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
Healthy Homes: 'Significant' heating problem found as standards take effect
Charlie Dreaver (No paywall)From New Zealand ... The government's admitted to a "significant" problem with one part of the Healthy Homes Standards, the day they come into effect. It relates to the heating landlords have to install in apartments and new builds. As of today, private landlords must ensure their rental properties comply with the standards within 90 days of any new tenancy. There's been a major problem with the heating assessment - resulting in landlords buying heat pumps and heaters that are too large for the property. (RNZ)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/445934/healthy-homes-signif…
# International, Rent, Minimum habitability standards.New wave of rental stress and homelessness three months after COVID moratorium lifted, report says
Claire Moodie and Rhiannon Shine ABC (No paywall)Tricia Ray-Kepa has managed to turn a rundown 3 x 1 rental on a noisy thoroughfare in Perth into a charming home, despite its shortcomings. It is packed with vintage furniture, art and plants, but it is badly needing repairs and there is no air conditioning so it can be boiling in the summer. ... But, about a month ago, the couple got a nasty shock. "My real estate [agent] called and he just said 'Tricia, are you going to stay or are you going to go?'," Mrs Ray-Kepa said. "He said, 'because we're going to lift the rent, $100 a week extra'. "I suddenly felt very stressed and anxious." ... Mrs Ray-Kepa is one of scores of tenants who have flooded legal and financial services since the state's COVID-19 rental moratorium - which prevented landlords from increasing rent or evicting tenants - ended in March.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-07/wave-of-rental-stress-hit…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Census Takers Worry That Apartment Renters Were Undercounted
Mike Schneider (No paywall)From the United States ... Overlooking people in the nation’s 44 million rental homes carries a potentially high price ... In a national headcount turned upside down by natural disasters, political turmoil and a deadly virus, apartment renters proved particularly hard to count last year. That has former census takers and experts worried that the tally failed to account for all of them. ... Because the census helps determine how $1.5 trillion in federal money is spent each year, the lower numbers would mean less government help to pay for schools, roads and medical services in those communities. Around 36% of homes in the U.S. are occupied by renters, up from 33% during the last census a decade ago. (NBC)
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/census…
# International, Rent, Federal Government.ACT government's $20m bail hostel and detainee crisis housing programs have helped fewer than 50 people
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)About $19.8 million worth of housing programs funded by the ACT government in 2019 have struggled to get off the ground after numerous failures delayed their rollout, resulting in just 44 people using the multimillion-dollar crisis accommodation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-07/act-bail-hostel-justice-h…
# Australia, Homelessness, State Government.Rental vacancy rates hit rock bottom in regional South Australia as would-be tenants struggle to find a place to live
Declan Gooch and Emma Pedler ABC (No paywall)Regional real estate agents in South Australia are seeing the lowest rental vacancy rates in decades, as desperate applicants offer to pay extra rent, and young adults elect not to move out of home. The vacancy rate is effectively zero in many areas, and agents report upwards of 10 fewer properties on the books compared to a few months ago.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-07/regional-south-australia-…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Sydney house rents hold at record highs, unit rents stable: Domain Rent Report
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Sydney tenants continue to face record-high house rents, while the rebounding unit market has seen rents reach new heights in some pockets, new data shows.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-house-rents-hold-at-record…
# NSW, Rent, Housing market.If working from home becomes the norm, housing inequality will deepen
Susanna Rustin The Guardian (No paywall)There are undoubted upsides to remote working, but renters will ultimately lose out to property owners and landlords.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/06/working-fr…
# International, Rent.Liberalise planning rules to fix a housing crisis – sounds logical, but it won’t work
Anna Minton The Guardian (No paywall)Restrictions are not the main barrier to housebuilding in Britain – so why is the government so set on loosening them? ... The government response to soaring inflation is to promise to build more homes at speed by loosening the planning system. ... [But] Cities around the world, from Auckland to Vancouver, are facing an affordability crisis, with huge price rises and extreme gentrification in cities linked to global capital flows and foreign investment rather than local circumstances. ... If there is widespread recognition that the planning system is not the main barrier, why are the government’s reforms so focused on loosening restrictions? This is partly because it’s a voter friendly idea outside of the Tory shires and popular with free-market Conservatives, while the interventionist policies required to genuinely affect house price inflation are seen as ideologically unpalatable.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/06/government…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.