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
Older women facing homelessness in Australia: from awareness to action
Robert Mowbray Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)On Friday, 17 September 2021 HAAG organised the online forum, ‘At Risk 2021 Forum’, hoping to move us on from an acknowledgement of the problem to real action to address it. The half day forum brought together advocates from across the housing and homelessness sector, researchers, journalists, decision makers and women with lived experience. In this short blog Robert Mowbray, the Tenants' Union's Older Renters' Project Officer, provides a summary of the highlights and key takeaways from the forum.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/older-women-facing-homelessness-…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness, Older people, Women.The feared eviction ‘tsunami’ has not yet happened. Experts are conflicted on why.
Rachel Siegel and Jonathan O'Connell (No paywall)From United States ... When the Supreme Court decided to strike down a federal ban on evictions in August, lawmakers and housing experts mentioned a slew of devastating metaphors — cliff, tsunami, tidal wave — to describe the national eviction crisis they saw coming. One month later, however, many of those same authorities find themselves wondering: Where is the cliff? ... Housing and eviction experts offered a mix of guesses about why a feared onslaught of evictions has not yet materialized, including that the wave could still be coming. The pace at which courts handle cases varies widely across the country, and some courts may be severely backlogged. In some regions of the country, the federal eviction moratorium did little to slow filings amid the pandemic and, in other areas, protections are in place. Some tenants may have moved on their own to avoid eviction. Housing experts don’t believe the country has solved its eviction issues, and there are still places where evictions have risen since the ban ended. ... Still, the overall picture has confused experts who had grim warnings for the looming crisis once the federal ban was no longer in place. Those same experts are hesitant to say the wave won’t come. (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/28/eviction-clif…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.More deaths as cold creeps into Australian homes
Melissa Coade The Mandarin (No paywall)Housing advocates have warned that the poor thermal performance of homes in South Australia is associated with more than 600 deaths each year. .... The report was commissioned by tenant advocacy organisation Better Renting and identified that as temperatures went down during the SA winter, death rates went up. Better Renting executive director Joel Dignam said that despite the fact that Australia experienced milder winters compared to other places in the world, the way that the homes in Australia are built make them less resilient when the temperature drops. What this showed, he said, was that warmer countries experienced higher rates of deaths (mainly due to respiratory and cardiovascular disease in older people) correlated to cold weather. “A cold home doesn’t just mean higher power bills, it means living every day with a threat to your health,” Dignam said.
https://www.themandarin.com.au/170278-more-deaths-as-cold-creeps…
# Australia, Rent, Health, Minimum habitability standards, Older people.‘I live in a flammable box’: cladding scandal threatens to overshadow Johnson’s levelling up agenda
Toby Helm and Michael Savage The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Anastasia Frost often wonders why she listened to the Tories when they talked about aspiration, the benefits of home ownership and levelling up. She lives in a two-bedroom flat in the Ancoats area of Manchester with her husband and their 11-week-old son. “We put trust in this system. We were told you must buy a flat, you must get on the property ladder, but what good is it really?” she says. The Frosts spent 10 years saving up and finally were able to buy their home in 2015. But then, in 2017, came the Grenfell Tower disaster and, more than four years on, as they wait for their block to be declared safe – if it ever is – their home is worth nothing. You might also check out the story at: [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/26/owners-face-new-trap-in-their-bid-to-sell-flats-hit-by-grenfell-cladding-crisis]
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/03/i-live-in-a-flam…
# International, Strata, Home ownership, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Karrina Kemp pays $585 rent for her home, but she’s living in a tent at the QLD border
Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Karrina Kemp never expected to be living in a tent with three children, but that’s all she can afford while waiting to be allowed to cross the Queensland border. Ms Kemp is one of more than 11,000 Queenslanders stranded in NSW or Victoria while waiting for border passes or exemptions to be allowed across the border. She is also one of several people who told The Sun-Herald they were sleeping in a tent or car as a result, mostly in NSW border towns and some in Victoria.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/karrina-kemp-pays-585-rent-for-h…
# NSW, Land lease communities, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Better building standards are good for the climate, your health, and your wallet. Here’s what the National Construction Code could do better
Trivess Moore, Alan Pears, Erika Bartak and Nicola Willand The Conversation (No paywall)The recent IPCC report highlighted we must urgently transition to a low carbon future. One low hanging fruit is to improve the sustainability of new and existing housing. Minimum performance and quality requirements for new housing in Australia are set via the National Construction Code. The last significant change was in 2010 with the introduction of the six-star requirements. These requirements are at least 40% less stringent than international best practice. A suite of proposed changes to energy efficiency section of the National Construction Code are a good step forward. However, a lot more can be done.
https://theconversation.com/better-building-standards-are-good-f…
# Australia, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.As house prices soar, Berliners are angry. And so is much of Europe
The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Berlin: During Europe’s deep COVID recession, millions of jobs were lost, incomes and livelihoods were destroyed and many feared for their financial future. Housing took a different path. A boom in property prices widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots, fed anger about housing inequality and accusations that property markets are broken, dysfunctional, unfair. While some have benefited from rising values, many are facing high rents, substandard buildings, or soaring prices that keep home ownership out of reach.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/as-house-prices-soar-berline…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market, International.Emma was homeless and couch surfing until a young mothers program helped 'save' her life
Felicity James ABC (No paywall)A few years ago, Emma Sailor's confidence and self-esteem were at a low point. So, her caseworker suggested she join a small group of young mothers in a study program that offered childcare in the same building. "I was homeless before I came upon this program with my child, so I was couch-surfing with her," she said. Emma said the contact with other young, single mothers who have shared similar experiences was life-changing for her.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-03/northern-territory-young-…
# Australia, Homelessness, Women, Young people.