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
As backyards get smaller and trees are removed, urban heat islands could be making suburbs hotter
Prianka Srinivasan and Hellena Souisa ABC (No paywall)Flanked by two looming townhouses, Jyoti Dhakal's suburban bungalow might look out of place. The engineering consultant moved to Clayton in south-east Melbourne in 2013, with her husband and two young children. Back then, she said the neighbourhood felt like a typical Melbourne suburb, dominated by family homes and single-storey units. But things have quickly changed. ... There are currently no controls in Clayton to regulate the removal of trees on private land, and some residents are noticing gardens being eaten up by this demand for higher-density housing. "You see more of concrete buildings, [so] obviously there is … bound to be less vegetation," Ms Dhakal said. "It is a bummer." ... "It is hotter because you have that concrete built over there," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-11/townhouses-development-he…
# Australia, Climate change, Health, Housing market, Planning and development.Urban equality: equity of acxcess to green space in Melbourne
Farahnaz Sharifi, Wendy Stone, Christian (Andy) Nygaard and Iris Levin (No paywall)Throughout history, cities have struggled to provide equality for all citizens. Issues of equality extend to the ways that urban form can affect residents’ experiences and wellbeing [1]. At the time of writing, this issue is crucial, with Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory all emerging from extended lockdowns due to Covid-19. For residents of metropolitan Melbourne lockdowns have become a familiar tool in the race to contain the pandemic with residents having experienced more than 200 days of some of the strictest lockdown conditions globally. The issue of inequity in access to green space is particularly important in cities like Melbourne, where heatwaves are likely to reach 50°C by 2040. ... (Cities People Love)
https://citiespeoplelove.co/article/urban-equality-equity-of-acc…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Planning and development.Canberra developers urged to build 'better quality' apartments as rising house prices push first-home buyers out of market
Harry Frost ABC (No paywall)With rapidly rising property prices making apartments the only option for many first-home buyers in Canberra, housing advocates say potential owners should be demanding better quality and liveability from new residential developments.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-09/canberra-first-home-buyer…
# Australia, Strata, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.House price growth three times faster than wages over four decades
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The price of a typical house in Sydney has multiplied by 17 times in the past 40 years, almost three times faster than wages. Analysis by social research firm McCrindle revealed that wage growth has failed to keep pace with the housing boom across all Australian capital cities. ... The report, titled The Fading Australian Dream, combines current and historical figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, property analytics firm CoreLogic, and economist Peter Abelson. [You will find the report at: https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blogarchive/the-fading-australian-dream/] ... Joel Pringle, the advocacy manager at the Benevolent Society working on the EveryAGE Counts campaign against ageism, said the insecurity and expense of the private rental market was a big cause of homelessness. “High rents have a big impact on people who have had insecure housing over a long time,” Mr Pringle said. “Housing costs are a huge part of homelessness but also unexpected life events like relationship breakdown or losing a job.” ... People over 55, especially women, were one of the fastest-growing groups of homeless people in the 2016 census, and people aged 55 to 64 are one of the biggest cohorts on unemployment benefits. The EveryAGE Counts campaign is advocating for NSW to adopt the Home at Last program running in Victoria, which provides advice, support and advocacy for older people who are homeless or at risk. You will find a similar report about Melbourne housing affordability plummeting at: [https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-housing-affordability-plummets-women-hit-hardest-20211107-p596po.html]
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/house-price-growth-three-tim…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people.Alert level 3 restrictions reasonable grounds to refuse viewings, Tenancy Tribunal rules
Jake McKee (No paywall)From New Zealand ... A landlord's claim his tenant was unreasonably refusing viewings of his central Auckland apartment due to Covid-19 risks has been dismissed by the Tenancy Tribunal. The landlord* put his leasehold apartment up for sale but prospective buyers had not been able to view it. The Residential Tenancies Act states a landlord may enter a premise to show it to prospective buyers if the tenant consents, but they can reasonably withhold consent. The landlord went to the Tribunal alleging his tenant was being unreasonable. In emails provided to RNZ by the landlord, the tenant* said he did not consent to viewings because of risks related to Covid-19 and the Auckland region being at alert level 3. A Tribunal order, obtained by RNZ and yet to be made publicly, showed the adjudicator found "the tenant had reasonable grounds to withhold consent". "Acting reasonably, many people would refuse consent in this situation to unknown parties," they said. (RNZ)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/455003/alert-level-3-restric…
# Must read, Legal significance International, Privacy and access, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19.Housing and homelessness left behind in post-Covid recovery
Kay Harrison (No paywall)‘Building back better’ is not in our sights for housing and homelessness despite the pandemic’s singular opportunity to kickstart overdue investment. That’s according to UNSW School of Built Environment housing policy expert Professor Hal Pawson, who says the pandemic has been insufficient in triggering the housing policy reform needed. ... The pandemic created an extraordinary stimulus for ‘outside-the-box’ policy innovations. Rapidly enacted and large-scale emergency responses challenged wisdom about what was politically and economically feasible. But such interventions failed to recognise or address fundamental housing system flaws, Prof. Pawson says. “As revealed by our work, a remarkable 40,000 homeless people were assisted with emergency accommodation from March to October 2020,” he says. But inadequate social housing infrastructure and income support meant less than a third could be transitioned to longer-term housing ... (UNSW Newsroom)
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/housing-and-hom…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Housing market, State Government.25,000 Section 21 eviction notices have been handed out since Theresa May vowed to scrap them
Liam Geraghty (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... No-fault evictions allow landlords to evict their tenants without giving a reason but government plans to axe them have now slipped into 2022. It’s been two-and-a-half years since Theresa May’s government promised to scrap ‘no-fault’ evictions but renters will still be facing the prospect of being forced out without a reason in 2022. Since April 2019, more than 25,000 landlord possession claims have been heard in county courts in England and Wales, according to government statistics, with more on the cards in the months ahead. The Big Issue’s Stop Mass Homelesness campaign has been calling for ‘no-fault’ evictions – or section 21 evictions as they are also known – to be suspended to prevent rising homelessness in the next few months following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. ... Campaigners Generation Rent and Shelter have been among the groups campaigning as the Renters Reform Coalition to end the use of section 21 to evict tenants. Dan Wilson Craw, deputy director of Generation Rent, said: “The longer renters wait for the government to abolish Section 21, the more people will have their lives uprooted at their landlord’s whim. Many more will continue living in squalid conditions, afraid that a complaint will only result in an eviction notice. Renters want long-term homes and reliable landlords, so will be frustrated at yet another delay. (The Big Issue)
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/25000-section-21-eviction-…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, No-grounds evictions.Historic Firsts Highlight U.S. Mayoral Races
Josyana Joshua (No paywall)This year’s mayoral races in the U.S. pitted incumbents and veteran city officials against newcomers with bold plans to overhaul policies on issues like policing and housing. Several were candidates who made history in their respective cities. Also, read the story here entitled: 'As Housing Costs Spike, Voters Look for Hope in Rent Control' at: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-04/rent-control-scored-a-big-election-night-victory]. (Bloomberg CityLab)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-02/atlanta-bosto…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Local Government.