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
In Canada’s capital, an opioid epidemic and housing crisis collide
Touria Izri Global News (No paywall)As housing affordability becomes a political lightning rod set to dominate the return of the House of Commons on Jan. 29, there is growing attention not just on those who struggle to make their rent or mortgage payments, but also on those who don’t have a home at all. “The opioid crisis is something that I’ve seen really, really hurt us. And it’s been a struggle to get a hold,” said Flanagan.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10216880/homelessness-and-opioid-use-…
# Hot topic International, Rent.D.C.’s Emergency Rental Assistance Application Closed After Less Than A Day
Morgan Baskin DCist (No paywall)ERAP helps defray housing costs for low-income D.C. residents who are at risk of eviction or behind on rent and can also provide funding to help renters move into new apartments. Eligible residents must make less than 40% of the area’s median income, which is just under $40,000 for a single household. The program has surged in demand amid a troubling cocktail of economic conditions for renters: While housing costs have spiked in recent years, pandemic-era renter protections like the eviction moratorium and federally-funded emergency rental assistance have sunsetted.
https://dcist.com/story/24/01/02/dc-emergency-rental-assistance-…
# International, Rent.Confused about ‘affordable housing’? This is what it means – and what it doesn’t
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Across the country, Australians are grappling with the prohibitively high cost of housing, and governments are implementing policies designed to boost housing supply and diversity. ... Policymakers often talk about “social and affordable housing”, and ways to boost their supply. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are, in fact, quite different.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/confused-about-affordable-housin…
# New policy announcement NSW, Public and community housing.How to build beautiful social housing
Kiran Moodley Channel 4 (No paywall)A lack of decent, affordable homes is one of the most pressing issues facing Britain today, but there are those on a mission to fix it.
The architect Peter Barber has been winning awards, and admirers, for turning tiny patches of land into innovative estates designed not just to be beautiful – but to foster a sense of community.
https://www.channel4.com/news/how-to-build-beautiful-social-hous…
# Must read, Video International, Public and community housing.Why should tenant unions look to labor law?
Greg Baltz, Shakeer Rahman LPE Project (No paywall)With tenant organizing on the rise across the United States, legal scholars have been drawn to the idea that tenant unions, backed by the right legislative framework, could serve a function akin to labor unions. Kate Andrias and Benjamin Sachs helped start the conversation by exploring how law could enable tenant unions, among other mass-membership organizations, to build countervailing power among the poor and working class. John Whitlow then explored how a tenant collective bargaining framework could increase countervailing power against financialized landlords. More recently, Duncan Kennedy, Karl Klare, and Michael Turk have put forward a proposal to strengthen tenant unionism through the creation of government agencies that would supervise collective bargaining with landlords, what they call “A Wagner Act for Tenant Unions.”
https://lpeproject.org/blog/why-should-tenant-unions-look-to-lab…
# International, Campaigns and law reform, Strong communities.‘The leadership we need’: Humza Yousaf confirms plans for rent controls in Scotland
Liam Geraghty The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has pledged to introduce rent controls to cap record-high rents in Scotland.
Speaking at Tuesday’s (5 September) Programme for Government announcement, Yousaf pledged to intervene to tackle soaring rents.
Private rents across the UK have been running at record highs and the most recent measure from the Office for National Statistics found rents increased by 5.7% in Scotland in the year up to July 2023.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/scotland-rent-controls-hum…
# Hot topic International, Rent.The Big City Where Housing Is Still Affordable
Binyamin Appelbaum The New York Times (No paywall)Yuta Yamasaki and his wife moved from southern Japan to Tokyo a decade ago because job prospects were better in the big city. They now have three sons — ages 10, 8 and 6 — and they are looking for a larger place to live. But Mr. Yamasaki, who runs a gelato shop, and his wife, a child-care worker, aren’t planning to move far. They are confident they can find an affordable three-bedroom apartment in their own neighborhood.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/editorials/tokyo-hous…
# International, Rent, Planning and development.Over 40,000 eviction notices have gone out in L.A. this year, many to upscale apartments
Liam Dillon, Terry Castleman, Paloma Esquivel Los Angeles Times (No paywall)At Promenade Towers, a Bunker Hill apartment complex with 611 units that bills itself as “an urban oasis in the heart of downtown,” tenants received 371 eviction notices from late January through July.
At 1600 Vine, a Hollywood building with 375 units that’s been known for attracting social media influencers who have posted from its balconies and manicured courtyard, 313 notices were issued in that period.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-07/over-40-000-…
# International, Eviction.