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
Domestic abuse: new UK housing plan doesn’t go far enough to keep survivors safe
Cassandra Wiener and Anna Minton The Conversation (No paywall)Domestic abuse survivors in England may find it easier to move away from abusive partners as a result of new proposals from the British government. Under plans, which are out for consultation, the local connection test would be scrapped. ... But while survivors and charities alike have welcomed the new proposal, they caution that the government-imposed cap on the amount of benefits a person can claim, combined with the acute shortage of social housing in London, the south east and parts of the south west, means that even without the test, many domestic abuse survivors will still be unable to move.
https://theconversation.com/domestic-abuse-new-uk-housing-plan-d…
# International, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Women.Aged care sector frustrated but 'not surprised' calls for wage increases ignored in federal budget
Charmayne Allison, Sandra Moon, and Mikaela Ortolan ABC (No paywall)The aged care sector says it is disappointed, but not surprised, desperate calls for increased wages have gone unanswered in the latest federal budget. The Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), made up of six aged care peak bodies, said the budget delivered yesterday leaves workers "on the edge of poverty", and could see more older Australians neglected.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-30/federal-budget-fails-to-d…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market, Older people, Women, Work, employment.At a glance: the social housing regulation reforms
Lucie Heath and Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Today the government has set out how it intends to deliver the policies outlined in the Social Housing White Paper. Lucie Heath and Grainne Cuffe look through the detail
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/at-a-glance-the-…
# International, Public and community housing.University of Tasmania's $7 million spend on Hobart hotel revealed after ombudsman overturns secrecy
Alexandra Humphries ABC (No paywall)The ABC can reveal the University of Tasmania forked out almost $7 million to refurbish Hobart's MidCity Hotel for student accommodation only to turn it back into a hotel after the pandemic hit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-28/utas-spend-on-hotel-revea…
# Australia, Housing market, Students.#MakeRentingFair#MyRentedHome social media week of action! Monday Apr 4 - Sunday Apr 9
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)It's happening! We've got our first Make Renting Fair action of the year coming up in the week of 4-9 April. NSW is in the midst of a rental crisis, and now that we're officially one year out from the next NSW election, it’s vital that renting issues are squarely on the public agenda over the coming year. We’re asking our community of renters: what does your rented home mean to you?
https://mailchi.mp/tenants.org.au/make-renting-fair-making-a-com…
# Must read NSW, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Home, State Government.Vulnerable tenancies a growing issue despite COVID recovery
Pamela Hunter Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)On 11th March 2020 the World Health Organisation declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic. The world was in crisis, and no one was exempt. As a result, the NSW Government recognised the importance of providing everyone with the basic human right of sustainable housing and introduced a moratorium on evicting tenants who were financially impacted by COVID-19. The moratorium highlighted that everyone deserves the right to stable housing, including tenants. Whilst the moratorium and transition period may have ceased on 12th February 2022, the human rights objective of it should not. Tenants should still have access to stable housing and the peace of mind that comes with it. Many vulnerable tenants that VERTO works with were in crisis well before March 2020 and will continue to face personal crises into the future. A crisis should not have to make the world stage before our most vulnerable people have safeguards implemented.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/vulnerable-tenancies-growing-iss…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Human rights, State Government.Housing affordability takes a global hit from Covid-19
Hal Pawson The Fifth Estate (No paywall)With newly released evidence of slowing house price inflation in early 2022, it could be that Australia’s latest property boom is subsiding. Especially with higher interest rates expected within months, it seems highly likely. But any plateau or even gentle decline will be starting from property values dramatically higher than before the pandemic. Far from triggering a property market crash, as widely expected, the 2020 Covid-19 recession turns out to have activated an extraordinary residential price surge. And, as highlighted in our new international comparative research, Australia is far from alone in this. The equivalent Covid-19 house price increases in New Zealand and the United States have been even greater.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/residential-2/housing-a…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.'It's a human rights issue': Renters' wellbeing focus of petition
Miriam Webber Canberra Times (No paywall)Rental agreements need to recognise housing is a human rights issue, and that principle should be enshrined in the ACT's Residential Tenancies Act, an e-petition to the ACT government says. Principal petitioner Dr Adam Hughes Henry said the strain of having to move his family last year, including young children and elderly mother, had moved him to action. ... Sponsoring MLA Andrew Braddock said he had chosen to get behind the call for a wellbeing clause because of "the need to recognise that we're talking about somebody's home, when you're talking about rental agreements".
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7658070/its-a-human-right…
# Australia, Rent, Home, Human rights, State Government.