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
‘I’ve found the missing housing – half a century’s worth’
Michael Pascoe The New Daily (No paywall)You know all the handwringing about the housing crisis, the claims that “it’s complicated” and that “there’s no silver bullet” and the broad resignation of not having a solution?
Well, I’ve found the missing housing and know what the real solution is – if any government cares.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/07/22/michael-pascoe-mis…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Federal Government, State Government.Government must support renters in cost of living crisis, almost 30 organisations urge
Evie Breese The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)Leading housing and poverty organisations have called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to push through legislation that would prevent hundreds of renters from being evicted a week.
The Big Issue has joined almost 30 organisations including Shelter and tenant union Acorn to write to the prime minister demanding answers on why the government has failed to move the Renters Reform Bill forward in parliament before the summer recess, which will set it back precious months during the cost of living crisis.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/government-must-support-re…
# International, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, No-grounds evictions.Portugal’s bid to attract foreign money backfires as rental market goes ‘crazy’
Sam Jones The Guardian (No paywall)By 7.30 on a summer night, Lisbon’s steep, beautiful streets are beginning to fill with visitors taking selfies in the soft light, trailing from bar to bar and wrestling with the nightly conundrum of where to have dinner.
Margarida Custódio, who sits at home with her three-year-old daughter, Pilar, has more pressing matters on her mind. Like so many people in Portugal, where rental prices make a mockery of the low salaries, Custódio lives through a monthly agony when it comes to covering the costs of her flat. Despite a good job in human resources, she earns €930 (£795) a month after tax – of which €700 goes on rent.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/29/portugals-bid-to-a…
# Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, Short-term holiday letting, Strong communities.'Staggering' rise in older Kiwis renting predicted
Radio NZ Radio NZ (No paywall)A doubling of the number of retirees who will be forced to rent over the next 25 years means New Zealand has to urgently rethink how it supports older people's housing needs, the Retirement Commission says.
The commission has just completed a survey of older people's housing status.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/494200/staggering-rise-in-ol…
# International, Long-term tenant, Older people.Financial support to keep people with disabilities housed falls short of what's needed: advocates
Vanessa Balintec CBC (No paywall)on Kitchen, a resident of Barrie, Ont., remembers when disability benefits were enough to get by.
But that changed in recent years after rents started to rise — far outpacing the almost $1,700 that Kitchen, who has borderline personality disorder, gets each month from the Ontario Disability Support Program.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/housing-people-disabilities-incom…
# International, Affordable housing, Disability.Revealed: Britain’s council housing shame as majority of councils fail to build a single home
Holly Bancroft The Independent (No paywall)The majority of local authorities have failed to build a single council home in the past five years, according to shocking analysis that lays bare the scale of the social housing paralysis.
There are now more than 1.2 million families on the waiting list for properties, but figures show that in 2021/22 only a third of England’s local authorities completed any new build homes.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/council-housing-…
# International, Public and community housing, Housing affordability.We all want better for our children than we had – but Britain’s housing crisis is crushing that dream
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett The Guardian (No paywall)Before we decided to have a baby, I thought a lot about what being a mother would be like, but there were some respects in which my imagination failed me. Both are related to my living environment.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/21/children-b…
# International, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, Housing market, No-grounds evictions.Renters have stepped up efforts to address the housing crisis — it’s time for property managers to do the same
Grant Alexander Wilson The Conversation (No paywall)CANADA: Three years ago, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I published an article on what it means to prioritize needs over wants in times of economic crisis.
https://theconversation.com/renters-have-stepped-up-efforts-to-a…
# International, Landlords and agents.