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
Eviction, hardship, and the housing crisis: Building a more crisis-resilient renting system
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)All people deserve to live with stability and peace of mind, including people who rent their homes. The Tenants’ Union of NSW today published a Special Report entitled: 'Eviction, hardship and the housing crisis: Building a crisis-resilient renting system'. In it, we take a new look at eviction. Moving house is generally considered one of life’s most stressful events: the financial costs, and the stress and anxiety associated with moving are substantial, and these are exacerbated when a household is forced to move – when a household is evicted. Our current renting system relies too heavily on eviction. In many ways we have become complacent about the costs associated with eviction – intervening after the fact, rather than looking to see what a better model or approach might look like. You will find the full report at: [https://www.tenants.org.au/news/tenants-union-nsw-publishes-special-report-eviction-hardship-and-housing-crisis]
https://mailchi.mp/tenants.org.au/special-report-eviction-hardsh…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, No-grounds evictions.Calls for end to ‘no-grounds’ evictions in NSW as lockdown moratorium lifts
Stephanie Convery The Guardian (No paywall)Eviction costs the average renter more than $4,000 and up to 30% of renters in New South Wales will experience it – often through no fault of their own – according to a new report from the NSW Tenants’ Union. The report, titled Eviction, Hardship, and the Housing Crisis, calculated the costs of eviction to the renter, the landlord and the public more broadly. It found that the average cost of a move ranges from $3,215 for a single-person household in greater Sydney through to $5,400 for a family household in regional NSW. The Tenants’ Union is calling for the NSW state government to abolish “no-grounds” eviction, bolster hardship provisions for renters, and provide landlord insurance, compensation or similar schemes to prevent the need for unnecessary eviction.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/14/calls-for…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, No-grounds evictions.Time we stopped 'eviction dependency' argues new report
Cassie McCullagh ABC (No paywall)Australia is fast becoming one of the last few OECD countries where landlords can evict tenants without saying why. A brand new report from the NSW Tenants Union argues it is high time we did away with it and replaced with a more sensible approach. The new report also tries to estimate the personal and social costs of eviction.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/mornings/eviction/1…
# TUNSW in the media, Audio NSW, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Personal stories.RSPCA calls for leniency as rental squeeze increases pet surrenders
Kimberley Bernard and Tara Cassidy ABC (No paywall)A quarter of pets surrendered on the Gold Coast this year have been casualties of the tight rental market, according to the Animal Welfare League Queensland (AWLQ). ... More people are citing accommodation stress as a reason to surrender their animals, according to the AWLQ. The RSPCA has called for more leniency from landlords, as the organisation records an increase of animals needing to be rehomed. Gold Coast woman Kim Calkin is weeks away from being evicted from her Coomera home with her two young children and dog. She says of the limited places around, few owners were willing to accept pets, so she is preparing to live from the family's car and trailer.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-13/surrender-numbers-increas…
# Australia, Discrimination, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Pets.NSW students sleeping in cars amid critical rental, accommodation shortage
Fatima Olumee and Nick Rheinberger ABC (No paywall)For the past couple of weeks Maddison Murray has been sleeping in her car. The newly enrolled 20-year-old student has moved from Adelaide to study at the University of Wollongong and has just two weeks to find a home before the semester begins. "I've been searching since mid-December, and it's been quite overwhelming," she said. Before sleeping in her car, Ms Murray was couch-surfing across the south coast of New South Wales and staying in hostels. More recently, the local hostel has reached capacity with international students booking beds.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-16/students-face-critical-re…
# NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Personal stories, Regional NSW, Students.Will city buyers regret moving to the regions post-pandemic?
Sue Williams Domain (No paywall)The latest ABS statistics, which so far only track movements in 2020, found that 233,100 people left the cities to live in regional areas in Australia that year. ... Anecdotally, there have been stories about people fleeing the city and settling elsewhere only to realise they’ve acted in haste. “The difficulty then is that some find they can’t afford to buy again in the city,” said relocations expert Jill Weeks, the author of How to Retire in Australia. “We’re seeing some people come back, undoubtedly, but we’re also seeing this ‘half-back’ trend, where people move back as near to the city as they can afford. It’s for this reason, we always advise people to rent and try first, before they buy.”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/will-city-buyers-regret-mov…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market, Regional NSW.Northern Irish housing association receives £100m investment from pension insurer
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)Northern Irish housing association Apex Housing has secured a £100m debt investment from a specialist insurer to go towards building new homes. ... Based in Derry/Londonderry, Apex owns and manages more than 6,000 homes across Northern Ireland. Its stock is set to increase to more than 7,000 once its current planned programmes are completed.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/northern-irish-housing…
# International, Public and community housing, Housing market.Government announces £174m to house 2,900 rough sleepers
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (Paywall)Councils in England can now bid from a pot of £179m to get rough sleepers into long-term homes, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced. The funding, which will be made available through the government’s £433m Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, will go towards providing 2,900 move-on homes for rough sleepers between 2021 and 2024. It will also fund teams of specialist support staff offering mental health and substance misuse treatment. The homes include refurbished flats from unlettable homes in disrepair, new build properties, converted hotels and schools.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-announces-1…
# International, Homelessness, Housing market, Local Government.