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
Thousands of cheaper rental homes to disappear from market as new crisis hits
Keith Cooper inews.co.uk (Paywall)The number of cheaper homes available for rent could soon fall by thousands due to the affordable housing “scandal” revealed by i that has left brand-new properties sitting empty and unused. Experts predict knock-on effects from the unfolding crisis, caused by housing associations being unable to afford the homes, will hit families already suffering the surging prices of an overheated rental market. i has identified examples of developers and councils switching affordable rental properties towards home ownership models because they can’t find associations to act as landlords.
https://inews.co.uk/news/housing/thousands-cheaper-rental-homes-…
# Hot topic International, .‘Doing nothing is not an option’ – top economists back planning reform and public housing as fixes for Australia’s housing crisis
Peter Martin The Conversation (No paywall)Top economists are unanimous in believing Australia’s housing market is in crisis. Offered a choice of 14 measures identified by the Economic Society of Australia as likely to restrain prices for buyers and renters, none of the 49 leading economists polled picked: “do nothing, the market will determine appropriate prices”. The economists chosen for the poll are from a panel of about 70 experts in fields including macroeconomics, economic modelling, housing and labour markets, maintained by the society since 2015.
https://theconversation.com/doing-nothing-is-not-an-option-top-e…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.B.C. court overturns eviction of social housing tenant who owed $45 in unpaid rent
Ian Holliday CTV News (No paywall)A resident of a Vancouver social housing building who was ordered to move out because of a disputed $45 rent shortage has won the right to stay, at least for now. Jeremy Wall lives in a building on Burrard Street that is managed by the Kettle Friendship Society. Last September, the non-profit issued a one-month notice to end tenancy for cause, according to a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision(opens in a new tab). The eviction notice "cited several grounds" for ending the tenancy, the court decision indicates. However, when Wall took the society to the Residential Tenancy Branch to dispute the notice, the RTB arbitrator upheld the eviction solely on the basis that Wall had been "repeatedly late paying the rent."
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-court-overturns-eviction-of-social-hou…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Public and community housing.Tenants’ Unions Across the US Now Have a National Federation
Rebecca Burns Jacobin (No paywall)Five tenants’ unions from across the US have announced the launch of a new national organization to take on the power of multistate real-estate capital. The Tenant Union Federation is the first major national effort at tenant organizing in 40 years. “Every tenant deserves a union — everyone deserves to move with the kind of power I found here,” said Donna Goldsmith, an organizer with the Louisville Tenants Union (one of the federation’s founding members) to a virtual audience of renters from around the country.
https://jacobin.com/2024/08/national-tenants-union-landlords-har…
# Must read International, Rent.UK’s biggest housing association fined over four-year failure to fix window
Patrick Butler The Guardian (No paywall)The UK’s biggest housing association has been fined after a watchdog found that its failure to carry out repairs to a child’s bedroom window for four years left the home mouldy and caused serious illness in the family that lived there. Clarion housing association showed “no urgency” to fix the window, instead leaving it boarded up, despite repeated complaints from the tenant who said the mould caused his asthma to flare up and affected his son’s mental health. In a statement, Clarion housing association said: “We apologise sincerely to the resident and their family in this case. The issue took too long to resolve and our communication was not good enough.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/13/uks-bigg…
# Must read International, Rent, Repairs, Utilities electricity water gas.'I've put off starting a family due to cost of living'
Christian Fuller BBC (No paywall)A secondary school teacher in Surrey says she is holding off starting a family as she cannot afford to buy her own home. Jade Watson spends £1,320 a month – more than a third of her monthly income – on renting a two-bedroom cottage with her partner just outside the centre of Godalming. “Us putting down roots is being delayed because the cost of living is so expensive,” she said. The Rentstart charity said the rental market was also becoming “increasingly unaffordable” across Surrey.
# Hot topic International, Rent.Record homeless figures in England prompt calls to tackle ‘national scandal’
Aletha Adu The Guardian (No paywall)More than 150,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, prompting calls for the government to address what it calls a “national scandal”. Living in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness and can involve people staying in hostel or bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation. At the end of March there were 151,630 children living in temporary accommodation, an increase of 15% compared with the same time last year and the highest figure since this measure began in 2004.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/08/record-h…
# Must read International, .Biden Invests $100 Million to Fuel Housing Construction
Kriston Capps Bloomberg (No paywall)The White House is announcing $100 million in grants to state and local governments to spur the construction of new housing, one of a host of new administrative actions to boost housing supply. The Biden administration has witnessed record levels of housing production, driven by a pandemic-era boom in apartment buildings. More housing units are under construction now than at any point in half a century — some 60,000 multifamily units were completed in June alone — and rents are stabilizing in some areas as a result.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-13/biden-adminis…
# Hot topic International, .