Category Archives: Housing

Private landlords in England get £1.6bn a year welfare for ‘non-decent’ homes

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Sadiq Khan describes figures from City Hall analysis as a scandal, with London the worst affected region

Private landlords in England are earning £1.6bn a year in housing benefit in return for providing “non-decent” homes, in what Sadiq Khan has described as a scandal.

The capital is the worst affected region, with £500m in welfare money going on privately rented homes that are in a state of disrepair, cold, damp, lacking modern facilities or do not meet health and safety standards, according to City Hall analysis.

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Rental crisis: Airbnb and holiday home owners urged to let properties out to long-term renters

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Thousands of homes across Australia are listed on short-stay websites but councils’ call to action is ‘piecemeal approach’ to housing crisis, experts say

Councils across the country are urging people with empty holiday homes and Airbnbs to move them on to the long-term rental markets in a bid to deal with the housing crisis.

But policy experts say doing callouts to create more rental housing stock is “taking a piecemeal approach” to a crisis that needs urgent intervention.

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Queensland council seeks to block disability housing project over fast-tracking concerns

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Two-storey development south-east of Brisbane at the centre of legal battle amid a housing crisis across the state

A legal stoush has broken out between a disability accommodation developer and a suburban Queensland council over a two-storey project and whether it deserves to be fast-tracked amid a housing crisis across the state.

Disability Homes Investments (DHI) said it is developing the property to house people with disabilities on a quiet street in Cleveland, south-east of Brisbane.

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Forty families a day threatened with no-fault evictions since Tories vowed to ban them

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Exclusive: Labour figures show scale of issue in England despite Conservatives vowing to abolish the practice four years ago

An estimated 40 families have been threatened with a “no-fault” eviction every day in England in the four years since ministers first promised to scrap them, analysis shows.

The Conservatives first promised to end the practice in 2019, but the government has yet to pass legislation despite repeated promises from ministers and former prime ministers.

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Joe Biden due to address Irish parliament after saying US relationship with Ireland getting ‘stronger and stronger’ – politics live

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US president praises emerging relationship with Ireland to taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Chris Philp, the policing minister, has published an article in the Telegraph today explaining the changes being introduced to the way that police record crimes in England and Wales. The changes are being introduced following recommendations from the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Philp says:

Firstly, we are dropping the requirement for police to record some crimes twice or more, reintroducing the previous “principal offence” rule. This will remove multiple entries on the database which effectively re-record the same incident many times.

Accurate crime recording is vital, and these changes will better reflect victims’ experience. Recording crime does not equate to investigating crime and the police will continue to pursue all offences involved in the incident.

Accurate records of crime must be kept, and crimes will be recorded. These changes to the crime-recording rules will enable police to target and focus investigations and provide victims the service they deserve.

Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have got longer, including for life-threatening illnesses and injuries, but remain below record levels.

Meanwhile around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged – the first time data of this kind has been published.

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Council’s failures left disabled child in chronic pain for three years, watchdog finds

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Local government ombudsman rules that delay in finding suitable accommodation for family caused serious health risks

A severely disabled child missed out on vital NHS surgery and was left in chronic pain for more than three years because a council failed to move them out of unsuitable housing despite repeated pleas from health professionals, a watchdog has ruled.

Lambeth council in London was fined £20,000 by the local government and social care ombudsman for a catalogue of service failures and administrative errors that left the child unsafe and in “significant and avoidable distress” and her mother at risk of serious injury.

Child Y’s constant pain, requiring injections and medication, could be relieved only through surgery, yet this was being delayed because the unsuitability of the family’s home meant Child Y could not safely return after an operation.

Sitting in the wheelchair for long periods caused so much pain that Child Y’s school had bought a specialist bed in which they would be wheeled around the school to ensure they could access lessons.

At home, Child Y and her mother were at risk of injury from manual handling because they were unable to use proper equipment. Because of the lack of space, Child Y could not be positioned properly for eating and was at risk of choking.

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Australian Taxation Office to force banks to hand over landlord data in investment property crackdown

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Exclusive: Incorrect reporting of rental property income and expenses, and failure to declare capital gains are all in the spotlight

Banks will be compelled to hand over the data of 1.7 million landlords, including transaction details, as part of a tax office crackdown in search of $1.3bn in revenue lost from residential investment properties.

The data-matching program will target people failing to declare rental income or pay capital gains tax, and those incorrectly claiming deductions – including rental property loan interest – to reduce income and negatively gear properties.

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Australia news live: Liberal MPs praise Leeser’s decision to quit frontbench; contraceptive class action to begin in Melbourne

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Bridget Archer lauds former shadow minister’s ‘courage and integrity’. Follow live

Japanese hydrogen partners offer only short-term deals, want more funds

There’s been a few articles in the business media lately touting the promise of converting brown coal in Victoria into hydrogen and shipping the fuel to Japan.

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Essential workers unable to afford to rent alone almost anywhere in Australia, report shows

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Aged care workers in capital cities would have to spend 77% of their pay on housing to pay the average rent of $572 a week

Soaring rents have made living alone impossible for Australia’s essential workers: new research shows some would have to spend around two-thirds of their income to afford a place on their own.

Comparing the average weekly unit rents against award wages for 15 essential jobs, the national housing campaign Everybody’s Home found there were virtually no regions of Australia where a single full-time essential worker, such as those in aged care, early childhood or nursing, could afford to rent by themselves.

