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
How an ‘Algorithm’ Turned Apartment Pools Green
Maureen Tkacik The American Prospect (No paywall)In 2021, an Austin-based real estate finfluencer named Monte Lee-Wen made what was likely the quickest $50 million of his career selling the “Chronos portfolio,” a group of five working-class Dallas-area apartment complexes he’d purchased the year earlier, to a consortium of investors for $201 million, or $188,785 per unit. This was a nosebleed valuation given that nearly half the apartments were studios and one-bedrooms. The buyers, an upstart private equity firm called WindMass Capital Partners founded by a former investment banker and the massive Fortress Investment Group, which owns more than 110,000 units of multifamily housing, were ostensibly sophisticated investors.
https://prospect.org/infrastructure/housing/2024-06-18-how-algor…
# Hot topic International, .Skyrocketing rent: Some Canadians saying goodbye to half their paycheque
Andrew Johnson CTV News (No paywall)A significant number of Canadian renters are spending more than half their paycheque putting a roof over their head, according to a new Royal LePage report. In Vancouver, 27 per cent of renters are spending more than half their net income on paying the rent. In Toronto, 19 per cent are forking over more than half of their paycheque and one in 10 Montrealers are in the same position. The national average is 16 per cent. "The target is roughly a third of your income to be deemed affordable," said Tom Davidoff, an associate professor with UBC’s Sauder School of Business.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/skyrocketing-rent-some-canadians-s…
# Hot topic International, Rent.The federal government’s new plan to (maybe) give renters straight cash
Rachel M. Cohen Vox (No paywall)DETROIT — The federal government is laying the groundwork for a potentially major change to the nation’s largest rental assistance program, aiming to test an idea that would allow low-income tenants to pay rent directly with cash, rather than use traditional housing vouchers. On Wednesday afternoon in Detroit, at a national guaranteed income conference, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Brian McCabe announced that his agency is soon planning to solicit public comment on the prospect of testing whether distributing cash directly to tenants might work better for renters, landlords, governments and even taxpayers.
https://www.vox.com/policy/355088/rent-tenants-cash-vouchers-hou…
# Hot topic International, .'Next government must fix our broken rental system': Political leaders told to stand up for renters
Liam Geraghty The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)Rent campaigners have urged political leaders to act to protect renters from falling into poverty and homelessness in a new open letter. A total of 27 organisations from the Renters’ Reform Coalition, including the Big Issue, have penned a letter to Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and other political leaders, to warn that renters “cannot afford more policy failures”. The move comes after the Renters Reform Bill failed to make it into law before Sunak announced the 4 July general election. That meant the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promise to scrap no-fault evictions, which allow tenants to be evicted from their homes without a landlord giving a reason, failed to materialise.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/renters-reform-coalition-n…
# Must read International, Eviction, Rent.The Mayor Who Sees Airbnb as an Agent for Good
Joao Lima Bloomberg (No paywall)People in many cities around the world blame Airbnb Inc. for driving up rents and contributing to housing shortages, as tourists take homes once used by locals. Mayor Rui Moreira of Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city, sees how the growing short-term let market can drive urban regeneration. In areas that are already strained, the city forbids creating new short-term rentals — unless it’s a house that’s abandoned. But there are areas where short-term rentals can grow, Moreira, 67, said in an interview in his office in the town hall. Tourism can help regenerate cities, he said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-06-14/porto-mayor-s…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Most Tory and Labour voters back rent controls – but neither party has a pledge
Vicky Spratt inews.co.uk (No paywall)A significant majority of Conservative and Labour voters support rent controls, according to exclusive polling carried out for i – but neither party has included such a pledge in its manifesto. Overall, seven in 10 – 71 per cent – of people said they supported the introduction of rent controls in England, so that rents in the private sector do not rise by more than the national inflation rate. According to the Ipsos poll, 69 per cent of those who voted Conservative in the 2019 general election said they supported rent control. For 2019 Labour voters, the figure was 79 per cent.
https://inews.co.uk/news/majority-tory-labour-voters-back-rent-c…
# Hot topic International, .NZ property: Demand for rentals is plummeting - what it means for tenants
Newshub (No paywall)Rental prices in Aotearoa have remained unchanged in May, according to Trade Me's latest Rental Price Index. The index, released on Tuesday, showed the median weekly rent in Aotearoa remained stable at $650. It comes after a strong uptick in rental supply - up 26 percent in May when compared with a year ago. Demand has also continued to fall for the seventh consecutive month - down 30 percent when compared with the same time last year.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/06/nz-property-d…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Evicted mother who felt 'hopeless' finds new home
Emily Ford BBC (No paywall)A woman who became homeless when she was evicted, after reporting a mould issue, has found a new home for her family. Chloe Bloomer, 31, said she felt "hopeless" when her landlord handed her a section 21 notice in March 2023. The Bournemouth mother-of-two said she and her partner became street homeless after a battle with her landlord. Now, she has found a private home to rent for her family and is urging other renters to be careful. Ms Bloomer raised issues about the poor condition of her privately rented home, as she had concerns of the impact it could have on her now four-year-old daughter, who has type 1 diabetes.
# Must read International, Rent.