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
In Broken Hill as in Sydney, the answer is housing
The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Whether you’re out for dinner or at children’s weekend sport, you can bet at some point the conversation will turn to housing and how costly it is. But where one can afford to live is also a hot topic 13 hours’ drive west of the state’s capital, where poor quality housing is one of several factors contributing to a looming health crisis. As Angus Thomson reports in The Sun-Herald today, the level of lead in the blood of children aged under five in Broken Hill is on the rise again, despite decades of remediation efforts in the town built on one of Australia’s richest mines.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/in-broken-hill-as-in-sydney-…
# Hot topic NSW, .Higher towers, smaller homes, fewer car spaces recommended to solve NSW housing crisis
ABC (No paywall)Higher-density zones around train stations would double in size and extend further into Sydney's eastern suburbs and north shore, under a bold set of proposals sought by the premier to solve the state's housing crisis. The NSW productivity commissioner is also recommending design standards be relaxed to allow the construction of smaller apartments without access to parking, storage or direct sunlight. Government spending priorities would shift from infrastructure projects like new metros and motorways, to projects that support rapid housing supply.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-11/higher-towers-smaller-hou…
# Must read NSW, .Labour moves to end no-fault evictions within months
Kiran Stacey The Guardian (No paywall)Landlords in England will soon be banned from removing tenants without cause as the government prepares to launch a long-delayed package of measures for renters including stopping no-fault evictions within months. Ministers will bring the renters’ rights bill for its first reading in the Commons next week, sources have told the Guardian, as they look to rush through key parts of its housing changes. At the heart of the bill, according to several people with knowledge of its contents, will be an immediate end to so-called section 21 evictions, where a landlord can oust a tenant for no reason, to be brought into force as soon as the bill is granted royal assent.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/sep/06/labour-mov…
# Hot topic International, Eviction.Canadian mega landlord using AI ‘pricing scheme’ as it massively hikes rents
The Breach Breach Media (No paywall)When Shanice Sharpe moved into a one-bedroom apartment at 22 John St., in the working-class neighbourhood of Weston in the Greater Toronto Area, her rent seemed reasonable. But since 2022, it has shot up nearly 10 per cent each year and she’s currently spending most of her monthly income on housing “I have three jobs just to pay for my life,” she said. The majority of her fellow tenants have faced similar hikes from the building’s Canadian owner, Dream Unlimited, which has $25 billion in assets.
https://breachmedia.ca/canadian-mega-landlord-ai-pricing-scheme-…
# Hot topic International, .Final Grenfell inquiry report released as companies involved brace for criticism
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)Companies and public authorities involved in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment are braced for wide-ranging criticisms when the final public inquiry report on the 2017 disaster is released at 11am on Wednesday. The 1,700-page report is expected to spotlight serious failings among national and local politicians, builders, material manufacturers and sales people, fire-testing experts and the London fire brigade. The inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and his inquiry panel colleagues, the architect Thouria Istephan and housing expert Ali Akbor, will also make recommendations to the government to ensure such a disaster is not repeated.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/04/final-gr…
# Must read International, Disasters.Villagers reluctant to say goodbye to one of Hong Kong’s last squatter settlements
Katie Tam and Kanis Leung AP News (No paywall)HONG KONG (AP) — In months, Lo Yuet-ping will bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he will miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in the village. “I’m unwilling to part with anything,” said Lo, who expects to be relocated to a newer district of east Kowloon.
https://apnews.com/article/squatter-house-hong-kong-cha-kwo-ling…
# Hot topic International, .Tenant fell through hole in floor after landlord failed to fix it
Brianna McIlraith Stuff (No paywall)A landlord has been ordered to pay $5000 after a tenant fell through a hole in the dining room floor. Four tenants of the Auckland property claimed the landlord failed to maintain the premises in a reasonable state of repair, including the collapsed dining room floor, rotting floor panels and door fixtures due to inadequate drainage, resulting in mould and moisture within the home. In a Tenancy Tribunal ruling it said because of the location of the house, construction nearby and lack of drainage, water to pool in the outside area adjoining the ground floor dining area when it rained heavily.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/350404197/tenant-fell-thro…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.Stop treating social housing tenants like children, ombudsman tells landlords
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)Some social housing landlords still treat tenants like children and behave in the same adversarial and defensive way as the Grenfell Tower landlord, the government-appointed social housing ombudsman has said. Speaking after the publication of the public inquiry report into the 2017 fire that claimed 72 lives, Richard Blakeway warned leaders of social housing groups to end “parent-child” relationships with tenants and instead “see people, not problems”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/05/social-h…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, Rent.