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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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
A new era for housing?
Peter Mares (No paywall)The biggest investment in social housing since Kevin Rudd was prime minister won’t be enough to stop life getting tougher for low-income tenants
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, International, Local Government, State Government.Connect to Home Competition
Tenants Queensland (No paywall)Monday 3 October 2022 is International Tenants’ Day (ITD). International Tenants’ Day has been celebrated annually on the first Monday in October since 1986 as a day to promote and raise awareness of tenants’ rights across the world. Tenants Queensland invites all tenants across Queensland to participate in our competition. Share with us and tell us with your entry why it is so important for you to “CONNECT TO HOME”
# Australia, Rent, Campaigns and law reform.US: Budget Cuts Put Public Housing Tenants at Risk
(No paywall)From the United States ... Decades of inadequate federal funding have jeopardized the living conditions of public housing residents and exacerbated the affordable housing crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 63-page report, “‘We Deserve to Have a Place to Live:’ How US Underfunding Public Housing Harms Rights in New York, New Mexico, and Beyond,” examines the impact of a decline in federal funding for public housing, which has been accompanied by a modest increase in investment in affordable housing programs that rely on the private sector, such as voucher and subsidy programs. Human Rights Watch found that budget cuts have led to deteriorating living conditions in public housing in New York City, as well as in northern New Mexico, and have reduced the public housing stock nationwide. It also finds that other affordable housing programs, which rely on the private sector, have often failed to guarantee long-term affordability for people with the lowest incomes. Read the full report at: [https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/09/27/we-deserve-have-place-live/how-us-underfunding-public-housing-harms-rights-new]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/09/27/us-budget-cuts-put-public-ho…
# International, Public and community housing, Anti-social behaviour, Federal Government, Human rights.Tenants of this public housing block thought they smelled a dead rat. It turned out to be their neighbour
Mayeta Clark ABC (No paywall)The first thing Peter "Pierre" Gawronski noticed was a smell. Strange smells weren't that unusual in the Sydney public housing estate where Pierre lived, but this one seemed to hang around. He tried ignoring it, but it seemed to get worse. At first he assumed it was a dead rat. He says he'd come across seven of the little critters in 14 months. He reported the smell to his local Housing office, which sent contractors out, but the smell lingered. Soon, Pierre was sleeping in the laundry to get away from it. Neither repeated conversations back and forth between Housing and Pierre, nor repeated visits by contractors to Northcott estate, seemed to get rid of the smell. Five days after he first reported the smell, he noticed it seemed to be coming from underneath the flat of his neighbour — a man living with a disability ... [who] hadn't been seen for days. Pierre got a sinking feeling.... Ms Jackson {the shadow minister for water, housing and homelessness] says that the current plight of public housing tenants has been brought on by years of underinvestment in maintenance and new stock by successive state governments and that it's now a crisis. She admits her own Labor Party must shoulder some of the blame for this. Also, listen to Mayeta Clark on ABC RN's podcast entitled 'Faulty Towers 02 | They thought he was another rat' at: [https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/they-thought-he-was-another-rat-surry-hills-public-housing/101487300]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-01/why-tenants-northcott-pub…
# Audio, Video NSW, Public and community housing, Repairs, Disability, Health, State Government.NCC 2022 is now available on NCC Online
Australian Building Codes Board (No paywall)The ABCB is pleased to announce that NCC 2022 has been made available on NCC Online. NCC 2022 will be adopted on 1 May 2023, with a transition period to 1 October 2023 for the modern homes provisions for energy efficiency, condensation mitigation and livable (accessible) housing.
Until these adoption dates, NCC 2019 Amendment 1 remains in force.
https://mailchi.mp/abcb.gov.au/ncc-2022-is-here?e=694d3465e3
# Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Airbnb owners targeted by council to tackle Sydney’s housing crisis
Andrew Taylor The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)An eastern suburbs council wants to financially penalise owners of Airbnb-type rentals, which it blames for driving up the cost of housing. Randwick City Council last week voted to investigate rate variations “or other appropriate responses” for holiday rentals and look at the responses of other councils where “short-term letting is exacerbating housing shortages and affordability”. ... Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said Airbnb-type properties were one factor contributing to the housing affordability crisis. “Although we need to recognise that in an area like Randwick there was already such a shortfall in genuinely affordable housing because it was an attractive place to live,” he said. Bill Randolph, professor at the University of NSW’s City Futures Research Centre, said homeowners should be charged commercial rates for the period their property is let for Airbnb. “After all, they are businesses, not homes,” he said. “But it should only be for properties that are being let out in their entirety.” Randolph said the additional funds from higher council rates should be used to provide affordable housing in the area “as short-term lettings are clearly reducing the stock of longer-term lettings that are available”. Capping the number of days a property can be a short-term rental was “absolutely essential, especially in all areas with heavy short-term rental stock”, he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/airbnb-owners-targeted-by-co…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing market, Local Government, Short-term holiday letting.The Side Eye: Reasonably clean and tidy
Toby Morris (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Cleaning a rental to a spotless level in the hopes of getting your bond back is a familiar feeling for renters – but are landlords expecting unfair standards? The Side Eye‘s Toby Morris looks at what the law says. (The Side Eye, a monthly non-fiction comic supported by NZ On Air) (The Spinoff)
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/29-09-2022/the-side-eye-reasona…
# International, Bond, Rent.Billions spent on housing affordability are making it worse: Productivity Commission
Melissa Heagney Domain (No paywall)Sixteen billion dollars a year in government housing assistance could be better targeted, while nearly $3 billion spent helping first home buyers works against improving affordability, a Productivity Commission review has found. Governments should commit to targets for new housing supply, improve Commonwealth Rent Assistance and address shortcomings in social housing. Also, read Stephanie Borys's article entitled: 'Productivity Commission suggests redirecting support from first home buyers to people facing homelessness' on the ABC at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/housing-productivity-commission-report-latest/101489072]. Read Stephanie Convery's article entitled: 'Private rental market ‘the epicentre’ of Australia’s housing affordability problem, report finds' in 'The Guardian' at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/30/private-rental-market-the-epicentre-of-australias-housing-affordability-problem-report-finds]. You can read the review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, released on 30 September 2022 at: [https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/housing-homelessness#report]
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/billions-spent-on-housing-a…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Home ownership, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Welfare.