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
NYC real estate firms accused of housing discrimination face sweeping lawsuit
David Brand Gothamist (No paywall)Dozens of New York City real estate firms accused of discriminating against people with rental assistance vouchers will soon be forced to explain their practices in court.
A federal judge on Tuesday greenlighted a sweeping lawsuit from a housing rights watchdog against 77 real estate brokerages and property owners for systematically denying apartments to applicants with Section 8 vouchers — an illegal but pervasive practice known as source of income discrimination.
The Housing Rights Initiative and its attorneys say the case could unlock thousands of apartments for low-income New Yorkers.
https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-real-estate-firms-accused-of-hous…
# Must read International, Discrimination, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents, Welfare.Cross-party MPs urge UK Government to act as homelessness amongst Ukrainian refugees increases sixfold in a year
Crisis UK Crisis (UK) (No paywall)• Recent data reveals that over 4,000 Ukrainian households have received homelessness support from their local authority last year since arriving in the UK.
• Since June 2022, the number of Ukrainian households receiving homelessness assistance from their local authority has increased more than six times as the cost-of-living crisis continues across the country.
A cross-party coalition of over 70 MPs, including the former Home Secretary Priti Patel, and Peers have signed an open letter urging the UK Government to act immediately to support Ukrainian refugees in Britain as new Government data shows over 4,000 Ukrainian households have received homelessness support from their local authority in the last year.1
https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/cross-party-mps-…
# International, Homelessness.More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
Michael Friedrich The New Republic (No paywall)The housing crisis is insane. None of its dysfunctions are exclusive to the United States, but the country has a talent for making them hideously manifest. In Oakland, Moms 4 Housing, a group of formerly homeless mothers of color, staged a protest over rising prices. For several months in 2019, they occupied a house owned by Wedgewood Properties, a local house-flipper that was holding it vacant to upgrade and sell. The company decided that the women had stolen the home. Sheriff’s deputies got involved, entering the property and arresting the women. The media descended, activists protested, and City Council members hurried to support the women. The injustice of mothers going homeless while blank-eyed speculators let perfectly good homes sit empty was hard to ignore.
https://newrepublic.com/article/170480/building-wont-make-housin…
# International, Housing affordability, Planning and development.Sydney renter hit by 35% hike as housing crisis sparks calls to cap increases
Mostafa Rachwani The Guardian (No paywall)Millie Bannister was already anxious about how much the rental market had skyrocketed in Sydney when she received a letter from her landlord saying they wanted to increase her rent by 35%.
“Last time, it only increased by $60, but now it’s going to increase by $270 a week, which is a 35% increase, and around $12,000 per year. For me and my roommate, two people in their mid-20s, it is not [easy] to wrangle with.”
The 26-year-old heads up the mental health charity Allknd, and says the rent increase will change her life and her aspirations, amid calls for the state government to consider regulating rent caps.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/04/sydney-re…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Rent, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents.‘Pretty bleak for tenants’: Rental vacancy rate at record low
Jim Malo and Tawar Razaghi Domain (No paywall)Australia’s rental vacancy rate has returned to a record low, and experts and advocates warn it will only make life harder for renters.
Just 0.8 per cent of rental properties were available to lease nationally in January, and the level in both Sydney and Melbourne fell to 1 per cent, a record low for Melbourne and an equal record for Sydney.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/pretty-bleak-for-tenants-re…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Landlords and agents.NSW government response to over-55s homelessness inquiry condemned by advocates
Kelly Fuller ABC (No paywall)Lyn Bailey thought she was luckier than most people facing homelessness because she had her car to sleep in.
After working for 50 years, at the age of 73 Ms Bailey's marriage broke down and she could not find an affordable place to rent in the Illawarra region of coastal New South Wales.
"I'd line up to inspect places and someone behind you would say, 'Oh, yes. We are prepared to pay an extra $100 a week if we can get this place'," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/nsw-government-condemned-…
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Rent, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, State Government, Strong communities.Perrottet favours idea to allow older people to rent rooms to the young
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says a proposal for older people to let out spare rooms to younger renters desperate for affordable housing should be explored, but without hurting pensioner tax arrangements.
Amid a rental crisis across the state, a team at SGS Economics and Planning has suggested setting up an app to match a younger person who needs somewhere to live with an older person or couple in possession of a spare room.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/perrottet-favours-idea-to-al…
# New policy announcement NSW, Share houses, Homelessness, Housing affordability, Older people, Young people.Labor puts north, inner west metro stops up for higher density housing
Michael Koziol The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)NSW Labor would rip up existing plans for housing development at metro stations and redo them with significantly higher density closer to central Sydney to rebalance population growth around infrastructure.
Opposition planning spokesman Paul Scully said the $65 billion metro network was an important addition to Sydney’s connectivity, but it was “a huge price tag” and for that cost, the metro must become the spine of a sensible increase in new housing.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/labor-puts-north-inner-west-…
# New policy announcement NSW, Housing affordability, Planning and development, State Government.