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
Rising from the rubble: London pub rebuilt brick by brick after illegal bulldozing
James Tapper The Guardian (No paywall)From the United Kingdom, we have not exactly a housing article, but a story that sets an extraordinary precedent ... Standing next to the rubble of the Carlton Tavern, its patrons thought that this was just another brazen example of developers skirting the law to turn their pub into profit. Bulldozers had sheared away the wall of the 1920s west London pub, with its distinctive tiled signage, to reveal the fully stocked bar and darts trophies still on display. But the Carlton’s story did not follow the usual plot ... Carlton Tavern will reopen next month ... after the developers were ordered to rebuild the pub “brick by brick”. You will find a similar story from 2004 at: [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/archer-s-garage-rebuilt-after-razing-1.1152577]
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/21/rising-from…
# Must read International, Heritage listings.‘Floodgates will open’: Fears for renters as eviction bans near end
Matt Johnson The New Daily (No paywall)Shawn Healy is unsure what will happen to him once Victoria’s ban on rental evictions ends this weekend. He has a $6000 debt hanging over his head and is approaching whatever comes next – he suspects a 60-day eviction notice or a lengthy battle in the state tribunal – with “fearful apprehension and anxiety”. ... Mr Healy is one of tens of thousands of renters across Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia who will lose protections once general moratoria on evictions and rent increases in those states expire this weekend.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2021/03/23/rent-mora…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19.Flood-affected NSW renters urged to contact landlords, agents
Tawar Razaghi Domain (Paywall)NSW renters are being urged to speak with their property manager if their homes are flood-affected or water-damaged as the devastating weather conditions continue to see residents evacuated across the state. Almost 20,000 people have fled their properties, many of them renters, as the evolving flood emergency puts another 15,000 people on notice.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/flood-affected-nsw-renters-urged-…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent.As one student gets out of bed, another gets in: thousands are ‘hot-bedding’ in Australia
Alan Morris, Catherine Hastings and Gaby Ramia The Conversation (No paywall)International students commonly share bedrooms so they can afford the rent. What is perhaps much more surprising is that our research suggests thousands are “hot-bedding” – their beds are available to them for only some hours of the day or night so others can use them the rest of the time. If our survey of more than 7,000 international students renting privately in Sydney and Melbourne is representative of the 758,154 international students in Australia in December 2019, this equates to about 22,750 students hot-bedding.
https://theconversation.com/as-one-student-gets-out-of-bed-anoth…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Students.Increased urban development in Australia could make future floods worse
Stuart Khan The Guardian (No paywall)Around 70,000 people currently live on the Hawkesbury Nepean floodplain. The need to protect these residents and their properties is the reason why these floods require an emergency response. If people were relocated from the floodplain, such floods would be witnessed as little more than the natural phenomena that have occurred here for millions of years. Floods replenish floodplains with nutrients and groundwater tables with water. But it is not our plan to relocate people from the floodplain. Instead, the New South Wales government has plans to increase the floodplain population from around 70,000 to 200,000 people by 2050.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/22/increased-…
# NSW, Planning and development, State Government.Australian public policy is inflating home prices, as usual: Some things never change.
Tim Williams The Fifth Estate (No paywall)And, despite rhetoric and some incentives from all governments about incentivising home ownership, the reality is very different. On current trends, the majority of Australians aged 25-39 will be renters, not owners, within 20 years, possibly sooner.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/australian-public…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership.Not ‘if’, but ‘when’: city planners need to design for flooding. These examples show the way
Elizabeth Mossop The Conversation (No paywall)As the current New South Wales flooding highlights, it’s not enough to continue to build cities and towns based on business-as-usual planning principles — especially as these disasters tend to disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations, increasing inequality in Australia. We need to design our urban spaces around the idea that flooding is inevitable. That means not building on flood plains, and thinking creatively about what can be done to create urban “sinks” to hold water when floods strike.
https://theconversation.com/not-if-but-when-city-planners-need-t…
# Australia, Planning and development.Few landlords succeed in pet challenges under Victorian rental laws, NSW laws still lag behind
Sue Williams Domain (Paywall)Pet-loving NSW tenants hope the success of new laws in Victoria – making it almost impossible for landlords to ban renters from keeping animals in their properties – will ramp up pressure for the introduction of similar legislation over the border.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/few-landlords-succeed-in-pet-chal…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Pets, State Government.