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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
Sydney's high-rise accelerated precincts at transport hubs fall short of affordable housing options, advocates say
Joshua Boscaini ABC (No paywall)Thousands of new homes are slated to be built across Sydney to help ease the housing crunch, but there are questions about whether the plan includes enough affordable housing options. Transport Oriented Development (TOD) Accelerated Precincts come into effect in seven Sydney suburbs today as the NSW government moves to increase housing supply. The rezoned areas will accommodate 60,000 new homes near metro and train stations, and include space for schools, health services and public parks, the NSW government says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-27/sydney-transport-oriented…
# NSW, Starting a tenancy.Sally and Shimon spend half their pension on housing. But their only other option is Melbourne’s streets
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)At 67 and 71, Sally Marano and her husband, Shimon, would not be considered among the nation’s typical renters. The Melbourne couple receive about $1,724 a fortnight on the pension and, as of this week, more than half of it goes straight back out of their account: their rent has risen to $890 a fortnight. “It’s going to be very, very hard,” she says, of paying the rent in their new place in Craigieburn. “Very hard. We don’t know how we’re going to manage it. But we had to move somewhere, otherwise we were going to be in the streets.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/22/sally-and…
# Hot topic Australia, .'I’ve made peace with bowing to authority'; How Rose Jackson became Rose Jackson
Alex McKinnon Everything is Fine (No paywall)Until a couple of weeks ago, very few people had heard of NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson. Sadly for Jackson, that is no longer true. Following a disastrous November 11 interview with Hamish Macdonald on ABC Radio Sydney, in which she said that "a couple of hundred bucks" was a reasonable rate at which to rent a two-bedroom flat in Sydney, Jackson has become a figure of derision online. Jackson’s response has not helped. Rather than issue a stock-standard apology and go to ground, Jackson has been posting through it, claiming she didn’t say what she said, leaving lengthy comments on posts criticising her, and recording videos about how “it's important that we're just all a bit kind to each other”.
https://everythingisfine.beehiiv.com/p/how-rose-jackson-became-r…
# Hot topic NSW, .Perverse incentives leave young Australians locked out of community housing, study finds
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Thousands of young people are missing out on a safe place to live each year because community housing providers get more rent from older adults, research has revealed. The lead author of the University of New South Wales research, Dr Ryan van den Nouwelant, said providers stood to lose 46% of the possible rental income if they chose a young person over an adult on a higher social security payment. Providers received $100 extra each week for housing someone on the aged pension compared with someone on youth allowance, and $22 more for housing a 22-year-old on the disability support pension than a 20-year-old on the same payment, he said.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardi…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Starting a tenancy.More Than 1 in 5 Renters Use Their Entire Paycheck to Pay Rent: Survey
Chase Smith The Epoch Times (No paywall)More than one in five U.S. renters—22 percent—use all of their regular income to pay for rent, according to a recent survey commissioned by real estate brokerage firm Redfin. The survey, conducted in September by Ipsos among 1,802 U.S. residents aged 18 to 65, found that 19 percent of renters reported working a job they disliked to afford rent, while 20 percent said they had taken on a second job to pay for housing. Fourteen percent of renters said they relied on cash gifts from family to pay rent. About 13 percent reported withdrawing money from retirement funds early to cover housing costs, while 12 percent said they had reduced contributions to their retirement savings, prioritizing immediate expenses over long-term financial security.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/more-than-1-in-5-renters-use-th…
# Must read, Hot topic International, .Using the notwithstanding clause to evict the homeless shows the limits of municipal politics
Steve Lorteau & Oliver Chan The Conversation (No paywall)In what has become a mainstay in recent Canadian politics, the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is back in the news. In the last few weeks, several mayors have asked the Ontario government to use the notwithstanding clause to clear homeless encampments. But invoking the clause would override the homeless population’s rights to “life, liberty, and security” of the person, and potentially other rights. Proponents of the idea argue the eviction plans would allow residents to regain access to parks currently occupied by the encampments.
https://theconversation.com/using-the-notwithstanding-clause-to-…
# Must read International, Eviction, Security and safety.Auckland landlord fined over $4000 after renting out flat with mould, plants growing into unit
Nazahryth Bernard NZ Herald (No paywall)A landlord has been fined after renting out an Auckland flat with heavy mould and algae, outside plants growing into the building, and a constantly dripping shower that led to sleep deprivation. Leng Minn Kit was ordered to pay more than $4000 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for multiple breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 after failing to maintain his Beach Haven rental or comply with an improvement notice. Kit’s North Shore property, a converted garage rented to one tenant for more than 15 years, was found to have heavy black mould and algae, swollen skirting boards, and deteriorating window frames during a November 2022 visit by MBIE’s tenancy compliance and investigations team.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-landlord-fined-over-4000-…
# Must read International, Rent.Rent increases are forcing some Florida seniors to move
CBS News (No paywall)A new survey from Retirement Living, which used U.S. Census data, shows more than 35% of Florida seniors aged 65 and older reported "feeling pressured" to move in the past six months due to rent increases.
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/video/rent-increases-are-forcing-s…
# Hot topic, Video International, .