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Housing values in some wealthy Australian suburbs have slumped more than a quarter, data reveals

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Affluent areas of capital cities ‘lead both the upswing and the downturn’, according to property data expert

Housing prices in some of Australia’s most affluent suburbs have had the biggest falls from pandemic peaks. Some high-end houses and apartments have lost more than a quarter of their value.

Nationwide data shows that many of the same wealthy areas that enjoyed exuberant price runs in the years leading up to and the initial period of the pandemic have now retraced the most.

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Porter Davis liquidators unable to find suitable buyer to take over building of 1,700 homes

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Grant Thornton hopes to finalise discussions about solutions for parts of the builder in the next week

Liquidators for the collapsed construction company Porter Davis say they have rejected approaches from potential buyers, leaving the construction of 1,700 dwellings in limbo.

The announcement is the latest blow for thousands of customers of one of Australia’s largest homebuilders, which collapsed less than two weeks ago after it was unable to find a financial backer to fill a $20m funding hole amid pandemic-induced rising construction costs.

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Salcombe locals priced out by most expensive seaside homes in UK

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Average cost of property in Devon town reached £1,244,025 last year, driven by second home owners

“Don’t hate me,” said Theo Spink of the view from her office on Tuesday afternoon, “but the sun is shining, there’s a gentle breeze, people are arriving for Easter, eating ice-cream. It’s all rather charming.”

If the town of Salcombe, situated on the neck of a narrow estuary in south Devon, sounds idyllic, that is because “it really, really is”, she said. “When the sun shines, you could be in the Mediterranean. It is that beautiful.”

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Townsville pushes build-to-rent scheme in bid to address rental crisis

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Experts say there’s little evidence that a privately-owned single landlord development would increase housing affordability

Local authorities in Townsville are seeking $40m in government funding to support a 1,000 unit build-to-rent scheme that the local council says could help tackle the rental crisis in the northern Queensland city, where the number of homes available for rent for less than $400 a week has halved in the past three years.

However, critics say there is little evidence to suggest this method, which sees developers act as landlords and let directly to tenants, will increase affordability.

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Home Office to announce barge as accommodation for asylum seekers

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The Bibby Stockholm is said to have more than 220 bedrooms and facilities including a gym and bar

The Home Office is poised to reveal a barge as its first offshore accommodation for asylum seekers, the Guardian understands.

The Bibby Stockholm has been used “all over Europe” to accommodate asylum seekers, according to sources close to the Barbados Maritime ship registry, which oversees the use of this vessel. It currently has a gym, a well-furnished bar and more than 220 en-suite bedrooms over three decks.

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Australian rental crisis will get worse as construction fails to keep pace with demand, report says

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The national housing report, released on Monday, says rising interest rates have reduced supply of new homes

Australia’s painful rental crisis will get worse in the coming years, a new report says, due to a shortage in supply of new houses and units caused by costs and ongoing constraints in construction.

In its third report on the state of the nation of housing for 2022-2023, released on Monday, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) said banks increasing their interest rates earlier relative to the Reserve Bank of Australia guidance had reduced the supply of dwellings.

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Solar panels could be a lifesaver for public housing tenants grappling with Australia’s soaring energy costs

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Natalie Rabey, who relies on power-hungry machines to help her breathe, is campaigning for solar power for Victoria’s public housing

Natalie Rabey doesn’t know how much time she has left. But she knows what she wants to do with it.

“While I’m still breathing I’d like to get some action on solar panels for people in public housing because it’s just terrible at the moment,” she says.

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Australia’s soaring interest rates have trapped ‘mortgage prisoners’ into crushing repayments

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A growing cohort of pandemic-era homebuyers are also unable to refinance because they no longer meet lenders’ standards

A growing number of Australian have become “mortgage prisoners” – trapped by crippling mortgages they are unable to renegotiate.

This growing cohort of pandemic-era homebuyers are unable to refinance because they no longer meet lenders’ standards after recent rate increases.

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Tougher second homes regulations come into force in Wales

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Council tax and planning changes aim to make housing more affordable for those on local incomes

Radical measures giving councils in Wales a raft of extra powers designed to stop second homes hollowing out communities, especially in coastal and rural areas, have come into force.

Local authorities across Wales are using the powers to increase the amount of council tax that second home owners must pay and will also be able to bring in changes to planning rules to make it harder for houses and flats to be snapped up as holiday boltholes.

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Planning applications in England fall to record low in housing blow

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Experts say developers deterred by changes to planning system brought in by successive Tory governments

Planning applications in England have fallen to their lowest level in at least 16 years, according to figures published this week by the levelling up department that highlight the scale of the country’s housing crisis.

Local authorities received fewer applications to build new buildings or improve old ones in 2022 than at any point since before 2006, the earliest year for which the government provides statistics.

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National reconstruction fund secures crossbench support – as it happened

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Pesutto gives no answer on if Deeming can continue to promote anti-trans views as part of Liberals

But John Pesutto also can’t answer whether Moira Deeming can continue to campaign against trans rights – a stance Deeming had before she was in the parliament and a key feature of her first speech to the Victorian parliament.

Look, what what I have always said from the very start, is that as leader of the Victorian Liberal party, I want public debate not just in the state but nationally, to be respectful and civil and courteous, and to be inclusive so that people can participate in discussions.

I am a supporter of free speech, but any connection of the Liberal party with people who share platforms with people who are extremely … people in hate speech is a concern to me and will never be acceptable in the party.

Well, I’m not happy with those tweets, and they’re very great concern and will represent if that continues, it will obviously represent a real problem going forward for Moira to return the [party].

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