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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Incoming Rep. Max Frost Plans to ‘Couch Surf’ in DC Because He Can’t Get an Apartment
Jamila Bey BET (No paywall)The rental market in Washington, DC is notoriously expensive and hard to navigate. Even the first Gen Z member of Congress is having such trouble navigating the system, he’s still without a Washington address as the House comes to session.
Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, representing Central Florida’s 10th Congressional District, said on a Sunday morning news show that he still hasn’t gotten a lease since being elected in November.
https://www.bet.com/article/7kgc6y/the-newly-elected-florida-dem…
# International, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Work, employment.Irish Housing Crisis Adds to Stress for Firms Recruiting Abroad
Peter O'Dwyer Bloomberg (No paywall)Ireland’s acute housing shortage is adding to problems faced by larger firms as they try to lure talent from abroad, according to the head of the country’s state agency for business.
“It’s a big pinch point,” Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy said in an interview. “We’re a full employment economy as things stand today, more or less. That means that we need to still bring a lot of talent to Ireland, and that’s where housing bites specifically.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-17/irish-housing…
# International, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Work, employment.Aotearoa’s housing often unsuited to Pacific families
Stats NZ Stats NZ (No paywall)Often Pacific peoples live in large households, which can have benefits for language transmission and loneliness, but due to the affordability and availability of suitable housing, in 2018 nearly 40 percent lived in a home that required additional bedrooms for the number of people living in it, Stats NZ said today.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/aotearoas-housing-often-unsuited-…
# Research alert International, Discrimination, Families, Human rights, Race and ethnicity.Feature in Sydney $300-a-week rental slammed: 'New low'
Tom Flanagan Yahoo News (No paywall)A $300-a-week Sydney rental has come under fire online, with one questionable detail raising eyebrows.
The listing, a granny flat in the southern suburb of Heathcote, boasts "direct access to the bathroom from the kitchen" – and while that might strike you as peculiar, it's only part of the story.
A photo of the main living space shows the kitchen on the right-hand side. On the left the bathroom can be seen. However it is not enclosed by walls, and the only attempt to separate it from the rest of the studio is the use of a partially transparent divider.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/feature-in-sydney-300-a-week-rental-sl…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents, Minimum habitability standards.NSW brings in controls on how renters’ data can be stored and used
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)New South Wales will introduce new guidelines on the personal data security of renters in a bid to crack down on cyber-attacks and identity fraud.
The rule change, announced by the state government on Saturday, will come into effect early next year and replace the need to give copies of documents in rental applications from passports to birth certificates.
The minister for customer service, digital government, small business and fair trading, Victor Dominello, said there were “essentially no rules” over how personal information was used once it was handed over.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/17/nsw-bring…
# Must read, Hot topic, TUNSW in the media, New policy announcement NSW, Privacy and access, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents, State Government.‘The wild west’: New headache for home-hunters in a tough market
Tawar Razaghi The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Renter Nick Duncan spent three weeks looking for a rental with his partner in Sydney, and he was struck by how much information he needed to hand over in the hopes of securing a lease.
“The market is so hot ... We felt like if we wanted to get a place we had to abide by all the rules and provide everything that was asked,” Duncan said.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-wild-west-new-headache-…
# Hot topic NSW, Privacy and access, Landlords and agents, Renting culture.NSW government strips Byron council of authority to cap short-term rentals such as Airbnb
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)The state government has intervened to strip the local council in Byron Bay of its authority to limit the use of residential properties for holiday accommodation, just one day before a much-anticipated council vote on the issue.
Byron Shire Council was due to debate and vote on a proposal at its ordinary meeting on Thursday that would amend planning laws to reduce the number of days that properties in certain zones in the shire could be rented out to tourists through platforms like Airbnb.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/15/nsw-gover…
# Must read NSW, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW, Short-term holiday letting.‘Obscene wealth’: Greens propose trophy home tax to pay for affordable housing
Jenny Noyes The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The mega-rich owners of Sydney’s most luxurious trophy homes would be taxed to fund affordable housing under a proposal put forward by the NSW Greens on Sunday.
The “Extreme Wealth Property Tax” would impose a flat 4 per cent tax on owner-occupied mega-mansions with a land value over $10 million, or an improved value exceeding $20 million, with all revenue going towards building more social and affordable homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/obscene-wealth-greens-propos…
# New policy announcement NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market, Landlords and agents, State Government, Tax.