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
We have to talk about energy poverty
Nicola Willand, Bhavna Middha, Ralph Horne and Nooshin Torabi The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Energy disconnections were suspended during Covid – but now they’re back. So if you’re a lone parent and they find your fridge is off, you could lose custody of your child. Right now there is very little discussion about this equity issue in our clean energy climate transition. ... current energy policies are regressive and leaving people behind. Low-income households and renters are less likely to benefit from solar roof PV and other retrofit subsidies because they lack the necessary capital or the agency to invest in retrofits and technologies that promise to reduce energy costs. ... Although low-income household have reduced their energy consumption over the years, their actual energy costs have increased, and energy prices have risen at a much higher rate than their welfare support, making energy concessions less effective over time.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/energy-lead/we-have-to-talk-about-…
# Australia, Rent, Utilities electricity water gas, Health.Our Summer in Eviction Court
Anna Findley, Samantha Gutcho, and Hannah Mays (No paywall)From the United States ... We are William & Mary students who spent the summer of 2021 observing eviction court hearings in Richmond, Newport News, and Alexandria, Virginia. Our main goals were to time the length of eviction hearings and observe how the presence of attorneys for either landlords or tenants might shape the proceedings. From June through August of 2021 we observed almost 600 eviction cases. What follows is a brief account of what we observed and what we learned from the experience. (RVA Eviction Lab)
https://rampages.us/rvaevictionlab/2021/10/15/our-summer-in-evic…
# International, Eviction, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.NSW to spend big on social housing as state records 319 COVID-19 cases and two deaths
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)NSW will spend millions of dollars on social housing to help people made vulnerable during the pandemic ... The government has announced a $183 million stimulus package providing social housing and extra rent support for homeless and vulnerable people across the state. Housing Minister Melinda Pavey said the package would allow an economic and social bounce-back for the state. "We are supercharging our social housing investment across NSW, we're leading Australia," she said. "It's a very exciting time to be able to provide the homes and the communities that we need going into the future, support our communities post-COVID with jobs and new homes." You will find more details in the NSW Government's media release at: [https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/land-and-housing-corporation/plans-and-policies/accelerating-the-delivery-of-more-than-1,400-homes-across-nsw]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-16/nsw-records-319-covid-19-…
# NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, State Government.Rental reforms pass in Queensland but not all tails are wagging
Felicity Caldwell The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Reforms will make it easier for Queensland renters to keep a pet but the changes have been denounced as going too far by the LNP and not far enough by the Greens. ... But Greens MP Amy MacMahon, who failed in her attempt to delay the bill until MPs who were landlords – about one in three – excused themselves from debate, said it did nothing to address the unequal power relationship between lessors and tenants. ... Labor’s bill would also stop landlords ending a lease without grounds and prescribed minimum housing standards from September 2023 for new tenancies and September 2024 for all tenancies. Grounds for eviction will include the end of a fixed-term agreement or if the owner wishes to perform significant repairs or renovations, sell or move in themselves. ... The Greens had also proposed a bill which would cap rent increases to once every 24 months by no more than CPI, ban rental bidding, and end “no grounds evictions”, even when a fixed-term contract was due to expire or the owner wanted to sell the property. Also, check out the story in 'The New Daily' at: [https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/10/15/rental-reforms-queensland/]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/queensland/rental-reforms-pass-i…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, No-grounds evictions, Pets, State Government.Queensland landlords stripped of automatic refusal on pets in rental properties under new housing bill
Jessica Rendall ABC (No paywall)Queensland landlords will no longer be allowed to refuse pets in rental properties without a reason deemed valid by the state government. The state government said the changes would modernise current laws for the 34 per cent of Queenslanders living in a rental property. ... Under the bill: Tenants can have pets unless landlords provide a valid reason to refuse; Tenants experiencing domestic violence can end a lease with just seven days' notice; No evictions without grounds evictions; Added reasons for landlords and tenants to end tenancies; Strengthening housing standards by fining landlords up to $6,850 if repairs aren't completed. (Note: This article is misleading because a landlord may still give a no-grounds notice at the end of a fixed term.)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-14/qld-new-housing-bill-remo…
# New policy announcement Australia, Domestic violence, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, No-grounds evictions, Pets.Housing 2030 study published covering 56 countries
(No paywall)A study has been published by The partnership of the UNECE, Housing Europe, UN Habitat team, with the financial support of the Irish Housing Finance Agency, Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland, the Slovenian Ministry of Urban Planning and the Czech Ministry of Regional Development. The International Union of Tenants was one of many contributors with good practice examples. It is our pleasure to share with you the published Report and bring to your attention to the extensive and searchable Website Housing2030.org which brings many good practice illustrations to the fore. Go to: [https://www.housing2030.org/] (International Union of Tenants]
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/housing-2030-study-published-cove…
# International, Affordable housing, Landlords and agents.I live in an apartment. How can I cut my risk of getting COVID?
Geoff Hamner The Conversation (No paywall)Governments are pressing ahead with home quarantine for returning travellers and people are isolating at home due to COVID-19. So now is a good time to think about what you can do to reduce your risk of infection if you live in an apartment.
https://theconversation.com/i-live-in-an-apartment-how-can-i-cut…
# Hot topic Australia, Strata, Coronavirus COVID-19.‘Crisis’ of Aboriginal homelessness in sights of multimillion dollar plan
Cameron Gooley The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A $12 million plan to reduce homelessness in the state’s Aboriginal communities has been welcomed by some First Nations service providers, but they warn far more needs to be done to fix an ongoing housing “crisis”. The NSW government has pledged to launch an Aboriginal Homelessness Sector Growth Project by April, with a goal to help Indigenous organisations run more support programs for at-risk people. ... The program will be aimed specifically at southern NSW, the New England region, and Western Sydney, and the government has promised to engage with local Aboriginal community controlled organisations (ACCOs) to co-design service models.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/crisis-of-aboriginal-homeles…
# NSW, Homelessness, Race and ethnicity.