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
US Justice Department accuses six major landlords of scheming to keep rents high
Jesse Bedayn AP News (No paywall)DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is suing several large landlords for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents high by using both an algorithm to help set rents and privately sharing sensitive information with their competitors to boost profits. The lawsuit arrives as U.S. renters continue to struggle under a merciless housing market, with incomes failing to keep up with rent increases. The latest figures show that half of American renters spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2022, an all-time high.
https://apnews.com/article/algorithm-corporate-rent-housing-cris…
# Must read International, .Landlords in England face ban on ‘outrageous’ upfront charges
Kiran Stacey The Guardian (No paywall)Landlords in England would be banned from charging more than a month’s rent upfront under changes MPs are due to vote on Tuesday. Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, has amended her renters’ rights bill to limit the amount of money property owners can demand before a tenant moves in, as part of a package of new protections for those in rented accommodation. The move is one of a number of amendments Rayner has proposed before the bill is debated again by MPs on Tuesday afternoon. The housing secretary is also planning to stop landlords charging friends and family who have acted as guarantors if the renter in question has died.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jan/14/landlords-england-…
# Hot topic International, .Half of US Tenants Are ‘Rent Burdened’
Diana Ionescu Planetizen (No paywall)Roughly half of all American renters spend more than a third of their income on housing costs, according to data from the U.S. Census, with costs rising sharply since 2021. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “the amount of housing that low-income renters can afford declined nationwide from 2019 to 2022, and that the trend has the biggest impact on extremely low-income Americans—a majority of whom live with disabilities, are caretakers for someone else, or are older adults.” An article in the Lexington Herald Leader outlines how Kentucky compares to the rest of the country. “In Kentucky, where more than 579.1 thousand people rent their homes, 40.4% are considered rent-burdened, while 20.6% of renters are severely rent burdened.”
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/01/133665-half-us-tenants-a…
# Hot topic International, Rent.More people in late 20s still living with parents
Kevin Peachey BBC (No paywall)An impression - or possibly a fear - that 20-somethings are still hanging about in the family home is based on fact, an influential think-tank has concluded. The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third in nearly two decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The living at home trend has been driven by men, and those in their late 20s, researchers found. High renting costs and rising house prices were the most significant reasons for the change.
# Hot topic International, Rent.NT Court of Appeal ends long-running water rights legal battle with victory for Aboriginal tenants
Giovanni Torre National Indigenous Times (No paywall)The NT's Court of Appeal confirmed this week that the NT government, through its public housing landlord, is legally required to supply water for its tenants, and the water supplied must be safe for drinking. In 2019, residents of the remote community of Laramba, west of Alice Springs, took their landlord, the NT Chief Executive Officer (Housing), to the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT) over concerns about their drinking water. It was common ground that that water contained uranium at levels three times the maximum level set out in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Expert evidence filed by the tenants showed this was damaging to the kidneys of those who drank the water over an extended period.
https://nit.com.au/27-12-2024/15568/nt-court-of-appeal-ends-long…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Discrimination, Rent.Public housing alleged torture attack leads tenant to homelessness
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)Wayne McGee says he chose to become homeless rather than return to the social housing unit in which he was allegedly bound, gagged, and tortured. Police documents show on March 21, 2024, another resident allegedly entered Mr McGee's Chermside unit, high on methamphetamines. The man allegedly shackled Mr McGee to a toilet and bashed him over several hours, held a knife against his face, and threatened to kill him if he told the police. His alleged torturer eventually left Mr McGee's unit, taking several belongings with him. The 46-year-old now lives in a tent in Samford Valley, refusing to return to his unit for fear of his safety.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-16/wayne-mcgee-allegedly-tor…
# Must read Australia, Security and safety.A 'severe heatwave' has been declared in Tasmania and experts warn suburbs lack resilience to warm weather
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)In much of Australia, finding ways to withstand and adapt to extreme summer heat is simply a way of life. Regular summer tops of 40 degrees Celsius in Adelaide and Perth, high humidity 30s in Darwin and the tropics, and dry lingering heat in Sydney and Melbourne are a part of life on the dry continent. And then there's the standard eye rolling when reports of a "heatwave" arrive from the United Kingdom when it approaches the mid-20s, and crowds flock to beaches. But it's not that different in Tasmania.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-11/tasmania-heatwave-housing…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Average renter would take 8.3 years to save enough for a house deposit, new Victorian analysis shows
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)It could take almost a decade for the average Victorian renter who puts aside 20% of their gross income to save enough money for a home deposit, according to analysis from the state’s independent Parliamentary Budget Office. But if rents were to increase in line at the historically high rate seen in 2022 and 2023, the time needed to save for a deposit could blow out to more than 65 years. The findings are from a report by the PBO, being released on Friday, which was commissioned by the Victorian Greens as they continue to push the state government to introduce rent controls. The report estimates the time required for an average household of renters, aged 25 to 34, to save a 20% deposit on a median-priced home, based on a methodology also used by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/09/average-r…
# Hot topic Australia, .