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
Rental applications – What happens after you apply?
Lauren Vardy (No paywall)Understanding the rental application process ... If you’re looking to rent, the behind the scenes of application approval can feel like a mystery. [Read on] (rent.com.au)
'Sex for rent' ads to be banned in Online Safety Bill
Larissa Kennedy BBC (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Social media firms who allow "sex for rent" adverts will face prosecution under planned new laws. Offering housing in exchange for sexual favours is already against the law. But there has only been one prosecution under current legislation, despite claims the practice is on the rise. The government says it will bring in new laws to curb "sex for rent" ads as part of its Online Safety Bill, which aims to crack down social media abuse and harmful content.
# International, Rent, Landlords and agents.Rents frozen for 85,000 social homes in Northern Ireland
Grainee Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)Rents for Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) tenants are set to be frozen because of the rising cost of living, the government has said. Communities minister Deirdre Hargey announced on Wednesday that there will be no increase in rents for all social housing tenants living in the circa 85,000 homes managed by the NIHE. Ms Hargey urged housing associations to follow suit, as the freeze applies only to the Housing Executive. “As communities minister my priority is to support people, particularly the most vulnerable, who are facing soaring fuel and household bills.
“So today I am announcing that I will freeze Housing Executive rent levels for 2022-23 so as to not place any further financial burden on individuals and families trying hard each day to make ends meet,” she said.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/rents-frozen-for-85000…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.'Do I even have a chance?': Families among hardest hit by regional rental crisis
Rebekah Lowe and Alexander Darling ABC (No paywall)After five months of looking for a home, Sharni Attenborough is fed up. The pregnant mother and her four children have been living in one room of her aunt and uncle's home in a Victorian border town for the past five months, after Ms Attenborough left South Australia for personal reasons with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her challenges reflect the reality of the Wimmera's housing market. "Me and my two boys are sleeping on a queen-sized mattress and my 8-year-old and 7-year-old [daughters] are in a single mattress on the floor," she said. ... Tenants Victoria CEO Jennifer Beveridge said her organisation was hearing that families like Ms Attenborough's were acutely affected by the "historically low" rental vacancy rates in the regions. ... "We're hearing about creative solutions where people are house-sharing, setting up caravans or taking up short-term accommodation, but none of these are sustainable. What we really need to see in country Victoria is a big influx of new housing."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/wimmera-rental-crisis-lea…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, Personal stories.New York City will begin removing homeless people from subways at night
Lauren Aratani The Guardian (No paywall)New York leaders on Friday released a plan to strictly enforce rules on the New York City subway as part of an aggressive effort to remove homeless people from the city’s sprawling transit system. “No more just doing whatever you want,” said the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, at a press conference announcing the plan on Friday in a subway station in lower Manhattan. “Those days are over. Swipe your MetroCard, ride the system and get off at your destination. That’s what this administration is saying.” ... Along with increasing enforcement, Adams and New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said the city and state will expand outreach services to unhoused people who may be living within the subway system. In addition to the nearly 50,000 people who live in the city’s shelter system, an estimated 2,400 people live unsheltered in the city, many turning to the subways at night for warmth. More response teams will offer mental health support to those unhoused, increasing the number of mental health professionals that respond to non-violent 911 calls and expanding “safe haven” beds that provide shelter and on-site social services. The city says it will also create new drop-in centers close to key subway stations that will provide “an immediate pathway for individuals to come indoors”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/18/new-york-city-re…
# International, Homelessness.Busselton rental shortage puts men with disabilities on the brink of homelessness
Ashleigh Davis ABC (No paywall)For Paul Plowman and Stephen Brown, life with an intellectual disability can be challenging enough. Now, they're staring down the possibility of becoming homeless amid crisis-level housing shortages in regional Western Australia. Despite being supported by a disability support service and state and federal governments, the Busselton locals' landlord has decided not to renew their lease after March 28 and they are struggling to secure a new home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/wa-rental-shortage-impact…
# Australia, Rent, Disability, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories.Lessons from a Modern Master of Low-Rise Housing
Anthony Paletta (No paywall)Cities looking to boost density and affordability should look to the work of architect Louis Sauer, who designed stylish modernist housing in the 1960s and ’70s.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-14/the-architect…
# International, Affordable housing, History, Planning and development.‘Our spirits are being broken’: a year after Perth’s homeless tent city was cleared, the crisis remains
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)The camp put the issue on the agenda in Western Australia and led to housing for some. But many still struggle on society’s margins. On Boxing Day 2020, a small group of people concerned about the closure of Perth’s homelessness services over Christmas set up a camp kitchen in a Fremantle park. They half expected nobody to turn up and to be packing up their trestle tables by mid-morning. Instead, an entire community bloomed. The Fremantle tent city at Pioneer Park became a political flashpoint: a month-long, inescapable presence that reminded the Western Australian public of the most vulnerable among them. [Read on]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/20/our-spiri…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness.