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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
Enhancing the coordination of housing supports for individuals leaving institutional settings
Cameron Duff, Sean Randall, Nicholas Hill, Chris Martin and Robyn Martin AHURI (No paywall)This research developed policy recommendations for enhancing housing assistance for individuals leaving institutional settings of residential treatment for mental health and/or substance use problems, the criminal justice system and out-of-home care. It also offers recommendations for enhancing the ways Specialist Homelessness Services address the unique support needs of diverse cohorts moving between these institutional settings.
# Australia, Public and community housing, Health, Homelessness.Evicted Oak Flats mum Bec Darby told to either put disabled son in care or stay in refuge amid rental crisis
Grace Crivellaro Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)Single mum Bec Darby, 33, has lived for the last seven years in a private rental property with her 14-year-old son Hunter and her two daughters, aged eight and two. Hunter uses a wheelchair due to an incurable disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and their rental had been modified with the landlord’s permission to meet Hunter’s needs. Now the family are facing the impossible task of finding a rental suitable for a wheelchair. ... The family was notified on Monday they had to vacate due to the landlord needing the property back for family reasons. ... Housing Trust chief executive Michele Adair said it’s a sad indictment that there are no building standards in New South Wales that require developers to make new homes accessible.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7772042/evicted-oak-fl…
# NSW, Rent, Disability, Housing market, Regional NSW.‘Heartbreaking choice’: families forced to give up dogs and cats as Australia’s rental crisis bites
Tory Shepherd The Guardian (No paywall)Families are being forced to give up hundreds of dogs, cats and other pets as Australia’s rental crisis bites. In states where landlords are free to always refuse pets, “people are turning up with broken hearts”, said the RSPCA South Australia spokesperson, Carolyn Jones. “They are saying to us that this is the hardest decision they’ve ever had to make.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/10/heartbrea…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market, Pets.South Australians forced to camp in tents amid housing affordability crisis and cost of living pressures
Sara Tomevska and Stacey Pestrin ABC (No paywall)Meagan pays $300 per week to camp in a tent at a caravan park in South Australia's western suburbs. But caravan parks only allow a maximum stay of 55 days, forcing Meagan to come and go. Meagan, who asked for her surname not to be used, has had to join the waitlist for public housing for the first time. "I've always rented privately, I've never been in the public housing list [before]," she said. South Australia has about 16,000 people on the public housing waitlist with about 3,600 of those deemed priority one. The average wait time for category one cases in SA is about seven months. Meagan, a single mum who receives a disability payment, said she had applied for about 40 properties around the western suburbs since her previous lease was not renewed.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-10/sa-opposition-calls-for-m…
# Australia, Land lease communities, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market.Short-term rentals, long-term anguish for Australian towns struggling to find homes for locals
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)Tourism is the lifeblood of Kangaroo Valley. Travellers flock to the lush greenery of the New South Wales town for the trails, rivers and wineries. It also hosts folk and arts festivals, is a popular wedding spot, and is a short drive from south coast beaches. But Kangaroo Valley finds itself in a bind brought on by its own popularity – it’s almost impossible to find somewhere to live there. ... [Elsewhere] Ben Bartl, of the Tenants Union of Tasmania, says Hobart has the highest density of short-term rentals of any capital city. “Airbnb and short-term accommodation more generally has been a disaster for Tasmania,” he says. “We have historically low vacancy rates, property prices have gone through the roof, and more and more tenants are being forced into transitional accommodations. They’re moving into caravan parks, they’re couch-surfing, and in the worst-case scenarios, they are being made homeless – there are people being made to live in tents,” Bartl says.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jun/11/short-term-re…
# Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Short-term holiday letting.Minister rules out rent controls in England
Tim Clark Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The government has ruled out rent controls as an option to help alleviate the cost of living crisis, a minister has confirmed. ... Eddie Hughes, who is rough sleeping and housing minister .. said recent international examples have suggested that rent controls can have an inadvertent negative impact on housing supply, however the statement didn’t give details of which studies and where. Mr Hughes added that the government is committed to supporting tenants, stating: “We will abolish ‘no fault’ evictions by removing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, providing security for tenants in the private rented sector and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of retaliatory eviction.” Last year, the Scottish government announced plans to introduce a national system of rent controls in the country as part of its new strategy for the rented sector. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has also repeatedly said that he would like to introduce rent controls in the capital. However, he does not currently have the power to introduce such measures.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/minister-rules-out-ren…
# International, Rent, Human rights.Talkback caller finds unexpected help after telling story of living in her car
Emma Wynne and Patti Brook ABC (No paywall)Moss was sitting alone in her car and listening to ABC Radio Perth on Wednesday when she heard a discussion about rental affordability and decided to call in and tell her story. "At the moment I'm living in my car," she told presenter Nadia Mitsopoulos. "A month ago, my landlord put the rent up $50 a week and I'm on a pension," she said. She had been paying $350 a week and told her landlord that she could pay $370, but not $400. "When I told them that I couldn't afford to pay any more rent, I got a termination notice. This is after 12 years," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-12/70yo-living-in-car-finds-…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, Women.New right-to-buy scheme could trap people in poverty – here’s what could really make houses affordable
Alexander Tziamalis The Conversation (No paywall)The UK government has announced plans to make mortgages available to people on benefits, allowing more of them to buy their own homes. Housing association tenants will also be offered the chance to buy their properties at a discount. ... In principle, a right-to-buy scheme could indeed be a useful tool to help people, provided all of the sold properties are replaced. But the real solution to affordable housing for everyone is far simpler – and comes down to building more houses. ... [And, indeed] Looking at the history of right-to-buy policies, another obvious issue is that many people will seek to make a profit by buying the property at a substantial discount and then selling it as soon as they can. About 40% of properties sold through right-to-buy in the past have ended up in the hands of private landlords who tend to charge much more than housing association rents. In such a scenario, the UK government would have spent as much as £3 billion of public money creating a windfall for the few who were able to make a profit from buying and selling. Also, read Gavin Smart's comment entitled: 'Is Right to Buy for housing association residents the answer to affordable homeownership?' in 'Inside Housing' at: [https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comment/is-right-to-buy-for-housing-association-residents-the-answer-to-affordable-homeownership-75958]. Read Jack Simpson's article entitled: 'Housing associations not consulted on Right to Buy extension plan, says NHF' in 'Inside Housing' at: [https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-associations-not-consulted-on-right-to-buy-extension-plan-says-nhf-76038].
https://theconversation.com/new-right-to-buy-scheme-could-trap-p…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Home ownership, Housing market.