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
A House for Artists review – perky, punchy affordable housing that inspires on all fronts
Rowan Moore The Guardian (No paywall)Substance, spirit and a sense of community distinguish this block of rental flats for cash-strapped creatives in Barking east London, designed by Apparata, with a little help from Grayson Perry. ... Your typical new block of flats is something like this: corridors and lobbies, often windowless, lead to flats where everything is the minimum required by regulations. There is little wit or thought in the layout or pleasure in individual spaces – just the pursuit of the shortest route to squeezing in the maximum possible accommodation – nor in the stuff of which the building is made. The external walls, whether finished in skinny brickwork or some other cladding material, have a just-stuck-together feeling. There is no sense of substance, just an expedient assemblage of building products, which, if you tap them, will probably sound dull and hollow. You have to trust that these outcomes of opaque technical and regulatory procedures won’t burn or leak or fall off, but you have no particular reason to do so. A House for Artists in Barking, east London, designed by the young architectural practice Apparata, sets out to be the opposite.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/dec/12/a-house-for…
# International, Affordable housing.Letting agent prompts tenants to buy landlord Christmas gift: 'GROSS'
Tom Flanagan (No paywall)A Queensland real estate agency has defended sending tenants an email asking if they wanted to gift their landlords a hamper for Christmas. Renters were sent the email by their agent Kanik & Co which listed a range of hampers priced between $50 and $115 which could be given to their landlord. ... Housing policy expert and CEO of the Tenants Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, told Yahoo News Australia it was unfair to suggest landlords had faced the same financial burden during the pandemic. "In the area where this agency operates rents have risen 20 per cent over the last year and property prices 24 per cent. The landlords are doing very well," he said. "It is gross to claim that renters and landlords have both had a tough year." (Yahoo!news) You can read the same story at: [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/13/tenants-asked-to-consider-buying-their-landlords-a-christmas-present-despite-increase-in-rents], [https://junkee.com/landlord-present-tenants/317743] and [https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/real-estate-renter-landlord-christmas-gift/].
https://au.news.yahoo.com/letting-agent-prompts-tenants-send-lan…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Tenants and apartment owners to benefit from new solar power scheme
Nick O'Malley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The third of Australian households now locked out of solar power because they are renters or lack suitable roof-space for solar cells could soon save money and cut greenhouse gas emissions under a shared solar power ownership model. In Lismore an alliance of community groups raised money to have 35.5 kilowatts of solar cells installed on the roof of the offices of North Coast Community Housing, with the extra cash from excess power generated being returned to tenants and community groups such as Brunswick Marine Rescue. Each of the households who were part of the scheme received a credit of about $580 on their annual power bill last year. ... Felicity Stening, managing director of Enova Community Energy, ... says a similar model has worked well in the United States but has not yet taken off in Australia, in part due to regulations that have not kept up with new ownership models. You can read a similar article by James Purtill of ABC Science at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-12-14/solar-gardens-cheap-renewables-savings-renters-apartments/100690556]
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/tenants-and-ap…
# NSW, Rent, Strata, Utilities electricity water gas.Productivity Commission review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement
Productivity Commission (No paywall)As part of its mandate to review nationally significant sector‑wide agreements, the Productivity Commission will conduct its scheduled review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA). ... Under the NHHA, state and territory governments are required to have publicly available housing and homelessness strategies and contribute to improved data collection and reporting. The Review will seek to determine the extent to which the NHHA is meeting its objectives. ... The Review’s final report is expected to be released by 30 June 2022
https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/michael-sukkar-2019/…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Federal Government, Homelessness, Housing affordability, State Government.Regions hit hard as rents increase nationally
Jake McKee (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Renting a home is getting more expensive, particularly in Hawke's Bay, where rent prices have increased 20.4 percent, according to a Massey University report. Its latest Rental Report showed a 9.4 percent rent increase nationally in the year to June. ... Renters United spokesperson Ashok Jacob said the national situation was "unacceptable". He said issues related to, and stemming from, rent affordability, among others, were not going to improve until there price interventions in the housing market by government. (RNZ)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/457811/regions-hit-hard-as-r…
# International, Rent, Housing market.The suburbs where average wage earners can afford to buy property
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)Average wage earners are being forced to look further and further afield to get onto the property ladder as sluggish growth in incomes fails to keep pace with rapid property price gains.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-suburbs-where-average-w…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Regional NSW.Inheritance: the major life event no politician wants to mention
Ross Gittins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More people are receiving significant inheritances these days. They’re getting bigger and will get bigger still. We worry that houses are becoming unaffordable, but the other side of ever-rising house prices is that inheritance has become an important event in most people’s lives. ... Last week’s report from the Productivity Commission was “the first comprehensive research report on wealth transfers” ... The report explains that rising house prices are just the main reason inheritances are getting bigger.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/inheritance-the-majo…
# Australia, Families, Housing market, Tax.Home renters are some of Australia’s unhappiest people, according to Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker
Sam Murden (No paywall)A new survey suggests that renters are some of Australia’s unhappiest people. The survey of over 30,000 respondents, conducted by Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker, analysed the financial positions of renters and homeowners. It found that renters reported lower levels of happiness and more severe levels of money stress compared to homeowners.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/home-renters-are-some-of-aust…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Home ownership.