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
King Charles owns dozens of homes for rent that don't meet vital minimum energy standards
Nick Sommerlad The Mirror (UK) (No paywall)The King owns dozens of rental properties on his Sandringham Estate that fail minimum energy efficiency standards for landlords. We previously revealed that the Duchy of Cornwall is leaving vulnerable tenants at risk of fuel poverty, and some are living in cold, damp and mouldy homes. Now, after examining Energy Performance Certificates for scores on the West Norfolk estate, we have found more than 30 properties fail to meet minimum requirements. One tenant said: “It is very cold and the main problem is the single glazing. It lets out all the heat.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/king-charles-owns-dozens-ho…
# Must read International, Rent.Social housing furnished tenancy schemes save over double the investment, report finds
Grainne Cuffe Inside Housing (No paywall)The report on a cost benefit analysis of local welfare assistance and furnished tenancies, commissioned by charity End Furniture Poverty, found that schemes which provide essential items and support to people can make significant savings across the NHS, criminal justice and the Department for Work and Pensions. For every pound spent on local authority crisis support schemes, over £14 is saved in the wider public purse, the analysis showed. The schemes can provide furniture, white goods, heating appliances, clothing for expectant mothers or babies, as well as other support including food and fuel vouchers, debt relief and help in accessing employment or training.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/social-housing-furnished-te…
# Hot topic International, Public and community housing.Election 24: What six of the parties say they'll do for renters
RTE (Ireland) (No paywall)With housing set to be a key election issue, Katie Hannon asks her panel of Ivana Bacik, Richard Boyd Barrett, Eoin Ó Broin, Paschal Donohoe, Rory Hearne, and Darragh O'Brien what they're parties plan to offer renters if they're elected.
# Video International, Rent.Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents
Joseph Wilson and Hernán Muñoz Financial Review (Paywall)Barcelona | Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in downtown Barcelona on Saturday to protest the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment in the popular tourist destination. Protesters cut off traffic on main avenues in the city centre, holding up homemade signs in Spanish reading, “Fewer apartments for investing and more homes for living” and “The people without homes uphold their rights”.
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/tens-of-thousands-of-sp…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Are We Really Trying to Solve the Housing Crisis?
Christopher Cheung The Tyee (No paywall)Ten years ago, I wrote my first story on the housing crisis. (If you’re curious, it was about the development bonanza along Vancouver’s Cambie Corridor, still ongoing.) Ten years later, I’m still covering the beat. How can any Vancouver reporter escape it? You can see it in downtown alcoves, with people in sleeping bags on sheets of cardboard. You can see it in every neighbourhood, with Bobcats tearing down old apartments. You can see it in online listings, with rents and home prices soaring with every refresh. You can see it in the air, as the cranes add yet another tower to the skyline, the most luxurious of presales fetching as much as $3,100 a square foot.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/11/22/Are-We-Trying-to-Solve-Ho…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Canada rent report: What landlords are asking tenants to pay
Sammy Hudes CTV News (No paywall)Average asking rents declined nationally on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than three years in October, said a report out Thursday. The report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation found average asking rents(opens in a new tab) across Canada sat at $2,152 in October, down 1.2 per cent from the same month in 2023 — the first national decrease since July 2021. The decline is mainly concentrated in Canada’s major urban centres, with cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal seeing rent decreases.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/national-rent-prices-decline-yea…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Rising costs of homes push South Florida families to rent over buying
CBS News (No paywall)As South Florida home prices and costs of living soar, many families are choosing to rent instead of buying.
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/video/rising-costs-of-homes-push-s…
# Video International, .Rent prices jump back up with Auckland no longer the most expensive
Brianna McIlraith Stuff (No paywall)Aucklanders can breathe a sigh of relief, as they’re no longer paying the highest rent in the country. For eight months rental prices on Trade Me Property had been dropping but in October the latest data revealed the national median weekly rent had jumped by $5 to $635, an increase of 0.8%. The biggest month-on-month increases were in Marlborough, up $35 to $585 per week, Taranaki up $10 to $610 and the Waikato also up $10 to $590. Auckland no longer wears the crown for the most expensive region to rent in with the Bay of Plenty taking the top spot with a median weekly rent of $680 - now $5 higher than Tāmaki Makaurau.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360486212/rent-prices-jump…
# International, Rent.