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
Michael Gove’s housing reforms are the only ray of light in this doomed government
Simon Jenkins The Guardian (No paywall)As the present Tory administration staggers on, one minister at least is showing some terminal creativity. The levelling up, housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, is galvanising housing policy, sort of. This year, he has at last abandoned the absurdity that there is a national housing need of a fixed number of houses a year.
Councils in England have been told they no longer need to deliver a precise target of new buildings laid down in Whitehall irrespective of sound planning or local opinion. He has also vetoed an ugly suburban development in Kent, has introduced plans that would allow local councils to limit Airbnb and holiday homes, and is trying to make manufacturing companies pay for recladding tower blocks post-Grenfell.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/21/michael-go…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.‘We just want our homes not to hurt us’: Disabled people trapped in temporary accommodation
Isabella McRae The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)teph has lived in a room for 12 years, a decade longer than she was ever meant to be there. She sits on the toilet to shower in a bathroom no bigger than you would find on an aeroplane. She perches on her bed to eat meals because there is no space for a table or chair.
The situation began when Steph was put on a pilot project for young disabled people, designed to help them live more independently for two years before moving on to their own homes. But because there are not enough accessible council properties, the 34-year-old is trapped.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disabled-people-hom…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Disability, Personal stories.Greens vow to sink federal government's $10b housing fund, threatening first major defeat for Albanese
Jake Evans ABC (No paywall)Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party will sink the federal government's $10 billion housing fund unless it is significantly improved, in what would become the first major legislative defeat of the government.
The government is yet to win enough support for its housing bill to pass the Senate, which would fund 30,000 social and affordable homes over the next decade through returns on the fund.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-26/greens-vow-to-sink-housin…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability.Queensland developing further rental reforms to improve ease of minor modifications and security improvements
Tobias Jurss-Lewis ABC (No paywall)The Queensland government has flagged further changes to the state's rental laws, giving tenants more power to make security modifications and decorative changes to their properties.
The state government is currently developing its second package of rental reforms – targeting laws which currently restrict tenants' abilities to install modifications like security measures, disability access, and personal changes such as hanging pictures.
The government's stage one reforms passed parliament in 2021, putting an end to without-grounds evictions and making it easier for renters to have pets, and easing the burden on tenants fleeing domestic violence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-18/qld-rental-reforms-housin…
# Hot topic, New policy announcement Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, State Government.Groups fear landlords may use loophole to bypass Queensland’s new once-a-year rent-rise law
Eden Gillespie The Guardian (No paywall)A loophole in newly passed Queensland laws could incentivise landlords to end leases after six months, bypassing the yearly limit on rent rises by bringing in new tenants, critics say.
The state government passed last-minute amendments on Tuesday to limit the frequency of rent increases to once a year. The government said the legislation – added to the Palaszczuk government’s electoral reform bill – was passed in a hurry to respond to the state’s housing crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/19/groups-fe…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, State Government.Hobart council powerless as another rental becomes Airbnb, but there may be a solution
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)A year after finding a rental property close to central Hobart, Zac Lewin and his four housemates are dreading having to start looking for somewhere else to live.
Their landlord's application to turn their West Hobart home into an Airbnb was approved by Hobart City Council on Wednesday night – the 42nd entire dwelling to become short-stay accommodation this year, and 129th since July 1.
And while the council has tried, since December 2020, to find a way under Tasmania's planning laws to restrict new short-stay accommodation conversions, it is too late for Mr Lewin.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-20/pressure-grows-hobart-cou…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting.Think you're on a 'rental blacklist'? Here's how it may have happened, and what to do about it
Maani Truu ABC (No paywall)Finding a rental is already an uphill battle, but behind the scenes, companies operating massive tenant databases can make it near impossible for renters who have previously stepped out of line.
Each time you submit an application for a rental property, it's likely your details will be checked against so-called rental blacklists, created to flag misbehaving tenants before they've signed another lease.
But as regulation around blacklisting has tightened, tenants' advocates say more informal avenues for landlords and real estate agents to influence their tenant's future rental prospects — whether they've breached their lease or not — are springing up.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-24/rental-blacklists-tenancy…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Privacy and access, Housing market, Renting culture.Renters paying above advertised price for new leases, ABS data shows
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Renters entering into new tenancy agreements are on average having to offer rents above the advertised listing price to secure a home, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
Actual rents paid by new tenants increased by 14% in the 12 months to February, which is 9% higher than the rise in the inflation index that captures rents paid by both new and existing tenants, pointing to a trend in landlords leaping on lapsed leases as an opportunity to earn more from their properties.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/24/renters-p…
# Must read, Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.