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
Eight million Australian homes aren't energy efficient. This sharehouse is just one battling to change their property
Emilia Terzon ABC (No paywall)Marley White is a big fan of environmental hacks on a budget. Along with his four flatmates, Marley has installed shade cloths, replaced 32 lightbulbs, and even salvaged bubble wrap to put up on windows. It's all part of their mission to reduce carbon emissions and power bills. "It saves me a lot of money to think about these things in the long run. It saves the environment," Marley says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/energy-efficiency-carbon-…
# Australia, Rent, Share houses, Utilities electricity water gas.NSW Treasurer Matt Kean backs down from stamp duty overhaul
ABC (No paywall)The new Treasurer Matt Kean has backed away from the government's plan to replace stamp duty with land tax. Dominic Perrottet pushed for the reform when he was treasurer and since becoming Premier had indicated he remains committed to the proposal. But when questioned in budget estimates yesterday on whether the government "would be proceeding" with the plan, Mr Kean said "there are other ways to improve housing affordability".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/sydney-news-nsw-treasurer…
# NSW, Housing affordability, Tax.Housing affordability – is it really just about economics and supply?
Sienna Crabbmor (No paywall)Rarely do governments look at housing through a health lens, even though it is an important social determinant of health. All we tend to hear is about hot property markets pricing out young people from home ownership – instead of the social and health benefits of adequate and affordable housing. In the analysis below Sienna Crabbmor, a final year public health student at Monash University, looks at the Federal Government’s inquiry into housing affordability and argues for a new evaluation that takes into account the health and social impacts. (Croakey Health Media)
https://www.croakey.org/housing-affordability-is-it-really-just-…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Health.Jenny Leong: “Being forced to live in poverty is hugely isolating”
Zoe Victoria SBS (No paywall)Single mother, Simone, is talking to NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong about what it’s like to live in social housing. “I shouldn’t have been looking at a wheelchair for at least another 10 years,” she says. But Simone, who lives with a degenerative disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, has noticed a rapid deterioration of her condition. “Within moving in here, it was two years before I got my first wheelchair.” Simone believes that the more time she and her young son spend in their home, the sicker they get. Because of the cockroaches and rodents in their home she explains, “I can’t even prep food on [sic] the house anymore. I can’t even go and make a sandwich without something trying to run onto your plate.” Simone’s experience is just one featured in the new SBS documentary series Could You Survive on the Breadline?
https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2021/10/28/…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Repairs, Personal stories.St. Paul, Minneapolis poised to enact first rent control policies in Midwest
Max Nesterak (No paywall)From the United States ... St. Paul will be the first city in the Midwest to enact rent control after voters easily passed one of the most stringent policies in the country on Tuesday. Across the river, voters cleared the way for Minneapolis to follow suit by approving a ballot measure that authorizes the City Council to draft a rent control ordinance. ... The ordinance in St. Paul caps annual rent increases at 3% per year and is unique in applying to all rental properties across the city, regardless of size or age of the building.
https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/11/02/st-paul-minneapolis-poi…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing market.SF Had Low Evictions Before COVID, and Even Lower During. Let’s Talk About What Comes After
Max Harrison-Caldwell (Paywall)Early last year when the coronavirus struck, tens of thousands of San Franciscans, like so many others across the globe, suddenly couldn’t pay rent. City leaders made sure that state and federal safety nets had plenty of backup; pretty much everyone agreed that no one should lose their home in a pandemic. But the virus is receding (we hope) in fits and starts, and those emergency protections are starting to recede as well. On Oct. 1, California lifted its pandemic moratorium on non-payment evictions. (The Frisc)
https://thefrisc.com/sf-had-low-evictions-before-covid-and-even-…
# History International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Landlords and agents.Accessories to an Eviction
Fernando Marti (No paywall)Yolanda counseled me, “This is your life. This is your art. Use it.” Yolanda lived as a renter all her life, facing eviction (twice?) on San Jose Avenue, a few blocks from my own house. As artists, Yolanda Lopez and Rene Yañez made their evictions public for all those who couldn’t speak, who couldn’t share their stories, putting themselves out there, creating art out of an eviction yard sale: “Accessories to an Eviction.” (Just Seeds)
# International, Eviction, Personal stories.Record household debt raises fears interest rate rise could lead to recession
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The huge level of debt taken on by home buyers through the COVID pandemic will stop the Reserve Bank from driving up interest rates with experts warning even a small lift in borrowing costs could drive the country back into recession.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/record-household-debt-ra…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.