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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
California tenant eviction protection bill advances, but watered down amid landlord opposition Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article275764546.html#storylink=cpy
Lindsey Holden The Sacramento Bee (No paywall)A bill to shore up eviction protections for tenants survived the California Senate Wednesday, but only after real estate interests forced the removal of several significant provisions.
The measure, from Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, advanced to the Assembly on a 21-12 vote, the minimum majority required for passage. It moved forward despite fierce opposition from the California Apartment Association, realtors and mortgage bankers.
Durazo authored the measure to strengthen the state’s existing system of renter rights laws, passed in 2019 with Assembly Bill 1482. It established a framework of “just cause” eviction rules governing when and how landlords can legally terminate a lease.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/ar…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, International.There Are Better Ways to Solve a Housing Crisis Than This
Mara Gay The New York Times (No paywall)Politicians in New York, faced with a housing crisis that has driven more than 80,000 people into homeless shelters and renters to the brink, are simply throwing up their hands.
In Albany, state legislators appear prepared to go home this month without having delivered on a single major piece of legislation to ease the crisis.
At City Hall, Mayor Eric Adams, overwhelmed by the record numbers of people experiencing homelessness, is now seeking to do away with the city’s 42-year-old mandate in which anyone in need who asks for it has enjoyed the right to shelter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/04/opinion/new-york-housing-migr…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Campaigns and law reform, Homelessness, International.Housing supply plunging and surging unequally in various part of USA
Realty Plus Realty Plus (No paywall)Mortgage rates at 20-year highs have split the US housing market, with supply plunging in some parts of the US, while the number of homes for sale surges in others. Home inventory fell in 21 out of 50 of the largest metropolitan cities last month. San Jose, California saw the steepest decline with 35% fewer active listings in May compared to the same month last year. That was followed by Sacramento, California with 27% fewer listings compared to May 2022, and Hartford, Connecticut with 26% fewer listings.
But while home inventory has continued to fall off in certain areas, supply has surged in other pockets of the US, mainly in the South. Active listings in the region jumped 54% in May compared to last year, though overall housing supply is still 41% lower than it was before the pandemic. Nashville, Tennessee led the wave of new inventory that has hit the Southern housing market, with listings growing 124% from last year. Listings in Austin, Texas grew 113%, while listings in San Antonio, Texas grew 93%, the report said.
https://www.rprealtyplus.com/international/housing-supply-plungi…
# Hot topic International, Housing market, International, Planning and development.London renters launch campaign to tackle dangerous housing
Berny Torre Morning Star (No paywall)The London Renters Union (LRU) has launched a campaign calling on Brent council to tackle dangerous housing in the city’s second poorest borough.
The union says an estimated 10,000 privately rented homes in Brent present a serious health hazard to residents.
It is calling on the local authority to ensure no-one faces another winter of damp and mould.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A//morningstaronline.co.uk/a…
# Hot topic International, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, International.UK construction growth edges up, despite housing slump
Reuters Reuters (No paywall)Weak growth across Britain's construction sector picked up modestly in May, despite an increasingly severe downturn in house-building activity prompted by rising interest rates, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 51.6 from 51.1 in April. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to no change in May.
The civil engineering and commercial sectors drove the increase, with the survey's gauge of new orders reaching its highest level since April 2022.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-construction-growth-edges-up…
# Hot topic, Research alert International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.London father remains in hospital as family struggles to find accessible housing
Michelle Both CBC (No paywall)A London family is on a quest to find accessible housing so they can live together again — but the months-long search has come up dry, while a father of two is living in hospital.
"It's been a struggle," said Jody Davis, who has teenagers ages 13 and 15. "The sooner I have the place, the better it would be."
After a sudden brain aneurysm left him fighting for his life about 10 months ago, her husband, Eddie Lopez, 38, has been recovering in hospitals and is now at the Parkwood Institute.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-father-remains-in-h…
# Hot topic International, Disability, Families, International.The Bank of Canada just 'stomped' on the housing market rebound
Denise Paglinawan Financial Post (No paywall)Just as Canada’s housing market was starting to rebound, the Bank of Canada has dealt it another blow.
The bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent on June 7 will put downward pressure on home prices, which have rebounded faster than the bank had expected, according to James Laird, co-chief executive of Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise mortgage lender.
The rise brings the policy rate to the highest it’s been since April 2001.
“The Bank of Canada just stomped on housing sentiment in a way that only it can,” mortgage analyst and strategist Rob McLister said on Twitter, adding that the stress test will get “meaningfully more stressful” for borrowers at the margin.
https://financialpost.com/real-estate/mortgages/bank-of-canada-r…
# Hot topic International, Home ownership, Housing affordability, International.The Auckland myth: There is no evidence that upzoning increased housing construction
Cameron Murray and Tim Helm Fresh Economic Thinking (No paywall)Many housing analysts argue that large-scale upzoning policies create affordable housing. This was a justification for the major upzoning in the 2016 Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP). The Auckland experience is now of intense interest in housing debates.
Widely cited in media reporting is a paper by Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy and Peter Phillips (GMP) entitled The Impact of Upzoning on Housing Construction in Auckland.
Here’s the Vancouver Sun covering it. The study even made it to the New York Times.
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/p/the-auckland-myth-there-…
# Research alert International, Housing market, International, Planning and development.