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
‘Upsetting and frightening’: what’s really behind the door of your holiday rental?
Shane Hickey The Guardian (No paywall)Becky Stewart* and her partner were getting ready for the first full day of their short break in Barcelona when a group made up of police, social workers, council staff, a judge and a locksmith came into their flat and told them to leave within two minutes. It transpired that the place they were staying in, along with other travellers who had taken rooms, was an unlicensed rental property. And the people advertising it on Booking.com had not paid their rent for months, prompting the morning raid by the authorities, who were not even aware that tourists were staying there.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jan/06/upsetting-and-frig…
# Hot topic International, .Hundreds gather in London to protest against capital’s ‘soaring’ rents
PA Media The Guardian (No paywall)Demonstrators gathered in London on Saturday to protest against the capital’s “soaring” rents. Rising rents are destroying communities, said organisers the London Renters Union (LRU). The group said the event came amid a growing wave of renter-led demonstrations across Europe to highlight the impact of high rents and to demand controls. LRU said up to 500 people marched through central London on Saturday, on one of the biggest shopping days of the year, to protest “against soaring rents” and “exploitation” of tenants.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/dec/14/hundreds-gather-in…
# Must read International, Rent.UK rent soars by £3,240 since pandemic, says Zoopla
Kevin Peachey BBC (No paywall)Average annual rent on a newly let property is £3,240 more expensive than at the end of the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures from Zoopla. Rent began to soar in 2021 because of high demand from tenants after lockdowns were lifted and limited numbers of available properties. The annual cost of renting has gone up by 27% in those three years, compared with a 19% rise in average earnings over the same period. However, the rate at which rents are rising is now the slowest for three years, the property portal has said, as potential tenants face limits on what they can afford.
# Hot topic International, Rent.Gen Z Indonesians opt for renting over buying amid rising housing costs: Reports
Ni Made Tasyarani Asia News Network (No paywall)JAKARTA – As affordable housing becomes less accessible, Indonesians born between 1997 and 2012, known as Gen Z, are more inclined to rent rather than buy a property, several reports have found. Two out of three Gen Z respondents are pessimistic about the prospect of buying a house within the next three years, according to a survey by Inventure in September. Around 80 percent of them cited surging house prices as the primary reason. Contributing factors include insufficient income, unstable employment and a preference for experience-based consumption such as concerts, holidays and gadgets. Others especially pointed to difficulties in obtaining a mortgage and existing debt burdens that prevented them from taking out housing loans.
https://asianews.network/gen-z-indonesians-opt-for-renting-over-…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Canadian landlords accused of rent rigging using AI software
CBC (No paywall)A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges over a dozen Canadian landlords and property managers have been part of a price-fixing scheme involving YieldStar, a controversial AI software that’s also at the heart of a U.S. Department of Justice case.
# Video International, .San Antonio piloting Ikea's trauma-informed housing design
Madalyn Mendoza Axios (No paywall)Towne Twin Village now features an Ikea-designed home built with trauma recovery in mind. Why it matters: This marks Ikea U.S.'s first trauma-informed housing project, making San Antonio a leader in a healing-first approach to housing. Ikea is currently working with partners in Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to implement similar trauma-informed designs there. The latest: Ikea completed and donated the small home to Towne Twin Village and is working with the supportive housing community to select a resident, who is expected to move in soon. The home incorporates trauma-informed design principles that prioritize healing and safety along with insights from resident focus groups.
https://www.axios.com/local/san-antonio/2024/12/05/ikea-trauma-d…
# Hot topic International, .Evictions skyrocket as rising rents squeeze low-income Americans
Kaisha Young & John Yang PBS News (No paywall)Eviction filing rates are soaring after the pandemic’s renter protection programs expired. One reason is the rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing for those with the lowest incomes. Diane Yentel, CEO and president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition advocacy group, joins John Yang to discuss the impact.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/evictions-skyrocket-as-rising-…
# Video International, Eviction.Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada
Angela Hennessy CBC (No paywall)A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada. The suit claims landlords and property managers did it by using software called YieldStar. The move comes after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a similar lawsuit in August against RealPage Inc., the Texas-based company that created YieldStar. RealPage says it has filed a motion to dismiss the DOJ's lawsuit alleging antitrust violations. The Canadian suit alleges the software essentially allows landlords and property managers to share proprietary data on their rental pricing — information that wouldn't normally be shared with competitors — and that this could potentially allow companies to fix prices.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rent-prices-canada-proposed-cla…
# Hot topic International, .