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
‘The police harassed me almost every day’: Woman tells of terrifying torment of sleeping rough
Maya Oppenheim The Independent (No paywall)Alice* was homeless on and off from the age of 16 until her forties. From the two months she spent sleeping in a derelict building to the five months spent sheltering in a tent, the now 54-year-old deliberately sought out hidden spots to remain safe when she was sleeping rough. Of course, she is not alone; this is something many women on the streets do to protect themselves from sexual violence, harassment and other dangers. However, women sleeping rough could soon find themselves criminalised for simply trying to stay safe – with leading housing charities telling The Independent they fear measures criminalising homelessness in the Criminal Justice Bill could hit women hardest.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/homeless-woman-c…
# Must read International, Security and safety.Treasury says it wants 'landlords to quit sector'
Nigel Lewis Landlord Zone (No paywall)The Government wants more private landlords to sell their properties and exit the market, commentary within Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Statement briefing document has revealed. Buried within the Treasury background notes published yesterday after the Chancellor’s speech in parliament it explains why the reduction in the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for residential property disposals has been cut from 28% to 24%. While some landlords might assume the reduction is a small peace offering to landlords who have faced huge increases in the tax they pay each year following the phased withdrawal of mortgage interest relief, the document reveals the Treasury instead wants so to see more landlords selling their properties.
https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/treasury-reveals-it-wants-la…
# Hot topic International, .Accommodating ‘generation rent’: Unsettling dominant discourses on rental housing reform in Catalonia and Spain
Lorenzo Vidal, Javier Gil, and Miguel A Martínez Urban Studies (No paywall)In contemporary urban areas, a growing 'generation rent' is finding shelter in expensive and precarious private rental housing. Tenant organisations and legislative initiatives have been pushing to improve housing conditions for renters, yet have been met with strong resistance. Intense policy and academic debates have ensued. Such discussions have acquired particular salience in Catalonia and Spain, where in recent years tenant rights and protections have expanded in uneven and limited ways, yet have faced significant legal reversals and political backlash.
https://www.urbanstudiesonline.com/resources/resource/accommodat…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Should landlords get to claim mortgage interest costs?
Stan Ellis Stuff (No paywall)Aotearoa, New Zealand: Property investors are regaining the ability to claim interest costs. Is it the right move? The Government is reversing a Labour policy that was phasing out the ability of property investors to claim home loan interest as an expense. Associate Finance Minister David Seymour said on Sunday that investors would be able to claim 80% of their interest expenses as a cost for tax purposes from April 1 this year, and 100% from April 1 next year. The change is due to cost the Government $2.9b in tax revenue over the next four years. Both Seymour and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have argued the ability for investors to claim interest expenses will simplify the tax system, as other businesses are able to deduct their costs, and will ease pressure on rents.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350209283/have-your-say-should-…
# International, .Boy living in ‘social housing hell’ asks Santa for house that doesn’t have any mould
Jamel Smith The Independent (No paywall)A six-year-old boy living in social housing in south London has said he wishes for “somewhere nice and safe for Christmas” after his family was forced into hotels during the festive period because their home wascovered in mould. Amar and his mother Abeba Byfield, in her late 20s, and father, Andre, 31, have been forced to vacate their past two flats due to “health-threatening” amounts of mould, making them feel “completely let down, drained and depressed” by private and council accommodation. After moving into a Lambeth Council flat in Stockwell in September, the family discovered a leak which caused mould and damp to spread throughout the home.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mould-social-hou…
# International, Public and community housing.UK mortgage arrears rose 9.2% in 2023 last quarter amid ‘surge in borrowing costs’
Phillip Inman The Guardian (No paywall)Mortgage arrears jumped by 9.2% in the final quarter of 2023 and by 50% on the previous year, according to Bank of England figures that underscore growing stress in the UK mortgage market. High interest rates and the rising number of people quitting the jobs market over recent months have put pressure on household disposable incomes, forcing some families to cut or suspend a range of monthly bills, including their mortgage payments. The Bank said the total value of mortgage balances which had some arrears increased to £20.3bn, or 1.23% – the highest since the fourth quarter of 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/12/uk-mortgage-arr…
# International, .‘I can’t keep living like this’: a day on the frontline of Australia’s homelessness crisis
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Cameron just wants somewhere safe to sleep. Crouching in an alley off Bourke Street in the centre of Melbourne, he speaks quickly and softly. It’s hot, but despite the February sun hitting the footpath at 36C, he has a puffer jacket with him. He has started talking about how his relationship ended, but that’s not what he really wants to say. Really, he’s angry. He’s been on the public housing waitlist since he started rough sleeping. He wants off the street. “There was a relationship breakdown, but that is just life itself,” he says. “I decided to go camping in the park and set up a tent. I didn’t realise how quickly time could pass me by. I realise 15 months have now passed. I’ve got to start rebuilding my life because I can’t keep living like this.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/03/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Security and safety.Imagine if remote community houses were designed by their Indigenous residents
Dr Simon Quilty National Indigenous Times (No paywall)Imagine driving into a remote town like Tennant Creek, half way between Darwin and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, if over the past 50 years Aboriginal people had been supported by governments, architects and the construction industry to develop communities in their own ways. Homes would likely bear little resemblance to the nuclear-family types we know from bigger cities and towns. They would instead all be wrapped in wide verandas to reflect outdoor living preferences and provided shaded cooler spots outdoors, surrounded by trees and with smouldering campfires cooking meat according to customary law.
https://nit.com.au/04-03-2024/10079/imagine-if-remote-community-…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters.