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
Employer calls for changes to Victoria’s rental laws after receiving ‘invasive’ questions from agent
Rafqa Touma The Guardian (No paywall)An employer who was asked “invasive” and “completely unnecessary” questions by a real estate agent about a staff member is calling for changes to Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act. An online employee referee questionnaire was sent to the secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, Luke Hilakari, by a real estate agent in both an email and a text message.
The questionnaire included inquiries about the employee’s job position, typical tasks and responsibilities, gross annual income including superannuation and probation status. Also on the list was the open-ended question, “would you consider renting to this person?” among others about whether Hilakari considered his employee punctual, hard working, reliable and responsible. “These questions are deliberately and unnecessarily invasive,” Hilakari said. “In a reference check for someone getting a job you wouldn’t ask that many questions. “[They] are completely unnecessary to renting a house.” ... [Dr Chris Martin, a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales] said the “big problem is that rental markets do get as tight as they are at the moment”. This gives agents the space to “ask for more precise and invasive information,” some of which “goes well beyond what is reasonably necessary”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/03/employer-…
# Australia, Privacy and access, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Why this Corrimal affordable housing project won a national award
Connor Pearce Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Prior to moving into a Correa Gardens unit in Corrimal, managed by the Housing Trust, one tenant in her 80s had been unable to leave her home. “We have a lady who was completely housebound in her previous property because of growing mobility problems,” Housing Trust CEO Michele Adair said.
“She literally hadn’t been able to get in or out of her apartment because it had stairs.” Now, the woman lives in an affordable, newly-built ground floor residence that has just won a national award. Correa Gardens won the Affordable Residential Development prize at the Urban Taskforce Australia 2022 Development Excellence Awards. This put the 34 homes on the site of a former primary school alongside billion dollar developments
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7840130/why-this-corri…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Disability, Older people.Australia’s rental crisis: Why some renters are having to choose between their pet or a roof over their heads
Molly Magennis (No paywall)Animal welfare groups are calling on the federal government to introduce a national law protecting renters with pets, as more and more pet owners are forced to make the heartbreaking decision between surrendering their furry friends or putting a roof over their heads. After 14 years, James and Fiona Bateman were forced out of their rental in April this year when their landlord decided to sell the property. The couple, based in Adelaide, were not only forced to look for a new home in the middle of a rental crisis, but also faced the difficult task of finding one that was also pet friendly. (7news.com.au)
https://7news.com.au/business/housing/australias-rental-crisis-w…
# Australia, Eviction, Federal Government, Pets.Why Thousands of People Are Left Out of New York City’s Daily Homeless Census
Eric Lach (No paywall)David Brand, a social worker turned journalist, got an assignment from City Limits, a small nonprofit news outlet, to write a series of articles about family homelessness in New York City. ... For the first article in the family-homelessness series, Brand interviewed several mothers with young children about their experiences in city shelters. After it was published, a homeless-rights advocate called to warn Brand. Why was he citing the shelter-population numbers released regularly by City Hall? Those were bad numbers, the advocate said. The city’s stats accounted for the tens of thousands of people who slept every night in shelters overseen by the Department of Homeless Services, which include New York City’s largest adult and family shelters. But there were thousands more who slept in smaller shelters overseen by other city agencies: domestic-violence shelters, shelters for people with H.I.V./AIDS, disaster-relief shelters, shelters for runaway kids. Brand still sounds floored talking about it. ... [Today] by sorting through publicly published stats, and by filing Freedom of Information requests for data not ordinarily published, City Limits compiled a “tracker” that offered a more complete look at the city’s shelter population.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/why-thou…
# International, Homelessness.‘We felt like we’re nothing’: increasing voting among Australians experiencing homelessness
Jonathon Louth, Lisa Hill and Veronica Coram The Conversation (No paywall)... there is another election bellwether we never hear about: people experiencing homelessness. Taken as a group, those who experience homelessness are representative of multiple forms of disadvantage and marginalisation. Yet this is a very diverse group of people. While rough sleepers are the most recognisable, homelessness encompasses living in overcrowded accommodation, couch surfing, and being forced to sleep in cars, caravans or tents. ... Working with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and three specialist homelessness service providers in Adelaide over the 2019 federal election, we undertook one of the largest studies of homelessness and voting habits.
https://theconversation.com/we-felt-like-were-nothing-increasing…
# Research alert Australia, Homelessness.Labor’s housing minister vows to do more to fix homelessness as ‘serious’ crisis spreads
Josh Butler The Guardian (No paywall)The federal housing minister, Julie Collins, has promised a greater leadership role from the commonwealth to address homelessness, as social advocates warn skyrocketing rental prices are forcing families to live in tents. The minister admitted Australia has “a really serious housing affordability challenge”, with key Labor policies for homebuyers and public housing not likely to open until early 2023. “We need to be ambitious,” Collins told Guardian Australian. “We all need to be working together to solve the housing problems in this country.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/03/labors-ho…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Homelessness.Landlords hold upper hand, renters set for tough conditions over next 12 months
Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Tenants face tough conditions for the next 12 months, as housing stress is expected to spread as the number of rentals to choose from plummets to another record low, new figures show. The national rental vacancy rate is at its lowest point on record, falling for the fifth consecutive month to 0.9 per cent, the latest Domain Rental Vacancy Report for July shows.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/landlords-hold-upper-hand-r…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.New program aims to end 'revolving door' for Perth's unwell homeless people
David Weber ABC (No paywall)During Homelessness Week, the focus in Western Australia has fallen onto the link between staying in good health and keeping a home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-02/staywitchs-program-helpin…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Health, Homelessness, Housing market.