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
Police enforcing strict lock-in a ‘worst nightmare’ for vulnerable Sydney social housing residents
Zena Chamas The Guardian (No paywall)In the middle of one night last week, Saffaa woke up to the sound of a distressed man yelling for help from the fourth-floor apartment above her. “Can you hear me Australia, can you hear me? My words are being suppressed … no one is helping me,” he yelled. Saffaa, who did not want to use her last name, was afraid of what he might do next. ... Saffa hadn’t met any of her neighbours in the Common Ground Towers in Camperdown, but after the building was plunged into a hard lockdown earlier this month, she became determined to do all she could to help them. More than 100 residents in the social housing estate in inner-city Sydney were plunged into hard lockdown on 2 September for 14 days, following the detection of four Covid-19 cases in the building. ... In an open letter, Legal Observers NSW condemned “inappropriate policing” imposed on residents throughout the duration of the lockdown. “The sudden and poorly communicated hard lockdown of Common Ground residence, run by Mission Australia, has left residents confused and distressed,” the open letter read. The letter was signed by organisations including Amnesty International, Shelter NSW and Tenants Union New South Wales. (See Housing News Digest dated 16 September 2021.)
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/15/police-en…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, State Government.Out Of Time: California Legislators Won’t Extend Eviction Ban
Manuela Tobias (No paywall)California’s eviction protections will almost certainly not be extended once they expire after Sept. 30, the state Assembly Housing chairperson said today. The legislative session ends Friday, so that’s the last day that lawmakers could push off that deadline. But the political appetite just isn’t there to act, according to David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat who spearheaded the previous efforts to stall the displacement of tenants amid the pandemic. “I believed our eviction protections for tenants should be extended beyond September 30. The delta variant and the end of many unemployment benefits make that even more urgent,” Chiu told CalMatters. “Unfortunately, some of my colleagues feel differently, and there’s not enough consensus for that.” (Capradio)
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/09/12/out-of-time-califor…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Monopoly behaviour: how a board game upended my life in lockdown
Tim Elloitt The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Monopoly is sold in 103 countries, but it’s hard to imagine a board game better suited to Sydney, where property is a perennial talking point and a licence to print money for those on the make. ... Needless to say, COVID-19 has supercharged sales of Monopoly, along with many other board games. ... Monopoly actually began in 1903, with a woman called Elizabeth Magie, a stenographer and typist in Washington, DC. A left-wing feminist and staunch progressive, Magie set out to design a game that underscored the dangers of runaway capitalism. She called it The Landlord’s Game. ... When I found this out, I tried to explain it to my daughters. I pointed out what a cruel irony it was that a game originally intended as a critique of corporate greed now had as its sole objective sending your fellow players bankrupt. ... I became incensed that I was being financially ruined by Mia [my eldest daughter], screwed for every penny ... My other girls grew equally aggrieved, our resentment festering until, finally, as if on some silent signal, we rose up as one and wrestled her to the ground. “This is for Elizabeth Magie!” I said, giving her a dead leg. “And this is from the Tenants’ Union!” said my 12-year-old, farting in her face.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/monopoly…
# History Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Families, Housing market.Property values are at risk in climate change hot spots, RBA warns
Michael Heath The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property in parts of Australia exposed to climate change and wild weather could experience valuation declines that leave banks with less protection in the event of a default, according to Reserve Bank research. About 3.5 per cent of dwellings in Australia already fall under an international definition of being at “high risk” from climate damage, RBA economists Kellie Bellrose, David Norman and Michelle Royters said in a research paper. ... The problem could be acute in Australia, the world’s driest inhabited continent, as mortgages account for about two-thirds of the big banks’ portfolios, according to the research.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/property-values-are-…
# Australia, Climate change, Housing market.‘Plea for help’: Sydney residents rally around fugitive turned homeless handyman
Rafqa Touma The Guardian (No paywall)Darko “Dougie” Desic was on the run for three decades after escaping from Grafton correctional centre in New South Wales in 1992. But the fugitive turned local handyman was forced to hand himself in this week due to the Covid pandemic. He had survived off odd jobs around Avalon on Sydney’s northern beaches until the pandemic meant he was no longer able to find work. The 64-year-old became homeless, sleeping on the beach, before eventually walking into Dee Why police station on Sunday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/17/plea-for-…
# NSW, Homelessness, Personal stories.Territorians feel squeeze as Darwin's house and rental prices soar after prolonged downturn
Isaac Nowroozi and Markus Mannheim ABC (No paywall)When Smitty Dornan's lease ran out on her family's rental property in the Darwin beach side suburb of Nightcliff, she was horrified to learn the landlord wanted to increase the rent by $120 a week. We were quite shocked … we thought it might go up by $50, but $120 sounded quite scary," she said. Ms Dornan, a nurse, called the real estate agent asking for a compromise but the best offer was a $100 a week increase. Darwin's rents have risen by more than 20 per cent over the past year, according to CoreLogic, a company which tracks property data. ... Ms Dornan said she loved living in Darwin and the area needs nurses, but she is struggling to come to grips with how landlords can enforce such high rental increases. "It is not fair at all," she said. "Significant rent increase especially during a pandemic really does feel like taking advantage … it is a bit sad."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-18/nt-darwin-house-prices-re…
# Australia, Rent, Housing market.Sydney's rain and humidity triggers outbreak of dangerous mould
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A useful article from March 2017 with some mould-busting tips ... Disputes between tenants and landlords [over mould] were common at this time of year, said Ned Cutcher, a senior policy officer with the Tenants' Union of NSW. They were often difficult to resolve: a landlord may blame the tenant for failing to keep the property clean or to ventilate effectively, but structural problems may make it difficult for a tenant to keep a property mould free, he said. "There are plenty of examples of properties that look good, with a new coat of paint, and after three months the mould starts again. So the fix has been cosmetic."
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydneys-rain-and-humidity-tr…
# NSW, Repairs.Gove will seek reform, but the multiple crises affecting housing will not be solved with simple slogans
Jules Birch Inside Housing (Paywall)FRom the United Kingdom ... A ‘big beast’ of Whitehall, Michael Gove has been tasked with fixing the vast in-tray of the housing secretary role. He is likely to have his work cut out, writes Jules Birch. Read a simialr report in The Gaurdian at: [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/15/michael-gove-housing-crisis-latest-role-cabinet-reshuffle]
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/gove-will-seek-reform-bu…
# International, Housing market, Planning and development.