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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
Crossbench MPs urge Attorney-General to properly fund struggling community legal services
Dechlan Brennan National Indigenous Times (No paywall)A group of crossbench MPs have written to the federal Attorney-General, along with his state and territory counterparts, urging them to commit an additional $174 million to support the country's struggling community legal services. It comes after an independent review into the funding of legal services found the current levels are drastically insufficient to meet the needs of Australia's population, especially for marginalised groups like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
https://nit.com.au/03-07-2024/12338/crossbench-urged-attorney-ge…
# Hot topic Australia, Aboriginal renters, Rent.Retrofitting the classic Aussie home
Jess Davis ABC (No paywall)Laine Taylor fell in love with the character of this 1880s miners’ cottage, in the Victorian town of Ballarat, the first moment she saw it. But she was under no illusions about the downsides of buying an old, cold house, in an old, cold town.“Being such an old house and in such a cold climate, it’s going to be really important, going forward, to do everything that I can to make it energy efficient.” She’s part of a growing movement of Australians retrofitting older homes to make them more liveable and reduce emissions in our changing climate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-04/retrofitting-australian-h…
# Hot topic Australia, Utilities electricity water gas.This woman spends 100% of her income on rent
Natalie Stechyson CBC (No paywall)Living with your parents. Living with your ex. Giving up basic needs like food and clothing. These are just some of the sacrifices Canadians say they've been making to pay rent amid the surging prices and decreased availability marking Canada's rental housing crisis. Demand for rentals is outpacing supply across the country. A recent CBC News analysis of more than 1,000 neighbourhoods across Canada's largest cities found that less than one per cent of rentals are both vacant and affordable for the majority of Canadian renters.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-rent-expensive-1.7240858
# Must read International, Rent.Stabilising rents in England: why and how we should limit rent rises
Tarun Bhakta Shelter UK (No paywall)The conversation in England about rent controls is a mess. Very often you will hear 'rent controls don’t work' as a throw away comment, often without any evidence - and that throwaway comment is used to dismiss any kind of regulation of rents. One of the most frustrating things about this take is that it’s far too simple. There are hundreds of different types of rent controls - ranging from ‘rent freezes’ to ‘rent pressure zones’ to ‘rent stabilisation’. And to say that they simply 'don’t work' ignores the fact that many countries across Europe are operating some form of rent control.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/what_we_do/updates_insights_and_i…
# Must read International, Rent.The worrying trend of landlords banning tenants from working from home
Emma Guinness The Independent (No paywall)Landlords have come under fire for banning prospective tenants from working from home, resulting in calls for new legislation to protect renters. In what appears to be a new trend, adverts for shared homes have been appearing, specifying that the potential new occupant must not work from home. Now, the charity Generation Rent has called upon the new government to impose regulations to stop the practice, which is arguably given force by Section 21 “no-fault” eviction powers.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/landlord-housing…
# Must read International, Eviction.Empty homes: A solution to record homelessness?
Simon Maybin BBC (No paywall)A housing standards boss is leading trailblazing work turning empty houses in his area into homes for people who desperately need them. The number of homes empty for at least six months in Wigan has fallen by nearly 200 in the past year, from 1,286 to 1,093. It bucks a national trend that saw the number of empty homes rise on average by 5% over the same period, according to data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. There are now more than 260,000 long-term empty homes in England. At the same time, there are nearly 113,000 homeless families or single adults in temporary accommodation - the highest number on record.
# Hot topic International, Rent.Renters with disabilities live in fear of eviction. Now, this man with PTSD sleeps in a shed
Natalie Stechyson CBC (No paywall)Sidney Wood says he was evicted last month because he couldn't pay his rent. Wood, 41, couldn't afford the $1,620 per month for a basement apartment in Edmonton that he shared with his two teenage children. Not after he and his wife separated in March, and not on his CPP disability income that he says is $1,403 per month. So Wood, who is unable to work due to PTSD after 11 years as a correctional officer in a maximum security prison, had to move back to St. Theresa Point First Nation, an Oji-Cree reserve in Northern Manitoba.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/disability-rent-canada-1.7254118
# Must read International, Rent.Are Singapore Rent Prices for HDB and Condos Finally Coming Down?
Yahoo News (No paywall)Singapore rent prices have been a topic of conversation for a while now. For those who have to take on a unit or room for rent in Singapore, you’ve witnessed how rental prices surged to record highs throughout the pandemic. 2023 saw a softening of the buoyant rental market. Our latest Singapore Property Market Report Q1 2024 shows that asking rents have stabilised and have been dipping slowly since Q1 2023. So begets the question: Will Singapore rent prices for HDB flats and private properties finally come down in 2024?
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-rent-prices-hdb-cond…
# Hot topic International, Rent.