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
https://www.nine.com.au/property/news/tenant-fights-landlord-on-rental-increase-and-wins-in-victorian-tribunal/7a90caea-62ab-4904-b4fa-ea9c6e8c9c34
Emily Power Domain (No paywall)A tenant has taken a landlord to a Victorian tribunal to fight a rent increase - and won.
However, the renter was unable to celebrate the victory in the home because they had been given a notice to vacate by the time the decision was handed down.
The Melbourne renter challenged a notice to hike their payments by up to $480 a week and the validity of an industry watchdog finding that the landlord's price increase was "not excessive".
https://www.nine.com.au/property/news/tenant-fights-landlord-on-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market.Adam Bandt says rents are rising six times faster than wages. Is that correct?
RMIT ABC Fact Check ABC (No paywall)A year after its election victory, the Albanese government is yet to deliver on a key promise: to establish the Housing Australia Future Fund as a means of delivering more affordable public housing.
Under Labor's proposed legislation, returns on the $10 billion investment fund — capped at $500 million per year — would be spent on maintaining and building social housing.
With the Coalition ruling out support for the bill, the government needs the backing of the Greens in the Senate to pass the legislation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-25/fact-check-adam-bandt-ren…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Federal Government, Housing market.Another Housing Setback for New York: Its Housing Chief Is Resigning
Mihir Zaveri and Jeffery C. Mays The New York Times (No paywall)Since Eric Adams became mayor, his response to New York City’s housing crisis has been characterized by enormous challenges, along with some stumbles.
The city subsidized fewer affordable homes last year than during any year since 2015. The mayor failed to convince Albany legislators to support crucial measures that would have helped. An influx of migrants stretched the shelter system to a breaking point.
Now, the architect of the mayor’s housing plan has announced that she is leaving the administration, dealing City Hall another setback at a time when rents are rising and the homeless shelter population has reached record levels.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/nyregion/eric-adams-homeless-…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.NYC’s Record-Breaking Rents Squeeze Tenants Across Boroughs
Jennifer Epstein Bloomberg (No paywall)New York apartment hunters are facing higher rents than ever before and having a hard time finding bargains anywhere.
The median rents on new leases in Manhattan, Brooklyn and northwest Queens reached records in April as confident landlords pushed up prices and cut down on incentives, according to a report by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-18/nyc-s-record-…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.Why Gov. Hochuls’ New York Housing Compact failed
Eric Kober The New York Post (USA) (No paywall)Voters in New York are disappointed in their leader, according to a new poll that shows Gov. Hochul’s favorability rating recently falling to its lowest numbers ever.
With affordable housing among New Yorkers’ most pressing concerns, could Hochul’s failure to advance her proposed “New York Housing Compact” in the Legislature be partly to blame?
The failed negotiations reveal some hard truths for pro-housing advocates who had hoped to mitigate the state’s current affordability crisis.
https://nypost.com/2023/05/27/why-hochuls-new-york-housing-compa…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.Barcelona Is Fighting for the Right to Housing
Eoghan Gilmartin Tribune (UK) (No paywall)Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau has taken housing out of the hands of profiteers. In tomorrow's election, she aims to prove that socialists can reject the market-led development of our cities – and win.
"Tackling certain privileges was always going to anger the economic powers. We have implemented a different model for this city — a fairer, more democratic and feminist one… [Within Spain] we are leaders in social spending and public housing. We have increased green spaces and bike lanes, improved public transport and shut thousands of illegal holiday apartments."
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/05/barcelona-is-fighting-for-the-r…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.New Zealand’s house-price declines slow as rate hikes set to end
Staff The Business Times (No paywall)The annual pace of New Zealand house-price declines slowed further in May, coinciding with the central bank signalling it may have concluded its 18-month policy tightening cycle.
Values fell 10.2 per cent from a year earlier, down from 10.3 per cent in April and 10.5 per cent in March, CoreLogic New Zealand said on Wednesday (May 31) in Wellington. From a month earlier, prices dropped 0.7 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/property/new-zealands-house-pri…
# Hot topic International, Home ownership, Housing affordability, International.East London councillor blasts UK's largest housing association for 'letting down tenants every day'
Ruby Gregory MyLondon (No paywall)The UK's largest housing association is letting down tenants "every day", an East London councillor has claimed. During an overview and scrutiny committee meeting at Tower Hamlets Council on Monday evening (May 22), Cllr Marc Francis of Bow East Ward said Clarion Housing Group was letting down dozens of its tenants.
Cllr Francis said: "Every day dozens of tenants of Clarion are let down by the organisation's repairs service, its housing management, or they are ripped off by its service charge hikes." He went on to say that he had written to the Tower Hamlets mayor, Lutfur Rahman about the issues Clarion tenants faced and said he was particularly concerned with residents who were evacuated from Clare House in September 2021.
https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/east-london-coun…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.