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
How to fight the affordable housing and climate crises at once
Rachel M Cohen (No paywall)From the United States ... It's all about energy bills. ... The nation’s affordable housing crisis has gotten some semblance of attention — with journalists writing stories on the rising cost of rent, the scarce supply of new housing, the looming threat of eviction — but one aspect of the crisis has gone consistently overlooked. On top of the severe housing shortage that currently exists, nearly 6 million homes nationwide have moderate to serious home health hazards. They require repairs that, if left ignored, will make them uninhabitable, and eventually they’ll disappear from the market altogether. ... [And] as the stakes of the climate crisis have grown clearer, the last 10 years have marked a sea change for the energy efficiency movement. While in prior decades policymakers could ignore home upgrades when they deemed weatherization not “cost-effective,” today they have to wrestle with the fact that the low-income renters living in subsidized apartments are using even more energy than other households, typically because their units are older and built with less efficient tech. (Vox)
https://www.vox.com/23025378/energy-efficiency-utilities-repairs
# International, Rent, Repairs, Utilities electricity water gas, Climate change, Housing market.Young voters believe homeownership out of reach, name cost of living top priority
David Crowe The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Surging property prices have ended the homeownership dreams of two-thirds of young Australians – an age group that names cost of living as its top priority in the election. Despite assurances from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese about making housing more affordable, younger voters are giving up on the idea of ever getting on the property ladder, the latest results from the Herald’s Resolve Political Monitor reveal. The survey shows 67 per cent of voters aged 18 to 34 believe younger Australians who don’t already own their own home will never be able to do so in their area. ... Nicole Gurran, a Sydney University professor of urban planning whose research includes affordable housing, said the evidence shows owning your own home has become much more difficult. “Unless you have access to inherited wealth or an astronomically high income, you face hurdles that just didn’t exist even a decade ago. Neither side of politics has anything serious on the table at all that would correct the structural barriers to first-home ownership for moderate or even high-income earners.” ... [City Futures Research Centre’s Duncan Maclennan and Hal Pawson said:] “A system that raises housing costs for all Australians, that raises instability and lowers productivity does not serve the nation well”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/young-voters-believe-hom…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.The latest rental report provides good news for investors but a blow to tenants
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)The latest Domain Rental Report has revealed that prices have hit a record high throughout Australia, with the strongest annual growth in 13 years. ... While the dramatic rent increases are good news for investors, they’re too often proving disastrous for tenants, cleaving a wider gulf in Australia between the haves – who own property – and the have-nots, who are forced to fork out for the higher rents.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/the-latest-rent-report-provides-g…
# Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Housing co-ops could solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis
Margaret Kohn The Conversation (No paywall)From Canada ... The housing affordability crisis seems impossible to solve. Policies intended to help people priced out of the market often serve to fan the flames and increase costs. ... To make housing truly affordable, governments need to take a different approach. The budget takes a small step in the right direction by allocating $500 million of direct funding and $1 billion in loans to create more non-profit housing co-operatives. Non-profit housing co-operatives are mixed-income, multi-unit projects that are jointly managed by residents. In the early years, seed funding came from unions and churches. But starting in the 1970s, the federal government provided financial support in the form of government-backed mortgages and subsidies to low-income tenants.
https://theconversation.com/housing-co-ops-could-solve-canadas-h…
# International, Public and community housing, Affordable housing, Housing market.Older Australians on the tough choices they face as energy costs set to increase
Ross Gordon The Conversation (No paywall)Australian aged care policy and programs are increasingly focused on what’s known as “successful ageing” – helping people feel satisfied, happier and healthier as they age. The goal is not just living longer, but also living better. An essential part of ageing successfully is having enough energy for cooking, heating, cooling, cleaning, and leisure activities.
https://theconversation.com/older-australians-on-the-tough-choic…
# Australia, Utilities electricity water gas, Older people.Strategies to combat mortgage interest-rate hikes
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)No less than the Reserve Bank of Australia last week warned that mortgage repayments will go up and that property prices could consequently go down. Indeed, New Zealand just raised its official rates by more than it has done in 22 years. If you are an existing homeowner, falling property prices do not mean much, provided you can continue to meet mortgage repayments on your home and do not become a forced seller in a falling market. So, what are some of the best strategies to help combat looming rate hikes?
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/strategies-to-combat-mort…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.How a tiny sink dent sparked a bitter court battle after landlord demanded renter pay $1,350 to fix it
Jade Hobman (No paywall)A renter has won a bitter court battle against his landlord who demanded he give up his entire bond deposit to fix a tiny dent in the kitchen sink. The Sydney homeowner wanted the tenant to cough up $1,350 to replace the sink, according to a viral Reddit post this week. But the renter refused to hand over the money and the case went before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. (Daily Mail Australia)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10721933/Renter-takes-p…
# NSW, Bond, Tribunal NCAT.COVID surge exposes 'disorganised' WA response in remote communities
Erin Parke ABC (No paywall)Karen Sebastian breaks down in tears as she contemplates life after COVID-19. "I don't know where we'll go after this," she sobs. "Me and the kids will probably go squat at a house or try camp out with some family, if they'll have us." The Broome woman has been homeless for 10 years, but was taken on a 220-kilometre taxi ride to stay at a rundown hotel after contracting COVID-19. She and her teenage sons went into isolation in the tourist accommodation for a week as part of the WA government's pandemic response. The ABC has confirmed hundreds of people are being relocated by bus or plane to a network of government-booked hotel rooms across regional towns in a strategy that's highlighted the chronic overcrowding and housing shortage in many Aboriginal communities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-17/covid-wa-government-hotel…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.