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
UPDATE: It’s Obvious. Americans Need More Affordable Housing!
Patrick Range McDonald Housing is a human right (No paywall)In 2016, Zillow, the real estate site, released a key study that found, unequivocally, that we needed to build more affordable housing to address the housing affordability crisis. You’d think that would be a no-brainer, but YIMBYs and Big Real Estate don’t think so. Same goes for many politicians and even reporters. They all want luxury housing. So while we can’t believe we have to point out the obvious, let’s revisit Zillow’s report. Americans need more affordable housing!
Update, November 21, 2022: A new Associated Press article explains that Americans want more affordable housing by passing rent control and affordable-housing ballot measures across the country. More details at the end of the article.
https://www.housingisahumanright.org/its-obvious-americans-need-…
# International, Affordable housing, Housing affordability, Human rights.I spent £59,000 decorating my rented home...now I'm being evicted:
Daily Mail (UK) (No paywall)Liz Jones opens up about being given two months' notice to leave her cottage
The writer, 64, says renters can be 'thrown to the sharks' and swiftly dismissed
She says that those renting in their 60s are even worse off than Generation Rent
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11423261/LIZ-JONES-te…
# International, Eviction.Living Rent backs Edinburgh’s holiday rentals plan as ‘step in right direction’
Scottish Housing News Scottish Housing News (No paywall)Tenants’ union Living Rent has launched a petition in response to the City of Edinburgh Council’s consultation on holiday lets in Edinburgh calling on the council’s Planning Committee to massively reduce the number of homes converted into short-term lets.
The tenants union said that the guidance provided by the council in its Proposed Planning Guidance for Short Term Lets is a step in the right direction for tenants and urged the public to endorse their response to the consultation.
https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/living-rent-backs-e…
# International, Short-term holiday letting.Kingston Tenants Win Historic 15% Rent Reduction
For the Many Indypendent (No paywall)A grassroots tenant-organizing victory comes after Orlando and several cities across CA adopted rent control on Tuesday.
KINGSTON, N.Y. — On Wednesday night, by a six to three vote, the Kingston Rent Guidelines Board enacted a historic 15% rent reduction for over 1,200 apartments across 64 rent-stabilized buildings. This is the first rent reduction in New York State history and comes after months of organizing by tenants, For the Many, and other grassroots groups, including Citizen Action, Mid-Hudson Valley DSA and Housing Justice for All.
https://indypendent.org/2022/11/kingston-tenants-win-historic-15…
# International, Rent, Housing affordability.Gov. Hochul, it’s time now to put housing first
Cea Weaver New York Daily News (No paywall)This week, Kathy Hochul survived a too-close-for-comfort election against Lee Zeldin for governor. For Hochul, this should be a wake-up call that New York’s voters can’t be taken for granted.
Hochul may have thought that she could coast to victory largely by getting wealthy donors to open their pocketbooks and running a Rose Garden strategy, but now, as she heads into her first full term, it’s time for Hochul to truly fight for the priorities that everyday New Yorkers care about most — or risk ending up as a one-and-a-half term governor.
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-hochul-put-housing-f…
# International, Housing affordability.Couple return to Ukraine due to UK housing costs
BBC BBC (No paywall)A couple who left their home in Kyiv after the Russian invasion of Ukraine have returned to the war-torn country due to the cost of housing in the UK.
Joe and Irina Place said they faced paying £1,500 a month in England, compared to £500 in western Ukraine.
They said while rent had gone up in the some parts of the country "coming from the UK it's still really affordable".
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-63585701
# International, Housing affordability.Grenfell Inquiry ‘able to conclude every death was avoidable’ as its lawyer slams ongoing ‘merry-go-round’ of buck-passing
Peter Apps Inside Housing (Paywall)The Grenfell Tower Inquiry panel is “able to conclude with confidence” that “each and every one” of the deaths in the fire was “avoidable”, its counsel has said in closing remarks.
Richard Millett KC, counsel to the inquiry, today gave a closing statement that concluded 400 days of oral evidence across two phases lasting around four-and-a-half years.
“From all of the evidence that you have heard in phase two, you are able to distill a single overall conclusion: that there was nothing unknown or not reasonably knowable, which caused or contributed to the fire and its consequences,” he said.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/grenfell-inquiry-able-…
# International, Public and community housing.Regional housing crunch causes legal spike
Luke Costin AAP (No paywall)Housing and homelessness problems in regional NSW have reached a crisis point, with legal advocates fielding a surge in calls for assistance.
Legal Aid NSW says services provided to clients at risk of losing their homes have increased by 53 per cent in the past year.
Calls for help have mostly come from regional areas, where the combination of tree-changers and widespread flooding has gutted the affordable rental market.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/urban-planning/regional-housing…
# NSW, Eviction, Housing affordability.