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
Northern Ireland government to pay £500 bonus to homelessness and supported housing workers
Nathaniel Barker Inside Housing (Paywall)Northern Ireland’s government will pay homelessness and supported housing workers special payments of up to £500 in recognition of their work during the coronavirus pandemic. ... Communities minister Deirdre Hargey said: “I am developing a scheme that ensures SP staff [Supporting People programme] receive a recognition payment of up to £500 for their part in delivering critical services over the past year, including supporting homeless people, older people, young people, those with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and those with mental health issues.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/northern-ireland-gover…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Housing affordability in Regional Australia
Nenad (No paywall)Despite early expectations to the contrary, house prices have continued to increase throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps more surprising was the increase in median house prices across Regional Australia. In this blog, Nenad walks through the factors influencing regional house pricing and affordability, and looks at the levers Local Government have to affect affordability in their local areas. (.id)
https://blog.id.com.au/2021/housing-analysis/housing-affordabili…
# Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Local Government, Regional NSW.Perth average weekly house rent hits six-year high after biggest increase in more than a decade
Herlyn Kaur ABC (No paywall)Perth's average weekly rent has skyrocketed to a six-year high, creating a massive win for landlords while tenants face steep increases in a fiercely competitive market. Katie Lean is just one of those affected, with the spike making life difficult for the 38-year-old single mother with three children aged 15 years and under. She is renting a four-bedroom home in Treeby, a developing suburb more than 20 kilometres south of Perth, as she works full time at a primary school, and prides herself on always paying her bills on time. Her landlord has just asked for a $90 per week increase on rent, after having already increased it by $40 when the rental moratorium lifted at the end of March this year. ... Ms Lean said she was forced to look at other options after she tried to negotiate for a three-month lease, instead of the standard six or 12-month contract, but had it knocked back. She was also recently sent an email with a notice to vacate the property within 30 days, without being given a reason. ... I may find myself at the end of this month with no specific home to go to and having to vacate … obviously, that's a really stressful scenario." David Prestipino writes another story on the same issue. His article is entitled: 'Perth rents hit six-year high as public housing crisis deepens' at: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-rents-hit-six-year-high-as-public-housing-crisis-deepens-20210708-p587yo.html]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-08/perth-average-weekly-hous…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.Paying $500 rent for 'a glorified tent' as regional NSW housing shortage prices people out
Wiriya Sati ABC (No paywall)Since the arrival of COVID-19 and the subsequent exodus of people from the cities, a lack of housing supply in regional NSW has pushed up prices and squeezed locals out of the rental market. Port Macquarie has become an investors market and rents have skyrocketed and there is fierce competition for available properties. Alex and Kylie privately rent a derelict three-bedroom farmhouse in Port Macquarie for $500, where they live with their two children and three dogs. The couple, who do not want their full names published, says the owner has refused requests to undertake repairs to the house. And when they told him they would take the issues up with the tenancy tribunal, they say they were given notice to leave. After applying for about 25 rental properties over three months, Alex and Kylie were unable to find another home to rent. The landlord has allowed the family to stay on, but their rent has increased $100 a week.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-08/housing-shortage-regional…
# NSW, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Minimum habitability standards, Mould, Regional NSW.This house was too 'unhealthy' to live in, but David did. Experts say many Australians are in similar rentals
Katri Uibu ABC (No paywall)From Tasmania ... David Billett says his rental property was in such a squalid condition "a rat wouldn't live in it". But he did — for three years — until the Circular Head Council found the house in Smithton, on Tasmania's west coast, was "so unhealthy that no person can safely occupy [it]".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-12/house-rendered-so-unhealt…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent, Repairs, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards, Mould.‘Pressures have built up’: how can New Zealand solve its social housing crisis?
Eva Corlett The Guardian (No paywall)Once a world leader in social housing, New Zealand now faces what the UN has called a “human rights crisis”. Although the government is pouring money in, the waitlist for social housing has ballooned to 23,000 – triple that of three years ago – and there are more than 4,000 children living in motels. The government has repeatedly said it is rectifying a problem it inherited from the former National government, which saw the sell-off of state housing and underinvestment in social housing. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told local media in January the government would leave “no stone unturned” to fix the problem.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/11/pressures-have-bui…
# International, Public and community housing, Homelessness.Aboriginal tenants face ‘wall of China’ to access WA housing as discrimination locks out rentals
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Natalie Garlett has a stable fly-in, fly-out job, a clean rental record, and few demands but she can’t find a home in Perth’s saturated private rental market. After getting knockback after knockback, the mother of five is sleeping in the lounge of her daughter’s tiny two-bedroom unit with her 11-year-old son. Ms Garlett, who is Aboriginal and found herself on the streets after her landlord decided to vacate the unit she was renting in Bentley, believes she is being ruled out because of her race. ... Discrimination against Indigenous people and other ethnic minorities in the private rental market has been a widespread issue, with Equal Opportunities Commissioner John Byrne conceding in 2018 little progress had been made to address the problem in the past decade. At the time, Dr Byrne said rental applications by people with Indigenous or foreign-sounding names were rejected despite them having a steady income and good references, which he attributed to landlords’ prejudices and unconscious bias.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/aboriginal-ten…
# Hot topic Australia, Discrimination, Rent, Homelessness.The cost of homelessness in WA’s public hospitals and how the state could save millions
Marta Pascual Juanola The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Taxpayers pay upwards of $18 million a year to treat the mental health of homeless people in Western Australia, with research showing rough sleepers spend a combined 11,500 days in hospital every year. But that cost could be drastically cut, saving millions of dollars, if rough sleepers were offered a place to call home, researchers from the University of Western Australia have found.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/the-cost-of-ho…
# Research alert Australia, Health, Homelessness.