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
Call to close the homelessness gap for First Nations people
Patricia Karvelas ABC (No paywall)New ABS Census analysis has revealed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are vastly over represented in the nation's homeless population.
First nations Australians make up for a fifth of those experiencing homelessness, despite representing less than four per cent of the overall population.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/call-to-…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, Aboriginal renters, Families, Homelessness.Animal shelters face unprecedented demand as tight rental market forces pet owners to make 'heartbreaking' choices
Anisha Pillarisetty ABC (No paywall)A South Australian charity supporting vulnerable people with pets says the housing crisis has pushed demand for its services to unprecedented levels.
Safe Pets Safe Families founder and chief executive officer Jennifer Howard said the foster care program was being inundated with calls on a daily basis.
"We have had to turn away so many people."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-27/sa-animal-shelters-face-s…
# Hot topic Australia, Housing affordability, Housing market, Pets.Most liveable city: How Vienna earned its place in housing history
Jake Blumgart City Monitor (No paywall)The annual ranking of the Global Liveability Index for 2023 from the EIU has seen Vienna retake the top spot as the most liveable city in the world.
This is the fourth time in the past five years that the Austrian capital has come out on top. Criteria include stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Within the latter category, which accounts for 20% of the score is “Availability of good-quality housing”.
https://citymonitor.ai/housing/red-vienna-how-austrias-capital-e…
# Hot topic, History International, Affordable housing, International, Planning and development.NYC’s affordable housing lottery a ‘mythic’ option for many homeless residents as wait times jump
David Brand Gothamist (No paywall)New York City’s homeless shelter population is swelling, but one method for moving people into permanent housing is taking longer than ever to complete.
The median timeline for shelter residents moving into city-financed apartments reserved for them has nearly doubled since 2020, according to city data.
Last year, it took about seven months for someone to move into those apartments after the approval process, the annual mayor’s management report shows. But in the 2020 fiscal year, it took less than four months. That timeline is considered to be a "critical indicator" of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's performance.
https://gothamist.com/news/nycs-affordable-housing-lottery-a-myt…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing, International, Planning and development.NYC Has More Housing Than Ever Before Yet It’s Still Not Affordable
Cate Corcoran The Brownstoner (USA) (No paywall)Can we build our way out of an affordable housing crisis? Developers, elected officials, policy experts, and others say more housing is needed to keep pace with a growing population and bring down prices.
But a look at historic data shows New York City today has more homes per person than in any decade since 1940, the earliest year for which figures are available. Yet housing is more unaffordable than ever.
The data suggests that merely adding units alone won’t solve the problem.
https://www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/affordable-housin…
# Hot topic International, Housing market, International, Planning and development.The Overhead: Evictions
Spacing Radio Spacing (CA) (No paywall)Spacing and the Balanced Supply of Housing research node proudly present The Overhead: Understanding Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis, a special podcast series.
Evictions can completely upend your life. At best, you have to begin the search for a new home in an increasingly expensive and competitive housing market. At worst, you can’t find an affordable replacement. It’s a scary situation, even in the best circumstances.
http://spacing.ca/national/2023/06/09/the-overhead-evictions/
# Hot topic, Audio International, Eviction, Housing affordability, International.Gove slams housebuilders hoarding almost a million plots of land as ‘completely unacceptable’
Vicky Spratt and David Parsley itv News (Paywall)Housing secretary Michael Gove has slammed developers for sitting on land rather than building new homes after an investigation by i found they are hoarding more than a million building plots.
Known as land banking, the practice has led to calls from politicians and experts to force developers to increase construction numbers, be taxed on unused land, or face compulsory purchase orders in an effort to increase construction and ease the UK’s worsening housing crisis.
The calls come as new home completions have hit a 15-year low.
https://inews.co.uk/news/gove-slams-housebuilders-hoarding-almos…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, International, Planning and development.London renting: 'I can't rent anywhere affordable as a single mum'
Tarah Welsh BBC (No paywall)Blanket bans on renting to people with children will be outlawed when the Renters Reform Bill comes in to effect, but it is an issue that still very much exists and one that is even preventing some families from viewing certain properties.
For the past 16 months, an exasperated Sharon Morey has been keeping a video diary as she searches for a two-bedroom property to rent for her and her 10-year-old daughter.
"It's so stressful, it really, really is, I just want a home," she tells me. "I just need my own space."
"Having a home is a basic."
In the time Sharon's been searching for a property in Biggin Hill, rents have gone up.