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
Draft housing changes could see rent rises for federal Indigenous agency staff
Cameron Gooley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A new draft housing policy would increase rent for staff at a federal government Indigenous agency and impact its relationship with First Nations communities, a union has said. While not required to house staff, the National Indigenous Australians Agency has 96 residential properties around the country in areas where there are limited housing options. But a new draft policy sent to staff last month, seen by this masthead, would require workers to pay 50 per cent of the average rental amount for the region they live in or 10 per cent of their total salary - whichever is higher.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/draft-housing-changes-co…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Federal Government, Housing market.The Private Rented Sector in 2022 – whatever next?
Robin Stewart (No paywall)From a legal perspective in many ways 2021 has been a year of ‘more of the same’ for the private rented sector: more delays to abolition of section 21 notices, an extension for most of the year to the restrictions on possession claims which began in 2020, and the same enforcement trends continuing: further growth in rent repayment orders and civil penalties, while some laws are barely enforced at all. It is impossible to rule out another year of further covid-related legislative delays, but 2022 will definitely see some major legal developments for the private rented sector in England and Wales. (Anthony Gold Blog)
https://anthonygold.co.uk/latest/blog/the-private-rented-sector-…
# International, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, Smoke alarms.Why Did the New York Federal Reserve Stop Surveying Evictions?
Dyvonne Body, Rebecca Landau, Edison Reyes and Vincent Reina (No paywall)From the United States ... Federal Reserve Bank of New York White Paper entitled" 'Current responses to housing insecurity: A focus on vulnerable residential renters and landlords' ... Something I have periodically kept my eye on over the course of the pandemic has been the results of the New York Federal Reserve’s Housing Survey. Amazingly, they just happened to add some questions about evictions to their survey in the time period immediately preceding the pandemic. This is huge because we have very little national level evidence on evictions. (Crisis Notes)
https://www.crisesnotes.com/why-did-the-new-york-federal-reserve…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Landlords and agents.All I want for Christmas is a landlord register
Ollie Neas (No paywall)From New Zealand ... While tenants must jump through hoops to prove they’re worth renting to, it’s near impossible to know whether a prospective landlord is actually a slumlord, or worse. This festive season, Ollie Neas is wishing for the gift of change.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/money/22-12-2021/all-i-want-for-christm…
# International, Bond, Tribunal NCAT, Landlords and agents, Personal stories.Welsh Budget: government to spend more than £1bn on new social homes over next three years
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)In its draft Budget published today, the Welsh government said it will spend £310m in Social Housing Grant in 2022-23, up from £250m this year. The Budget also confirmed plans to spend £330m on Social Housing Grant in 2023-24 and £325m in 2024-25. A further £35m will be spent over the next three years on the Welsh government’s Land for Housing scheme, which helps housing associations buy land. Together, this makes up a capital investment of more than £1bn over the next three years to support the government’s target of building 20,000 low-carbon social homes by the end of this parliament.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/welsh-budget-government-to-…
# International, Public and community housing, Housing market.Indigenous grandmother gets secure housing in Coffs Harbour — just in time for Christmas
Claudia Jambor ABC (No paywall)A three-bedroom, one bathroom home might seem like an average home for some, but for Aunty Donna "it feels like a castle". Walking through the door into her new home in a quiet suburban street in Coffs Harbour, on the NSW Mid North Coast, late last month was a life-changing moment for the Anaiwan woman. ... Aunty Donna said she was grateful to be in a home after eight years on the Coffs Harbour social housing waitlist, which has now blown out to a 10-year wait for people desperate for secure housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-22/aunty-donna-gets-secure-h…
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing, Personal stories.Impacts of new and emerging assistive technologies for ageing and disabled housing
Catherine Bridge, Fredrick Zmudzki, Tracy Huang, Ceridwen Owen and Debbie Faulkner AHURI (No paywall)AHURI Report: This research looks at how smart home assistive technologies (AT) may be best used in both the aged care and disability sectors to reduce the need for support services. It includes an assessment of ease of use, quality-of-life and cost benefit analysis, and contributes to the development of policy options that could facilitate effective adoption of smart home AT in Australia. Here, you also will find a link to the report.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/WhctKKXHHcrhXgqfpf…
# Research alert Australia, Disability, Home, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Older people.Gavel-lanche: The year Sydney’s auction market went crazy
Kate Burke Domain (No paywall)‘Staggering’. ‘FOMO’. ‘Extreme’: Observers and experts reached for the superlatives to describe the gavel-lanche of auction action across Sydney during the year. Sydney’s auction market soared to new heights, with a shortage of homes going under the hammer and strong competition among buyers fuelling a bumper year of results - the likes of which had never been seen by many in the industry. Amid all the health concerns and lockdown uncertainty of 2021, there has been one constant: the stand-out prices people have been prepared to pay for in demand homes.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/gavel-lanche-the-year-sydne…
# NSW, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.