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
Poor-quality housing is "the number one thing holding the UK back" says Bulb CEO
Marcus Fairs (No paywall)The UK needs to drastically improve its "poorly insulated, draughty" homes if it is to eradicate its carbon emissions, according to Hayden Wood, CEO of renewable energy supplier Bulb. 'The number one thing holding the UK back is the quality of its housing stock," Wood told Dezeen. "Our houses are poorly insulated, draughty."
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/06/16/carbon-emissions-poor-quality-…
# International, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.‘Significant challenge’: Minister says migrants will need apartments that aren’t being built
Angus Thompson The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney is setting itself up for major challenges in housing supply unless more apartments are built, with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes saying he is concerned that the rate of construction will not keep up with new migrants expected to arrive.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/significant-challenge-minist…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, State Government.From Byron to Bega: Push for more homes in regional NSW to ease shortage
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Planning Minister Rob Stokes says the state government will establish a taskforce to speed up the delivery of homes in regional NSW, as pressure mounts on housing supply outside major cities. Mr Stokes has warned more intensive residential development in the regions should not outpace the delivery of critical infrastructure and must include a variety of housing types ...
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rob-stokes-pushes-for-more-h…
# NSW, Housing market, Planning and development, Regional NSW, State Government.Homeless crisis looming beneath the surface in holiday town on NSW South Coast
Jessica Clifford and Melinda James ABC (No paywall)On the surface, Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast is a popular, bustling holiday destination but locals say there is a hidden housing crisis, and it is only getting worse. Rental properties are non-existent, with fewer than 20 listings currently available and nothing under $400 per week.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/a-homelessness-crisis-hid…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Regional NSW.From relationships to home ownership, young women are imagining a different future
Scott Mitchell and Alex Tighe ABC (No paywall)The future [Jacinta Gregory] imagines for herself is very different ... That includes her living arrangements, which like many young women she does not see involving home ownership anytime soon. Seventy-four per cent of people aged of 18-24 think owning a home isn't really an option anymore for most young Australians. But that number jumps up for young women, 82 per cent of whom don't think home ownership is an option. But while being locked out of the housing market can be frustrating, Ms Gregory has made peace with it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-19/women-are-changing-their-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Women.Pay the rent, and the rest: tenants hit back at the rise in third-party processing
Michael McGowan The Guardian (No paywall)What it didn’t say was that by signing up to use RentPay, Max would be forced to pay a $3 set-up fee, plus a monthly fee of $2 as well as 1.25% for each transaction for any payments via Visa or Mastercard. Using BPay would attract a transaction fee of 88c. “I know it’s not a huge amount of money, but it is a shitty thing for them to do. We pay more than $600 a week, why should we then have to pay fees to pay our own rent?” Max says.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/19/pay-the-r…
# Australia, Rent, Landlords and agents.Should Australia increase interest rates to stop house prices rising so quickly?
Chris Edmonds The Guardian (No paywall)But what about house prices? They’re rising quickly. And isn’t that because of all this stimulus? Maybe interest rates should rise, to stop house prices rising so quickly and to make housing more affordable? ... In my view, that would be a bad idea. While both demand and supply matter, the key problems with housing affordability are on the supply-side – more precisely, because housing supply does not increase sufficiently “elastically” when house prices increase. If supply was more elastic, for example if it was easier to increase density near desirable locations, then surges in housing demand driven by monetary policy would lead to more muted price increases and larger increases in the housing stock. Trying to address complex location-specific supply-side problems with one-size-fits-all monetary policy tools is hopeless, and probably dangerous.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/18/its-great-…
# Australia, Housing market.Open letter, EU Member States must act to stop evictions and prevent homelessness
(No paywall)To all member states participating in the High-level Meeting on Homelessness of 21 June ... The undersigned organisations (including IUT) request EU Member States to act immediately and effectively to avoid a high peak of evictions in Europe. An ambitious policy to prevent rental evictions is now more necessary than ever. Preventing homelessness arising from evictions must be part of the commitment to end homelessness by 2030. [Click final Statement] (International Union of Tenants News0
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/open-letter-eu-member-states-must…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness.