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
Nursing home residents are paying $800 a week for services they are barely getting
Anna Howe The Conversation (No paywall)Nursing home residents confined to their rooms during COVID are like hypothetical tenants locked in their bedrooms by landlords – unable to take showers, able only to make only sandwiches for meals and cut off from visitors and socialising with fellow residents. If it happened to tenants they would be entitled to stop paying rent, go to an appeals tribunal, or move out. But aged care residents have to keep paying. The Commonwealth has instigated an investigation focusing on death among residents during COVID, but this narrow focus ignores the broader impacts of the pandemic on residents’ quality of life.
https://theconversation.com/nursing-home-residents-are-paying-80…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people.Wave of expiring fixed-rate loans to inflict homeowner pain
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Large numbers of bank customers who locked in ultra-cheap fixed-interest rate mortgages during the pandemic could face a hefty increase in their repayments next year. The Commonwealth Bank last week provided a rare insight into the bulge of fixed-rate loans that will expire in years ahead, after a bonanza in this type of lending during the past two years.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/wave-of-expiring-fixed-ra…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Home affairs department paid $16,000 to rent senior official’s ACT home through Airbnb
PaulKarp The Guardian (No paywall)The home affairs department paid $16,000 to a senior official to rent his house through Airbnb for staff who needed to quarantine after returning from overseas. The deal was part of a $522,000 program to accommodate returning staff and comply with Australian Capital Territory Covid quarantine requirements.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/14/home-affa…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Short-term holiday letting.London council risked plunging homeless family into debt by moving them 160 miles away, court finds
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)A London council risked plunging a mother and her young family into debt by moving them from temporary accommodation to a private rented property 160 miles away, a judge has found. In a newly published Court of Appeal ruling, a judge said that Waltham Forest Council failed to properly assess the affordability of a private tenancy in Stoke-On-Trent when moving Lisa Paley and her family from temporary accommodation in the borough. The judge said the decision was “inevitably going to plunge [the mother] even further into debt” and would “put her and her children at risk of once again being rendered homeless”. This was because the council “omitted” the cost of “reasonable” expenses, such as public transport, when drawing up a theoretical weekly budget for the family, the judgment added.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-council-risked-…
# International, Homelessness, Local Government.Is it too late to fix your home loan before interest rates rise?
Elizabeth Redman Domain (No paywall)Mortgage rates are rising faster than homeowners and potential home buyers can lock in better deals. Brokers say borrowers are nervous about the prospect of higher interest rates, but by the time they try to fix at an attractive rate, banks have already lifted their pricing.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/is-it-too-late-to-fix-your-…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.Housing Futures: The vital role of home in young people’s futures
(No paywall)Supporting people to have a home and the chance to live well has been Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing's purpose since we were founded in the 1950s to give members of the Windrush generation a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home. We knew then as we know now, that having a home can be the catalyst for so many things in life – starting a family, doing well at school, putting down roots and contributing to your community. Yet, as we have heard from young MTVH residents and other young people from across the country, there is real concern that the homes and futures they aspire to feel out of reach.
# International, Affordable housing, Health, Home, Young people.Pick a wealthy area and carry measuring tape: lessons in furnishing your house for free
Marty Smiley The Guardian (No paywall)When our landlord booted us out of our share house last year, a group field trip to Ikea was out of the question. Like many Australians, designing a living space based only on taste and style was a luxury we could not afford. Instead, we had to take to the streets: scavenging, upcycling, trading and buying through online flea markets. While we did make some secondhand purchases, much of what we got we got for free. The fact that furniture can be found by anyone with a hire van and a dream is a godsend for renters. Here’s what we’ve learned to look out for.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/feb/13/pick-a-rich…
# Australia, Rent, Share houses.Buy now, pay later schemes for Australian renters ‘prey on vulnerable’, financial counsellors warn
Stephanie Covery The Guardian (No paywall)New buy now, pay later-style schemes targeting renters are “preying on the vulnerable”, say consumer advocates who have renewed calls for the federal government to overhaul credit laws to better regulate the sector. ... Leo Patterson Ross from the Tenants’ Union told Guardian Australia the rental payments system could do with more flexibility for tenants, especially those with variable incomes, but BNPL-style schemes were “not the way to do that”. “The people who are most likely to have financial pressures that push them to a solution like this are the kind who are least able to ride those extra payments, so it’s least in their interests,” Patterson Ross said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/04/buy-now-p…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market.