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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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See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.

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Archive

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Key topics

Kempsey mother in a private rental without shower access stuck in 12-year wait for social housing

Charles Rushforth and Isla Evans
ABC (No paywall)

The scarcity of rental properties that support people with disabilities in regional New South Wales is leaving people like Petrina Williams and her children struggling to live safely and comfortably. Ms Williams, who has numerous physical disabilities and mental health conditions, and uses a walker, has been on the social housing list on the New South Wales Mid North Coast for 12 years.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-14/specialist-disability-acc…

# Must read Australia, Discrimination, Public and community housing.
 

Victoria rent crisis: At least 15 per cent of rental properties fail legal standards

Sarah Petty
realestate.com.au (No paywall)

Victorian families searching for affordable homes to lease are facing dud prospects that in many cases are failing to meet legal standards for rentals. New research by Tenants Victoria and the Consumer Policy Research Centre showed at least 15 per cent of rentals assessed breached the Residential Tenancies Act years after it was updated in 2021.

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/victoria-rent-crisis-at-least…

# Must read Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, Security and safety.
 

ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejects Canberra landlords 'excessive' rent increase

Charlotte Gore
ABC (No paywall)

A Canberra landlord's attempt to introduce an "excessive" 20 per cent rent increase on their tenant has been stopped by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT). In the ACT, if a landlord wants to increase a tenant's rent more than 10 per cent above Canberra's housing Consumer Price Index (CPI), they must apply to have this approved by ACAT. The owner of the apartment, Empire Global Developments, applied to increase the rent on a one-bedroom property from $425 per week to $510 per week – an increase of $85 per week.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/act-excessive-rent-increa…

# Hot topic Australia, Rent.
 

When it comes to Australia’s homelessness deaths, we can’t change what we don’t measure

Lisa Wood
The Guardian (No paywall)

If you are reading this in Australia, your odds of living to the ripe old age of 81 are good, as that is now the average age of death in the country. Australia now has the third highest life expectancy globally. But this average masks a sobering three-decade gap in life expectancy for people who have experienced homelessness.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2024/fe…

# Must read Australia, Discrimination.
 

I Hate Landlords. How Do I Avoid Becoming One?

Sophie K Rosa
Novara Media (No paywall)

“I’m an only child and a nephew of aunts and uncles with no children. I’m also a committed socialist who might end up owning multiple homes. What’s the most ethical way to deal with this dilemma? I can admit to a fearful and precarious instinct against selling them, but I loathe the idea of becoming a landlord like the parasites I rail against.” – Reluctant Landlord

https://novaramedia.com/2024/01/17/i-hate-landlords-how-do-i-avo…

# Hot topic International, .
 

What if public housing were for everyone?

Rachel M. Cohen
Vox (No paywall)

Quietly and with little fanfare, the idea of building new publicly owned housing for people across the income spectrum has advanced in the United States. Governments have successfully addressed housing shortages through publicly developed housing in places like Vienna, Finland, and Singapore in the past, but these examples have typically inspired little attention in the US — which has more restrictive welfare policies and a bias toward private homeownership.

https://www.vox.com/policy/2024/2/10/24065342/social-housing-pub…

# Must read, Hot topic International, Public and community housing.
 

Renters in England face rising no-fault evictions as reform bill delayed again

Robert Booth
The Guardian (No paywall)

Private renters in England were hit by a triple whammy of bad news on Thursday as official figures showed soaring no-fault evictions, a net loss of more than 16,000 homes for social rent and a fresh delay to long-promised laws to give renters greater security. The number of households evicted by bailiffs as a result of no-fault evictions rose 39% in 2023 compared with 2022, according to analysis by the housing charity Shelter of new Ministry of Justice figures. Rent campaigners said it showed a worsening trend “blighting the lives of renters across our country”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/08/renters-in-engla…

# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent.
 

Private tenants in Scotland ‘face big rent rises and mass evictions’ from April

Libby Brooks
The Guardian (No paywall)

Private tenants in Scotland are facing big rent rises and mass evictions as emergency protections expire at the end of next month, campaigners have warned. The Scottish government has “in effect rubber-stamped rent increases from April”, says Ruth Gilbert, the national campaigns chair of the Scotland-wide tenants’ union Living Rent, while transitional measures are inadequate and confusing, leaving many unaware what their legal rights are.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/11/tenants-scotland…

# Hot topic International, Eviction.
 

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