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
Reflections on Vienna’s Social Housing Model From Tenant Advocates
Oksana Mironova The Nation (No paywall)Rents are reaching unimaginable heights and homeownership is increasingly out of reach for many people in the United States. As housing organizers, legislators, and everyday people debate paths forward, there is growing interest in a radical transformation of the housing market through the expansion of social housing. While this is a relatively new term in the US, it is common parlance in other parts of the world that have a stronger social safety net and a tenant organizing history.
Social housing policies create “housing in the public interest,” defining it as public good, rather than a financial asset. Generally, social housing models strive toward decommodification, social equity, and resident control. By creating less speculative housing markets, these policies reduce the opportunities for exploitation, negligence, and risky behavior by landlords.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/reflections-vienna-soc…
# Must read International, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform.Promises and pitfalls: What to expect as a renter in 2023
Shanti Mathias The Spinoff (No paywall)With a general election on the horizon, various pieces of legislation coming (or not coming) into force and bad economic vibes all around us, we asked Éimhín O’Shea, a national organiser at Renters United, what renters can expect this year.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/19-01-2023/promises-and-pitfall…
# International, Eviction, Repairs, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents.Bristol Council to ask government for powers to bring in rent controls as costs spiral
Sara Keenan The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)A council in England is demanding the government grants it powers to bring in rent controls as the housing crisis spirals out of control.
Private tenants are currently facing the highest rise in rent since records began seven years ago, according to the ONS figures. A quarter of tenants surveyed in December said their rent had risen in the past six months, with the UK average now £991 a month. The average tenant is paying 24 per cent of their weekly expenditure on housing compared to 16 per cent for those with a mortgage, the ONS found.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/bristol-council-rent-contr…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Human rights.Homeless people can get two years of rent covered by the city of Thessaloniki
Denis Balgaranov The Mayor (No paywall)Last week, the municipality of Thessaloniki in Greece announced a new scheme aimed at the homeless. The scheme is called Στέγαση και Εργασία (Housing and Work). It involves the city covering the costs of renting an apartment on behalf of a homeless person for two years.
https://www.themayor.eu/en/a/view/homeless-people-can-get-two-ye…
# International, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability.Relentless Rents Leave Few Choices for Americans Relying on Assistance
Sarah Holder and Airielle Lowe Bloomberg (No paywall)Government programs designed to support the lowest-income Americans have been no match for the relentless post-Covid US rental market.
Already plagued by years-long wait times, those who receive so-called Section 8 housing choice vouchers are struggling to use them to find apartments with rents at or near records nationwide. While demand for assistance soared to historic levels in 2022, the share of tenants successfully finding housing dropped, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the program that supports more than 2 million households annually.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-05/relentless-re…
# International, Rent, Affordable housing, Housing affordability.NSW Labor unveils plan to help tenants have pets in rental properties
Bridget Murphy ABC (No paywall)Arabella Harvey-Walker is on the hunt for a new home in Sydney's inner-west, but she's struggling to find a place that will let her pup Penny come with her.
Currently in NSW, landlords can decline a tenant's request to have pets in their home without a specific reason, and do not have a prescribed time frame in which to consider a request.
See TUNSW's response: https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/pitter-patter-towards-pet-friendly-homes
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-08/nsw-labor-plan-to-help-re…
# New policy announcement NSW, Pets, State Government.Sydney rental prices sit above national average, bucking national trend
Eli Green news.com.au (No paywall)Sydneysiders have seen their weekly rental cost climb yet again, despite new figures revealing prices have stalled in most other cities across the country.
The average cost of renting a dwelling in Sydney has risen by 1.8 per cent in the December quarter, the second highest lift in prices across the country after Melbourne, where rent rose 2.3 per cent according to the latest PropTrack report.
Nationally, prices have remained the same at an average of $480 per week, while the cost of a dwelling in Sydney has reached $560 per week – a 7.7 per cent increase from the end of 2021.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/sydne…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.The CBD is dead. Long live the Central Social District
Rob Stokes The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Our central business districts aren’t going to bounce back from COVID. Office vacancy rates in the CBDs of Sydney and Parramatta remain stubbornly high. And ideas such as forcing people back to the office five days a week, or Inner West Council’s proposal to charge higher rates for landlords who can’t get tenants, aren’t going to put things back the way they used to be.
https://amp-smh-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.smh.com.au/nat…
# NSW, Local Government, Planning and development, State Government, Sydney.