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
Watchdog slams government’s ‘piecemeal’ attempts to improve conditions for private renters
Alex Turner Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The National Audit Office (NAO) has told the government it needs to do much more to improve conditions for renters, in a sharply critical analysis of its attempts to regulate the private rented sector (PRS). In the report, issued today, the public-spending watchdog highlighted the fact that more than one in eight (13%) privately rented homes have serious health hazards, compared with 5% of social housing and 10% of owner-occupied homes. Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said the statistic was “concerning” and that the government relied on tenants being able to enforce their own rights when, in fact, many faced significant barriers to doing so. ... [Also] a white paper setting out the government’s reform plans for private renters, which includes a ban on no-fault evictions, will not be published until next year, it was confirmed last month.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/watchdog-slams-governm…
# International, Rent, Health, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, No-grounds evictions.NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet reveals major cabinet reshuffle with eye on 2023 state election
Ashleigh Raper ABC (No paywall)The New South Wales Premier ... establishes his team to take to the 2023 state election. ... Upper House MP Natasha Maclaren-Jones becomes the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, Miranda MP Eleni Petinos will be the Minister for Small Business and Fair Trading ... The Premier has also created new ministries including a cities portfolio, to implement the six cities strategy across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and Wollongong, which will be taken on by former planning minister Rob Stokes. Anthony Roberts will make a return to the planning portfolio [but also takes on 'Minister for Homes'] ... Read the same story in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/major-reshuffle-as-new-blood-enter-perrottet-s-cabinet-20211219-p59iuk.html]. You will find the full NSW cabinet list in the report in 'The Australian Financial Review' at: [https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/perrottet-stamps-authority-with-sweeping-cabinet-reshuffle-20211219-p59iu3]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-19/dominic-perrottet-announc…
# NSW, State Government.Owners blocked from moving into landmark Sydney apartment building
Matt O'Sullivan and Sue Williams The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Owners of a landmark apartment block in Sydney’s eastern suburbs face a long wait before they can move in after the NSW building watchdog ordered an immediate halt to their $50 million redevelopment which was almost complete. The watchdog has handed the owners of the Skye, which overlooks Tamarama Beach, a stop-work notice and an order preventing them from shifting in because fire sprinklers were not installed in seven of the building’s nine floors, which was deemed a “serious defect”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/owners-blocked-from-moving-i…
# NSW, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.How leaseholds bought at cost, with mortgages, are still tenancies – and why that should change
Derek Whayman The Conversation (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Long leasehold is a prominent feature of the property market in England and in Wales. Homes owned under leasehold in each country number around 4.6m and 235,000 respectively. (Scotland has a completely different law of property, while in Northern Ireland, the law of leasehold is regulated very differently.) Owners of even long leases – what you get when you purchase a leasehold house or flat – are, technically speaking, tenants. This is so even though leasehold is a form of property ownership and the terms of long leases are typically 99 or even 999 years. Long leaseholders may be obliged to pay rent (labelled “ground rent”) and when the lease expires it reverts to the landlord.
https://theconversation.com/how-leaseholds-bought-at-cost-with-m…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Housing market.Report shows rents have increased 9.4% nationally in past year
Mike Hosking (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Renters United spokesperson Ashok Jacob told Mike Yardley rents have been rising faster than wages for a long time. “This is more of a slow boil crisis than something more acute, something that’s been going on for a long time that’s caused by decades and decades of mismanagement and poor policy.”
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio…
# Audio International, Rent, Housing market.Port Stephens facing a social housing Christmas crisis, MP warns
Charlie Elias (No paywall)The NSW Government has been accused of pushing Port Stephens into a Christmas housing crisis due to its ongoing failure to invest in social housing in the area. State MP Kate Washington said that desperate families in Port Stephens were languishing in poverty and some were becoming homeless because there's just no affordable housing available. (Port Stephens Examiner)
https://www.portstephensexaminer.com.au/story/7548866/ports-soci…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Regional NSW.Renting damages your wellbeing
Kassia Byrnes (No paywall)As a Millennial living in Sydney, I’ve pretty much known from the beginning that I’d never be able to own a house unless I won the lottery. This is a pretty confusing state to be in, seeing as our parents were still of the generation that could still just assume they’d grow up, get married, and buy a house. This isn’t doomsday thinking either, or anything to do with avocado toast, it’s just reality — and becoming truer every year. In the past 12 months, Australian housing prices had the highest growth rate in 20 years. At the same time as prices rise, incomes aren’t increasing to meet them. While in the 90s a homeowner only needed to spend a third of their earnings paying back their debt, these days new homebuyers have to put aside almost twice what they earn.
So no, it’s not laziness, or complaining, or entitlement — it’s hard fact. According to a new study, it’s also impacting wellbeing.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/homeowners-are-at-a-distinct-adv…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Home ownership, Housing market, Young people.The return of the 10-minute eviction
Eli Saslow (No paywall)From Phoenix, United States ... The city’s last eviction moratorium of the pandemic had expired and the rent forgiveness program was running out of money, so Lennie McCloskey changed into his bulletproof vest and headed out to work. He climbed into his truck and counted through his daily stack of eviction orders. “Fifteen, sixteen — jeez Louise,” he said as he stacked them on the passenger seat. He strapped an extra magazine of ammunition to his belt and picked up his radio to call dispatch. "Constable 33, heading out,” he said. “Looks like a busy day.” [Read on] (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/15/phoenix-evictio…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19.