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
Building more affordable and social housing keeps the state safe and saves the public purse: experts
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Governments have been urged to ramp up the construction of thousands of social and affordable homes in NSW to keep the state safe and save the public purse as the pandemic rips through communities that are at most risk of homelessness, experts have warned. ... Health and housing experts said the latest outbreak highlighted the importance of secure and affordable homes to secure better health outcomes for individual families and the broader community. “What the pandemic has made clear is the community impact. The disadvantage has a broader community impact,” said Kate Colvin, spokeswoman for the Everybody’s Home campaign, which aims to end homelessness and support vulnerable households, first-home buyers and renters.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/building-more-affordable-social-h…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Health, Homelessness, State Government.Landlords Receive Federal Funds for Rental Assistance, Even When Tenants Live In Poor Conditions
Amanda Michelle Gomez (No paywall)From the United States ... Tenants at three D.C. properties have spent the past year fighting for rent relief and better housing conditions. While they’ve had some success, their fight isn’t over. Read their stories ...
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/523476/landlords-receive…
# International, Repairs, Campaigns and law reform, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards, Personal stories.Is homelessness a property rights issue or a human rights issue? We have to decide
Frank Shyong (No paywall)From United States ... Everyone in Los Angeles seems to agree that homelessness is an emergency, and that consensus has existed for years. ... But I think there’s a major disagreement about what kind of problem homelessness actually is. ... But I think there’s a major disagreement about what kind of problem homelessness actually is.
For one group, the crisis is about the unchallenged misuse of public and private property. It’s a problem of wounded civic pride, lowered property values and dwindling tourism and investment dollars, with a seemingly easy solution: Just get homeless people out of our parks and off our sidewalks. For the other side, the crisis is one of people lacking homes and the maelstrom of medical, psychological and addiction problems that accompany a life on the streets. To them, the main problem is a rapacious, profit-maximized real estate market that generates evictions and homelessness faster than we can house homeless people. And a perfect solution to this problem doesn’t quite exist. (Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-16/column-homel…
# International, Eviction, Homelessness, Housing market.Councils to be encouraged to convert empty buildings into homes as part of plans to save the high street
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The government is encouraging local authorities to use their powers to convert empty buildings into homes as part of its new strategy to revitalise the high street.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/councils-to-be-encoura…
# International, Housing market, Local Government.No wave of properties being offloaded by investors
Tony Alexander (No paywall)From New Zealand ... There is no statistical evidence to back up the claim that a wave of investors are offloading their property [following tax changes announced by the government March 23]
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/tony-alexander-no-wave-of-propert…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Sydney luxury home prices set to eclipse the world
Carolyn Cummins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney has been ranked as the world’s leading city in luxury homes in the Knight Frank 2021 prime forecast report, with prices expected to rise 10 per cent over the coming year. ... [Knight Frank Australia’s head of residential research, Michelle Ciesielski said] “Many of our ultra-wealthy clients are now embracing the low interest rate environment to expand their property portfolios further ...
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/sydney-luxury-home-pri…
# NSW, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Apartment complex in Sydney’s north latest to fall foul of watchdog
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An apartment building on Sydney’s northern beaches is the latest project to be issued orders to fix serious defects as the state’s building watchdog cracks down on shoddy construction work. ... Inspectors from the state’s building watchdog visited the site on July 1 and found that serious defects could arise from waterproofing of balconies and the installation of a system that stacks cars. They determined that a lack of safety measures for the stacker could result in serious injuries.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/apartment-complex-in-sydney-…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Plumbers fail drainage inspections at hundreds of new properties
Rachel Eddie The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Hundreds of plumbers failed drainage inspections at new properties in Victoria last year, with one tradies fined 27 times, under a new infringement aimed at catching shoddy workmanship before it causes structural damage to homes. The Victorian Building Authority handed out 257 fines totalling $127,472 in the past 12 months following 1100 inspections of new, below-ground sanitary pipes. But the number of inspections represents less than 2 per cent of all the drains that could be audited, prompting the plumbing industry’s peak body to call for a regulator with more teeth.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/plumbers-fail-drainage-…
# Australia, Utilities water energy internet, Housing market.