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
Mowbray renter struggles to afford winter energy bills without solar
Brinley Duggan (No paywall)The resident of a Mowbray community housing residence provided by the state government says more can be done to help reduce daunting electricity bills. Jean Crawford rents a two-bedroom unit in a complex at Mowbray and said she had been locked in a perpetual cycle of trying to keep herself healthy and abiding by her yearly budgeted cost for electricity. ... Ms Crawford recently overcame an ongoing battle to have rotted insulation in house replaced, and she said the simple energy saving solution had already been noticeable, but the installation of solar panels and subsequent reduction of her electricity bill, for example, would change her life. (The Examiner)
https://www.examiner.com.au/story/7461075/hard-to-buy-food-inves…
# Australia, Public and community housing.The lenders who pay mortgage insurance for you
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)There is a new battleground in the bid to attract mortgage customers in a fiercely competitive home loan market: Covering the cost of Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance (LMI). LMI is payable on mortgages with a loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) of more than 80 per cent, and can set a borrower back about $11,000 on a loan of $700,000 with an LVR of 87.5 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/the-lenders-who-pay-mortg…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing market.ACT law change possible after Canberra developer 3 Property Group rescinds more contracts for off-the-plan properties
Antoinette Radford, Elizabeth Byrne and Michael Inman ABC (No paywall)Sheridan Burnett purchased an off-the-plan apartment from 3 Property Group's Allegro development. The developer has now pulled out of the deal, leaving Ms Burnett and others like her angry at being left high and dry.
# Australia, Strata, Housing market.Evergrande’s rags-to-riches founder in race to save his empire
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Four years after vying with Jack Ma for the title of Asia’s richest man, Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan’s fortune is plunging and his sprawling real estate empire is on the verge of collapse. It’s a stunning reversal for a man who fought his way from poverty in rural China to build one of the world’s largest property companies.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/evergrande-s-rags-to-r…
# International, Housing market, Landlords and agents.Tories’ manifesto pledge to build 300,000 houses a year now ‘almost impossible’
Michael Savage The Guardian (No paywall)Boris Johnson’s election pledge to build 300,000 new houses a year is in serious jeopardy in the face of labour and material shortages that are causing major disruption across the economy, industry figures have warned.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/10/tories-manifesto…
# International, Home ownership, Housing market.Tenant organizers poised to secure significant protections for US renters
Amanda Holpuch The Guardian (No paywall)Pandemic housing crisis brought new attention to need for eviction protection and affordable housing. ... [17-year old Faith Plank's] visit to [Washington] reflects the seismic shift in how elected leaders, and the public, understand access to housing and the rights of people to stay in their homes during a pandemic. ... The tenants also appeared at a press conference with Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Representative Cori Bush, of Missouri, where the legislators introduced the Keeping Renters Safe Act. The bill would give the health department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the power to implement an eviction moratorium to respond to public health crises. ... “Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the treasury has engaged tenant advocacy groups as part of our broader effort to ensure the Emergency Rental Assistance program serves as many vulnerable renters as possible,” a treasury department spokesperson said. “We are committed to continuing that engagement going forward.” The tenant delegation’s visit coincided with the debate in Congress over a $3.5tn infrastructure bill which includes a $327bn investment in affordable housing, a sum not seen in the US for generations.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/08/tenant-organizer…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Campaigns and law reform, Coronavirus COVID-19, Federal Government.Housing is healthcare: Poor rental rights lead to bad outcomes
David Pearson and Carmel Williams (No paywall)There is a direct link between insecure housing and poor health outcomes, write David Pearson and Carmel Williams, who argue that addressing the problem could be a low-cost way to ease pressure on our hospitals. ... Organisations like Shelter SA and Better Renting have set out a range of measures to improve the situation ... [Read on]. (In Daily)
https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2021/10/06/housing-is-healthcare-…
# Australia, Rent, Health, No-grounds evictions.Another policy designed to worsen inequality
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)Effective from today, banks, building societies and credit unions will not be permitted to accept mortgage applications from people born under the three astrological “fire” signs – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. ... Meanwhile, yet another housing inquiry is under way, this time chaired by Sydney North Shore Liberal MP, Jason Falinski, who has declared a dislike of social housing and a belief that housing affordability is all about supply. It’s taken for granted that he’s a fan of maintaining the present negative gearing and capital gains tax settings. As explained by Peter Mares, author of No Place Like Home: Repairing Australia’s Housing Crisis and lead moderator at Monash University’s Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, there have been some fine submissions but the inquiry is fated to be a crock ... Clarification: I made up the early stuff about mortgage birthday bingo. The rest, unfortunately, is factual.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/10/08/michael-pascoe-ine…
# Australia, Affordable housing, Housing market.