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
Housing Insecurity in Newcastle
Newcastle in the morning Newcastle Live (No paywall)Housing insecurity in Newcastle is so bad that the Legal Aid New South Wales team has taken the unusual step of speaking out publicly about their concerns.
Natalie Bradshaw, Senior Solicitor at Legal Aid NSW told Tracy Mac on Newcastle in the Morning that requests for civil law advice from their team have surged by 43% in the past year, and there was a 30% increase in services representing clients with their housing problems.
https://newcastlelive.com.au/housing-insecurity-in-newcastle/
# Audio NSW, Eviction.‘Don’t Rent Me’: the online tenants’ group for swapping horror stories, advice and frustrations
Caitlin Cassidy The Guardian (No paywall)Founders of the group say members ‘don’t feel so alone’ as unaccountable landlords and the rental crisis put pressure on tenants.
They call it “Don’t Rent Me” – a social media group established during the pandemic as a safe space for unloading “horror” rental stories, and swapping advice to tackle dodgy agents and landlords.
In just shy of two-and-a-half years, it has amassed 41,000 members.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/09/dont-rent…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Renting culture.Lismore divided as council rejects plan to build temporary homes for flood survivors
Khaled Al Khawaldeh The Guardian (No paywall)One councillor accused of ‘fear-mongering and smears’ over comments about crisis accommodation residents as families worry about future.
A proposal by Resilience NSW to construct 40 modular homes for flood survivors on a sports field in the New South Wales northern rivers town of Lismore has been rejected by the local council, leaving the town divided.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/11/lismore-d…
# NSW, .Fear Comm Games may worsen housing crisis
Mibenge Nsenduluka AAP (No paywall)Low income earners and Indigenous communities across regional Victoria will be most impacted by a potential rise in housing costs brought on by the Commonwealth Games, experts warn.
A new report by the Victorian Housing Peaks Alliance says the 2026 international sporting event, which will be held across Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton, could exacerbate homelessness unless urgent action is taken.
https://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/7975560/fear-comm-games…
# Australia, Housing affordability.HomeBuilder program ‘overstimulated’ construction and drove house price inflation
Rachel Clun The Age (No paywall)More than 100,000 people drove the cost of the pandemic-era HomeBuilder program out to $2.3 billion, an analysis of the scheme has found, leading to an overheating of the building sector and adding to inflation pressures that have forced interest rates to a nine-year high.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/homebuilder-program-o…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market.Australia’s rental housing is a national disgrace – and improving it will combat the energy crisis
Tristan Edis The Guardian (No paywall)Making rental properties more energy efficient (and liveable) will free up power for other users.
Australian households and businesses are facing energy price rises that dwarf anything this country has seen before.
Due to a Russian withdrawal of supply, Europe is scrambling to get its hands on enough gas to get through its forthcoming winter. This has flowed through to an astronomical climb in the wholesale price of gas in Australia: 400% over 12 months.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/08/australias…
# Hot topic Australia, Climate change, Minimum habitability standards.How changes to embedded networks present an opportunity to decarbonise our apartment buildings
Liam Wallis The Fifth Estate (No paywall)From January 2023, new apartment buildings in Victoria seeking to operate an embedded network must use 100 per cent renewable electricity and generate at least 5 per cent from on-site renewable energy such as solar and or geothermal energy.
With 29 per cent of Australians living in either apartments or townhouses, embedded networks are integral to achieving cost effective, carbon neutral outcomes through an apartment building’s lifecycle.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/energy-lead/energy/how-changes-to-…
# Australia, Climate change.Honolulu County’s eviction mediation program was a resounding success
Ray Kong Hawai'i Appleseed (No paywall)To stave off mass evictions brought on by large scale job loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaiʻi created rent relief programs that helped tenants and landlords cover rent shortfalls, and Governor David Ige made multiple executive proclamations to put a temporary moratorium on evictions.
In 2021, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature passed Act 57 to establish a pre-litigation landlord-tenant mediation program for the purpose of preventing an onslaught of evictions once the eviction moratorium ended in August of 2021.
https://hiappleseed.org/blog/honolulu-county-eviction-mediation-…
# Research alert International, Eviction.