evictors, ward off the long-dreaded eviction cliff of forced displacement, and help tenants weather the huge spike in rents affecting cities nationwide. Think of this as the flip-side to the flurry of “proptech” innovation aimed at real estate investors and developers ... (Bloomberg CityLab)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-07/tenants-use-n…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.Priced out of Lewisham: the bus driver who beat the bailiffs to stay in his borough – video
Bruno Rinvollucri, Charlie Phillips and Katie Lamborn The Guardian (No paywall)When Anthony Brathwaite was told he and his two children were no longer eligible for council housing in Lewisham, south-east London, and was offered a property he could not afford outside the borough, he decided to fight back. Having left a council property that was in his name after his marriage broke down, Brathwaite was housed in temporary accommodation for two years. When the council reassessed his case it ruled he had made himself intentionally homeless, and as a result was not eligible for council housing. After offering him a property outside the borough that cost more than half his pay as a London bus driver, Brathwaite decided to fight the eviction with the help of his union, campaign groups and local people
https://www.theguardian.com/society/video/2021/oct/05/priced-out…
# Video International, Eviction, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform.