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
The poor pay more: How housing problems are costing our kids
Qiuyi Tan (No paywall)In a paper published in the New Zealand Population Review, University of Otago researcher Louisa Choe writes that "the poor pay more in all forms, not only in financial costs but also in opportunity costs and security... almost always receiving a lesser return on their investment. In other words, the poorer you are, the more things cost." It's a poverty penalty that is discounting the young women's physical and mental wellbeing to the point of "evicting" them from their childhoods, Choe argues, calling for policies specifically targeting young people's housing needs. (NZ Hearld)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-poor-pay-more-how-housing-prob…
# Research alert International, Health, Housing market, Women, Young people.Welsh housing associations partner with faith groups to build homes on church land
Lucie Heath Inside Housing (Paywall)Five housing associations and one consortium have been chosen to participate in the next phase of the Faith in Affordable Housing Project that is run by Housing Justice Cymru, Wales’ only non-denominational Christian housing charity. The project attempts to transform surplus church land and buildings into affordable rented housing. To date, it has delivered almost 100 affordable homes. It was launched in 2016.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/welsh-housing-associat…
# International, Affordable housing, Housing market.A split city: communities across Sydney commit to rebuild trust
(No paywall)Organisations representing over two million people from the Catholic Church to United Workers Union and Arab Council Australia, said it is time to rule a line in the sand and rebuild trust and inclusion across Sydney as we confront growing numbers of infection and deaths. ... People from low-income households who are playing their part by staying at home, getting tested and getting vaccinated should not be forced into poverty for doing the right thing. Families living in Western and southwestern Sydney still need to pay for rent, groceries and bills, but the current support payments are confusing and inadequate. ... Public health is built on trust. Trust is destroyed when rules are enforced inconsistently across the city. Images of securitised streets in Western Sydney and sunbakers on Sydney beaches corrode trust. None of us can afford this kind of division ... (Sydney Alliance)
https://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/news-1/a-split-city-communitie…
# NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Health, Race and ethnicity.Is it better to rent or buy? I ran the numbers to find out...
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Just before purchasing my first home nearly two years ago, I was paying $650 a week rent to live in a similar, two-bedroom unit in an adjacent suburb. Property enthusiasts would no doubt bemoan this money as “dead money” and celebrate my entry into the hallowed halls of home ownership. But am I really ahead? Are the substantial costs I’ve incurred for home ownership – including stamp duty, mortgage interest and strata fees – really less than the rent I was paying? Or is it true, as some argue, that you are better off renting and investing your savings in some alternative vehicle, such as shares? This week, I decided to run some of my own numbers to find out. ... Adding that all up, I get a total “dead money” cost of ownership of about $540 a week at a 10-year tenure and $440 if I don’t move. Yes, it’s a bit less than the rent, but not overwhelmingly so. Of course, fast-forward 30 years – or however long it takes me to pay off my loan – my interest costs will disappear. If I didn’t buy, I’d be facing rental costs for my entire lifetime. ... And then there’s the non-financial costs and benefits to consider, which only an individual can answer. Do you like a sense of security that you don’t have to move, or does it make you feel pinned down? ... Overall, my take-out is that the rent versus buy decision is one you have to make for yourself, depending on your own unique circumstances. Yes, in my case, I feel home ownership has been a good decision, so far. But it’s a more finely balanced equation than many would imagine.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/is-it-better-to-rent-or-b…
# Australia, Rent, Home ownership.Tiny homes combating youth homelessness ABC Mildura-Swan Hill
Debra Pearce and Jennifer Douglas ABC (No paywall)More than 27,000 Australian young people experience homelessness each year, sleeping rough without a safe or secure place to call home. CEO of Kids Under Cover Jo Swift said homeless children were displaced through no fault of their own, often due to family conflict, overcrowding, or poor housing conditions. ... The Kids Under Cover project provides early intervention to prevent young people from becoming homeless in the first place, by installing studio apartments in the backyards of family homes, giving young people their own space to sleep, study and provide respite from family conflict, while also teaching them a level of independence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-14/homeless-kids-under-cover…
# Australia, Homelessness, Young people.Mortgage Stress And COVID
Martin North (No paywall)We have completed our mortgage stress analysis for July, and there is a significant correlation between mortgage stress hot spots and COVID hot spots. ... Rental stress – again measured in cash-flow terms is most predominant in 2540, 4217 and 2145, quite diverse areas, but with real issues in terms of income growth, against a backcloth of rising rents. We expect more pain ahead. (Digital Finance Analytics)
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/mortgage-stress-and-cov…
# Australia, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.‘Aggressive increases’ in rent are making housing unaffordable for essential workers across most Australian regions
Bianca Healey (No paywall)Rent is now unaffordable for essential workers across most Australian regions, new figures show, with experts saying the pandemic has pushed rental stress to record highs. In some areas such as eastern Sydney, the Gold Coast and parts of the ACT, workers spent more than two thirds of their weekly income on rent ... Experts say the housing system is broken, with low-income earners in regional Australia facing the tightest rental vacancy rates on record. ... Kate Colvin, a spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, told the ABC that 87 of Australia’s 104 geographic regions have become unaffordable for those in care and services jobs, with the report showing rent in those areas cost at least a third of weekly income. “What this means is people have so little money, even after working … that they can’t afford the other essentials and it does put them at risk of homelessness." (Business Insider Australia)
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/aggressive-increases-rent-una…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Regional NSW.Why LA Renters Can't Apply For California's Billions Of Rent Relief Dollars
David Wagner (No paywall)California has $5.2 billion in federal funding to spend on rent relief for tenants who’ve fallen in debt to their landlords — but renters in the city of Los Angeles currently can’t apply for it. The city stopped accepting rent relief applications in April, and it currently doesn’t have a clear timeline for reopening the program. Those barriers are raising fears of eviction among tenants and housing advocates, who say renters need to get in the system to claim eviction protections laid out in recent state legislation. “By not opening it up to all tenants, they're essentially telling the tenants that couldn't apply, ‘Tough luck, you're going to be facing eviction now,’” said Public Counsel Senior Staff Attorney Faizah Malik. (LAist)
https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-rent-rel…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Local Government.