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Tenants Advice & Advocacy Services have limited availability over the holiday period. The Tenants' Union will operate a Tenancy Advice Hotline from Wednesday 18/12/2024 until Wednesday 8/1/2025 (excluding weekends and public holidays). The hours of operation are 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.
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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
Two Sides: Should New Zealand implement rent controls, yay or nay?
Jayden Holmes (No paywall)From Nw Zealand ... We like to look at issues from different angles - today, rent controls. The Prime Minister’s ruled them out, but with inflation on the rise and rents sucking up the lion’s share of so many people’s precious weekly kitty, there are growing calls for her to take another look. The President of Renters United Geordie Rogers told Tova O'Brien they are suggesting a cap is put on the amount rent can be increased for existing tenancies. He explained there are circumstances where rent can be increased above a fixed percentage, and those cases are where a meaningful improvement has been made to the property. "It's shifting that balance and saying if you want to charge more rent, you have to make the tenant's life better otherwise what are you charging extra rent for, other than filling your own pockets?" Rogers said. (Today FM)
https://www.todayfm.co.nz/home/national/2022/07/two-sides-should…
# Audio International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Think you’re too hot? Imagine being street homeless in the UK right now
Daniel Lavelle The Guardian (No paywall)As the UK cooks in unprecedented temperatures, news sites are full of tips on how to stay safe. Most of it is what I will reluctantly refer to as common sense: drink plenty of water, keep out of the midday sun and stay indoors. But what if you are street homeless?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/19/think-your…
# International, Climate change, Homelessness.Japanese hotel-inspired pods set to help tackle homelessness crisis in Brisbane
Jessica Hinchliffe and Ellen-Maree Elliot ABC (No paywall)A grassroots charity is taking a Japanese hotel concept and turning it into a short-term haven for the homeless. For the past three years Goodna Street Life, south-west of Brisbane, has been developing and building accommodation pods in the hope of aiding people needing emergency shelter. The group provides crisis accommodation at Helen's Haven but aims to match people with long-term housing. Founder and president Helen Youngberry said the severe lack of affordable housing had forced the charity to look at innovative alternatives to cope with unprecedented demand.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/japanese-inspired-sleepin…
# Australia, Homelessness.The Public Interest Advocacy Centre on the housing affordability crisis
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (No paywall)Help build a fairer, stronger society: We all need a home. But where do you turn if you cannot find one you are able to afford? Decades of under-investment by government have created a severe shortage of social housing. Low incomes, social security payments and rental assistance are not keeping pace with rent increases. Thomas Chailloux from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) joins 2SER Breakfast to discuss the change needed to end homelessness to ensure everyone has access to a safe, secure home.
https://2ser.com/the-public-interest-advocacy-centre-on-the-hous…
# Audio NSW, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market.'This is just the beginning': First Nations' real estate megaprojects game-changing for Metro Vancouver
Dan Fumano and Lori Culbert (No paywall)Standing between a pair of gleaming apartment buildings, a condo tower, a park, a future grocery store, and massive holes in the ground that will soon provide a daycare, community centre and hundreds of additional homes, Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said: “This is the future.” After many years and steep legal bills, the Musqueam First Nation reached a landmark settlement with the B.C. government in 2008, for the return of some of its traditional territory. Now the Musqueam are using some of those lands near the University of B.C. to provide badly needed housing for the broader community and generate economic prosperity for their Nation. (Vancouver Sun)
https://vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/indigenous-develop…
# International, Affordable housing, Landlords and agents, Race and ethnicity.What tenants can do if their landlord hikes the rent
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Renters are spending more money to keep a roof over their head, with strong competition for fewer available homes pushing prices to new heights. Tenants are increasingly facing rental hikes both during and between leases, with rents at record highs in many regions and vacancy rates at crisis-level lows. Add rising mortgage rates for landlords and reopened borders into the mix, and there are fears they could be set to rise further. ... Tenants should research rental prices for similar properties in their area, says Tenants’ Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross. “When there is a lot of hype about increased rent, that can prompt landlords and agents to start testing a bit more. Sometimes we see increases that are really overreaching,” Patterson Ross says.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/living/what-tenants-can-do-if-th…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Housing market.Australia’s environment is in a “poor and deteriorating state” – our built environment is a big culprit
Andrew Sadauskas The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Our built environment, particularly urban sprawl and farming, is driving endangered species to extinction, the latest State of the Environment Report has warned. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The five-yearly report was shelved after being handed down to the Morrison government in December last year. It was finally released to the public on Tuesday. It makes for grim reading.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/environment/australias-en…
# Australia, Climate change, Federal Government, Planning and development.Joe is one of many New Zealanders forced to sleep on the streets of Sydney
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)New Zealander Joe Trueman arrived in Australia as a 14-year-old expecting his mother to meet him at the airport. She didn’t turn up. Young and homeless, and with uncertain visa status and no access to government support, he scratched an existence from busking while self-medicating with “drinking and drugging”. ... On Tuesday, a panel of homeless people without permanent residency – called non-residents – described themselves as invisible, as “nobodies” and “non-existent people”. They were often ineligible to work, or worked restricted hours, and couldn’t access government benefits or payments, healthcare or homeless shelters. Health, refugee and community organisations and representatives from the City of Sydney on Tuesday called on the federal government to end discrimination against this group.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/joe-is-one-of-many-new-zealander…
# NSW, Discrimination, Federal Government, Homelessness, Sydney.