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
Housing Futures: The vital role of home in young people’s futures
(No paywall)Supporting people to have a home and the chance to live well has been Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing's purpose since we were founded in the 1950s to give members of the Windrush generation a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home. We knew then as we know now, that having a home can be the catalyst for so many things in life – starting a family, doing well at school, putting down roots and contributing to your community. Yet, as we have heard from young MTVH residents and other young people from across the country, there is real concern that the homes and futures they aspire to feel out of reach.
# International, Affordable housing, Health, Home, Young people.Pick a wealthy area and carry measuring tape: lessons in furnishing your house for free
Marty Smiley The Guardian (No paywall)When our landlord booted us out of our share house last year, a group field trip to Ikea was out of the question. Like many Australians, designing a living space based only on taste and style was a luxury we could not afford. Instead, we had to take to the streets: scavenging, upcycling, trading and buying through online flea markets. While we did make some secondhand purchases, much of what we got we got for free. The fact that furniture can be found by anyone with a hire van and a dream is a godsend for renters. Here’s what we’ve learned to look out for.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/feb/13/pick-a-rich…
# Australia, Rent, Share houses.Buy now, pay later schemes for Australian renters ‘prey on vulnerable’, financial counsellors warn
Stephanie Covery The Guardian (No paywall)New buy now, pay later-style schemes targeting renters are “preying on the vulnerable”, say consumer advocates who have renewed calls for the federal government to overhaul credit laws to better regulate the sector. ... Leo Patterson Ross from the Tenants’ Union told Guardian Australia the rental payments system could do with more flexibility for tenants, especially those with variable incomes, but BNPL-style schemes were “not the way to do that”. “The people who are most likely to have financial pressures that push them to a solution like this are the kind who are least able to ride those extra payments, so it’s least in their interests,” Patterson Ross said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/04/buy-now-p…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market.Kwajo Tweneboa interview: ‘Poor conditions have been brushed under the carpet for so long’
Jess McCcabe Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Kwajo Tweneboa had to live in a home in terrible disrepair. He turned his awful experience into a powerful drive for change. Jess McCabe talks to the tenant shaking up the social housing sector about where his campaign is going next. ... Tenants send Mr Tweneboa photos and evidence of disrepair from across the UK. These are problems they have tried to get fixed by their landlords, but failed. When @KwajoHousing posts the pictures, the severity of the problem is broadcast to the world. But this is not armchair activism. He often visits the tenants to see the situation and then posts detailed video evidence.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/kwajo-tweneboa-i…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs, Health, Mould, Personal stories.Australian families are giving up on the suburban dream – but are new apartments up to the job?
Elias Visontay The Guardian (No paywall)s house prices soar to record levels across capital cities, an increasing number of younger Australians are giving up on the hope of owning a house with a backyard. Raising a family in an apartment is fast becoming the new, compact Australian dream. However, the boom in apartment construction in recent decades – led largely by investors buying off the plan – has brought with it design and quality problems that in many cases have turned the scaled-down dream home into a cramped, unliveable nightmare. Horror stories of structurally defective blocks such as the Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park and legal battles over responsibility have made headlines in recent years. But it need not be that way. Planning in overseas cities, and in some in Australia, is encompassing more liveable regulations that cater to the people who want to live in the apartments they buy, not rent them out. So how do planners, architects and builders make the new Australian dream more appealing?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/12/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Strata, Families, Home ownership, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Planning and development.New podcast series - Renting Matters
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Renting Matters is a series of podcasts produced by the Tenants’ Union of NSW and Legal Aid NSW. The series is part of Legal Aid NSW's Law for Community Workers on the go – which keeps community workers up-to-date with legal topics and changes to the law – and has clocked up over 70 episodes with 23,000 downloads and counting. ... In a relaxed, conversational style, guests share anecdotes, information and tips designed for busy people.
# Video NSW, Eviction, Land lease communities, Privacy and access, Rent, Repairs, Security and safety, Starting a tenancy, Utilities electricity water gas, You want to leave, Fixed-term tenancy.Scrap tax cuts for wealthiest earners and increase low-income support: ACOSS
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Social services groups are urging the federal government to cut generous tax breaks for wealthy earners and increase support for low-income households in a bid to boost spending activity and economic growth. In a pre-budget submission with more than 30 major recommendations, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) encourages the federal government to backflip on upcoming tax cuts for the highest-paid workers, decrease the capital gains tax discount and reduce negative gearing benefits. The group further proposes big spending in a raft of areas aimed at helping the poorest households such as increasing welfare payments, a $7 billion social housing fund and a 50 per cent jump in rent assistance. A 15 per cent levy on investment income of superannuation funds after retirement to help fund aged care is also on the wish list.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scrap-tax-cuts-for-wealt…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market, Landlords and agents, Tax.Disasters can wipe out affordable housing forever unless communities plan ahead – that loss hurts the economy
Shannon Van Zandt The Conversation (No paywall)The tornadoes and wildfires that devastated communities from Kentucky to Colorado in the final weeks of 2021 left thousands of people displaced or homeless. For many of them, it will be months if not years before their homes are rebuilt. That’s especially hard on low-income residents. As a professor of urban planning, I study the impact of disasters on affordable housing, resilience and recovery. [Read on]
https://theconversation.com/disasters-can-wipe-out-affordable-ho…
# International, Affordable housing, Planning and development.