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
You want workers? Fix the housing crisis
Nicola Abbott (No paywall)From New Zealand ... Wanaka businesses are screaming for staff, but there's just nowhere for us to live. I myself am a local resident of Wanaka and, being a part of the younger community, the probability and chances of us and others like us surviving in a town with little to no accommodation is considerably reducing our chances to keep our jobs, let alone simply heading home after the work is done. ... These jobs cannot perform on their own, but we are being pushed out by homes sitting vacant for months, listed on Airbnb for extortionate rates and hundreds applying for a single home listing where families are prioritised. (Stuff)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/125418548/you-…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting, Young people.Landlord association calls for £200m fund to help tenants in arrears
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)From the United Kingdom ... The chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association has called on the government to consider providing up to £200m to help people avoid being evicted for falling into rent arrears. Speaking in a one-off session of the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, Ben Beadle said: "Research shows 82% of renters are in arrears who were not in arrears before the pandemic. Many of these [people] are ineligible for housing allowance or discretionary payments. There is nothing really there [in funding terms] for people who haven’t been in arrears before but need a short, sharp injection of funds to help them sustain their tenancy, which is in the interests of everyone frankly.”
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/landlord-association-c…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.NSW budget boost to help children and women escape violence
Alexandra Smith The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Frontline services helping women and children experiencing domestic and sexual violence will be given an extra $60 million as the NSW government tries to tackle cycles of abuse in families.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-budget-boost-to-help-chi…
# NSW, Domestic violence, Health, State Government.Nearly two-thirds of Australians think home ownership won't be an option for young people as property prices rise
Stephanie Chalmers ABC (No paywall)Stephen Green hopes to buy a home for his family of four, but that dream has so far proven elusive. ... The fact young people feel home ownership is a 'pipe dream' wouldn't come as a surprise to most Australians. The Australia Talks national survey found 65 per cent of Australians in general think owning a home isn't really an option for most young Australians anymore. ... The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation found affordability was worst for potential first homebuyers in Sydney and Hobart, with only 10 to 20 per cent of properties in those markets affordable for the bottom 60 per cent of income earners.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-14/survey-home-ownership-not…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing affordability, Housing market.At least 130,000 households in England made homeless in pandemic
Chaminda Jayanetti The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... At least 130,000 households in England were made homeless during the first year of the pandemic, despite the government’s ban on evictions, according to data sourced by the Observer. With the ban now over, fears are rising that a surge of evictions may be imminent. But the Observer’s figures show that even while the ban was in place, households were being forced from their homes. “The ban didn’t stop tens of thousands from facing homelessness,” said Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter. “During the pandemic, the most common triggers for homelessness were no longer being able to stay with friends or family, losing a private tenancy, and domestic abuse.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/13/at-least-130000-…
# International, Domestic violence, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.‘Get the biggest cardboard box you can find …’ How to declutter your home as lockdown eases
Stuart Heritage The Guardian (No paywall)Now that we’ve all had more than a year of staring at nothing but the inside of our own homes, it’s becoming very apparent that we own far too much stuff. ... Nothing will help you identify areas of progress like photos, says Begum Zarmann, TaskRabbit UK’s decluttering trend expert. “Before you start to declutter, choose a small part of your home, like a bathroom cabinet, and take a photo of it. Once you have tidied and organised that space, take an after photo.” Why? “Keeping a record of your transformations gives you the motivation to declutter more.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/12/how-declutt…
# International, Home.Return of property investors raises questions for regulators
Clancy Yeates The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It is becoming clearer that the window for large numbers of first home-buyers to scramble into the property market is fast closing, with investors and speculators chasing big capital gains returning.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/return-of-property-invest…
# Australia, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market, Landlords and agents.‘With COVID we have a plan’: Housing back at top of Sydney’s worry list
Matt Wade and Sean Naden The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Housing costs have drawn level with health as the biggest worry for people in NSW as soaring property prices stoke fears about affordability. The Ipsos Issues Monitor, which asks a representative sample of NSW adults to identify the three most important issues facing the state, shows housing now ranks the equal top concern alongside health.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/with-covid-we-have-a…
# NSW, Housing affordability.