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
Crunch time for renters as moratoriums end in key markets
Martin Kelly (Paywall)The end of rental moratoriums in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia this week, which coincide with the demise of JobKeeper on Sunday, could see rents rise by up to 20 per cent in key markets such as Perth. Increased evictions and further stress on the rental dispute resolution system are other likely outcomes, agents say. (Australian Financial Review)
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/crunch-time-for-renters…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent, Tribunal NCAT, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.Why people are getting evicted for calling 911
Jerusalem Demsas (No paywall)From the United States ... In countless cities across the country, calling 911 [000 in Australia] can get you evicted. You, the caller, that is, not the person you’re calling the police on — all because of policies called “nuisance ordinances.” ... Some nuisance ordinances and “crime-free” laws will designate a property a public nuisance, usually after police are called multiple times to respond to incidents in the same place. Under these laws, landlords are forced to act as an arm of law enforcement and face fines and other punitive measures if they are unable or unwilling to abate the nuisance. Landlords are sometimes pressured to evict tenants who are in any way involved with nuisance activity, regardless of whether they are the victim, the perpetrator, or simply associated with the victim or perpetrator of an alleged crime. (Vox)
https://www.vox.com/22307509/crime-free-evictions-for-calling-911
# International, Discrimination, Domestic violence, Eviction, Local Government.Residents of Melbourne's hard tower lockdowns mobilise against off-radar COVID misinformation
Erwin Renaldi ABC (No paywall)Every day, Abdiwasa Ismael and a small group of other North Melbourne public housing residents set up and run a grassroots stall designed to counter COVID-19 misinformation. In the lobbies of a number of housing towers, the stalls offer local residents easy access to masks, sanitiser, and the latest updates about the COVID-19 pandemic. ... Now, ahead of next week's second phase of COVID-19 vaccinations ... Mr Ismael told the ABC there's been a spike in residents eager to learn more about just what that means for them.
"A lot of elderly people have confirmed they want to get vaccinated," Mr Ismael said. "But mostly, people just want to know if it's safe."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/covid19-community-efforts…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Coronavirus COVID-19.Australia's real estate market 'seems quite odd'. Even the experts are finding it hard to read
Belinda Sommer and Taryn Priadko ABC (No paywall)Sky high prices have become all too familiar to Hal Pawson, a Professor of Housing Research at University of New South Wales. For decades he has analysed the plight of renters and potential buyers trying to raise a home deposit, and the growing wealth of homeowners. Australia's 30-year housing affordability decline has been among the worst in the developed world. ... Professor Pawson says the problem is structural, because Australian governments have effectively subsidised housing investment through tax incentives for home owners. Combined with low interest rates, this has changed the way many of us think about our homes – they are an asset, a place to grow capital and transfer wealth to the next generation. "It is a worldwide trend, this 'financialisation' of housing, but it's on steroids in Australia," Professor Pawson says. (Radio National)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/australian-housing-market…
# Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Tax.Inclusionary Housing: Secrets to Success
Stephanie Reyes and Ruoniu Wang (No paywall)From the United States ... A new survey of unprecedented scale gives us insight into the diverse range what of inclusionary housing programs look like and which ones are successful. Inclusionary housing programs tie the creation of affordable, below-market-rate units to the construction of new market-rate development. In its simplest form, an inclusionary housing program might require developers to sell or rent 10 to 20 percent of new residential units to lower-income residents at prices they can afford.(Shelterforce)
https://shelterforce.org/2021/03/10/inclusionary-housing-secrets…
# International, Affordable housing, Planning and development.Sydney building ‘nightmare’ set to cost Maryam her life savings
Carrie Fellner The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A Sydney apartment buyer stands to lose her life savings or be forced to buy into a 300-unit development that she has been warned contains major defects.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-building-nightmare-se…
# NSW, Housing market, Minimum habitability standards.Government Quietly Shelves Plan To House 3,300 Rough Sleepers By This Month
Graeme Demianyk Huffington Post (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Ministers appear to have quietly abandoned plans to house more than 3,000 rough sleepers by the end of March despite a high-profile pledge to tackle homelessness during the pandemic. In October, housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced more than 3,300 homes had been “approved”, and would be ready by this month, as he hailed “the most effective action taken by any country in the world to protect those sleeping rough from the pandemic”.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rough-sleepers-housing-je…
# International, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness.Push talks with Denmark’s Housing Minister
(No paywall)The Filmmaker and the Advocate bring you an exclusive conversation with Denmark’s Housing Minister – Kaare Dybvad Bek – one of the few politicians in the world to have had the courage to take on Blackstone and other institutional investors. The Minister recounts the new housing reality in Copenhagen where private equity, pension funds and asset management firms have started to dominate, imposing on tenants huge rent increases (often double) and unnecessary renovations driving tenants out of their homes and neighbourhoods. (International Union of Tenants)
https://www.iut.nu/news-events/push-talks-with-denmarks-housing-…
# International, Rent.