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
European Parliament vote on affordable housing wins the day! Promoting security of tenure, affordability and enforceable right to adequate housing
(No paywall)The European Parliament promotes security of tenure, affordability and enforceable right to adequate housing – IUT President Marie Linder: This is a game-changer in times of liberalization of national housing markets: affordability and protection of vulnerable groups is the key! Read on ... International Union of Tenants)
https://www.iut.nu/eu/ep-vote-on-affordable-housing-wins-the-day/
# Must read International, Rent, Human rights.Heatwaves may mean Sydney is too hot for people to live in 'within decades'
James Purtill ABC (No paywall)Parts of Victoria and NSW are sweating through an extreme heatwave that started sweeping across Australia's southeast yesterday. This may seem like just a good excuse to go to the beach, but as the planet warms and summers become longer and less bearable, heatwaves are coming to represent an existential threat to Australian suburbs. Already, heat kills more people in Australia than any other natural disaster, including floods, cyclones and bushfires. Now, faced with the prospect of 50-degree-plus summers, experts say highly urbanised parts of Australia may become unliveable within decades. The race is on to re-imagine, redesign and rebuild the Australian suburb.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-01-24/heatwaves-sydney-…
# Must read Australia, Planning and development.Shelter NSW January 2021 eBulletin
(No paywall)Check out this month's edition: (i) Putting Communities Plus under the spotlight – Franklyn Street Glebe; (ii) Waterloo Over Station Development – Shelter NSW submission in the spotlight; (iii) NSW Government Homelessness Strategy Audit Office Review - Shelter NSW submission underway; (iv) Shelter NSW Student Placement Program
https://mailchi.mp/shelternsw/shelter-nsw-january-2021-ebulletin…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness.Britain’s Historic Wave of Student Rent Strikes
Mollie Simpson (No paywall)From the United Kingdom ... Rent strikes are taking place right now in 55 of 140 UK universities. It's the biggest nationwide tenant action in 40 years – and has potential to shift housing dynamics not just for students, but for renters everywhere. Read on ... (Tribune)
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/01/britains-historic-wave-of-stude…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Students.What’s Abolitionist Housing Policy?
Krystle Okafor and Sophie House (No paywall)From the United States ... After the murder of George Floyd and corresponding uprising in Minneapolis, a nationwide movement of unprecedented scale arose to grieve and to resist anti-Black racism. ... This kind of sea change is overdue in housing policy, where incremental, rather than transformative, approaches have traditionally been the norm despite visionary contributions from housing activists. Read on ... (Shelterforce)
https://shelterforce.org/2021/01/14/housing-policy-needs-aboliti…
# Must read International, Housing market, Human rights.Australian government's housing policy continues to ignore low income earners
Greg Jericho The Guardian (No paywall)This week there was some focus on the homebuilder program after the latest home loan figures showed a strong surge in mortgages for building homes since July. ... In effect, as usual, economic policy prioritises people able to afford a home or those already owning one over those who cannot or do not. ... [This week] the Productivity Commission released its report on government services and housing and the homeless. It found that in 2018 half of low income households were in rental stress – a figure barely changed from a decade ago. And yet such news never generates attention at the policy level that house prices do. ... Not much has changed in the way the Coalition government approaches housing policy since John Howard in 2003 ... Read on
https://www.theguardian.com/business/commentisfree/2021/jan/24/a…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Home ownership, Housing market.Philosophy Espresso: The ethics of landlords
Damon Young ABC (No paywall)Philosopher Damon Young presents a second season of short reflections on everyday life, examining a range of everyday issue like why we get upset when children swear, whether diets foolish and what it means to truly love your neighbours. This episode ponders the ethical obligations of landlords to their tenants.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/philos…
# Audio Australia, Human rights, Landlords and agents.How to Build Affordable Social Housing to Passive House Standard
Lloyd Alter (No paywall)A story from Canada ... Designing to the Passive House standard of energy efficiency and airtightness is hard. Designing social housing on a tight budget to the Passive House standard is incredibly hard. That's why the work of Emma Cubitt and Invizij Architects is so interesting and important. ... in a gritty part of Hamilton, Ontario, they have built McQuesten Lofts with 50 one-bedroom residential units, developed for housing charity Indwell "in conjunction with local Indigenous organizations to address issues of Indigenous homelessness." (Treehugger)
https://www.treehugger.com/affordable-social-housing-passive-hou…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Affordable housing, Homelessness.