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
Lendlease strikes $650m build-to-rent deal for Melbourne CBD
Carolyn Cummins The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Property giant Lendlease has struck a deal with Japan’s largest home builder, Daiwa House, to develop a large-scale build-to-rent tower in the heart of Melbourne and help alleviate the housing affordability and shortage crisis.
The project, within Lendlease’s Melbourne Quarter project, will include a lap pool, karaoke and music studio, and a bowling alley, with 797 build-to-rent apartments spanning 45 floors. The end value is estimated at $650 million.
Melbourne Quarter is a $2.9 billion mixed-use office, residential and retail project at 646-666 Flinders Street and will be home to 14,000 workers and more than 3800 residents on completion.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/lendlease-strikes-650m…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Housing market, Planning and development.Britain’s Most Famous Landlord, the King, Made $34 Million From Rising Rents
Jane Bradley The New York Times (No paywall)Rents in the United Kingdom are rising at a record pace, a trend that helped the nation’s most famous landlord, King Charles III, make a big payday.
Charles received 26.2 million pounds, or about $34.3 million, this year from his vast property empire, known as the Duchy of Lancaster. Charles inherited the estate when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last fall.
The 45,000-acre estate is roughly the size of Washington D.C. and generates millions of dollars a year in rental income, without paying corporation taxes like most businesses in Britain are obliged to. (Charles voluntarily pays an undisclosed amount of tax on his private income).
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/world/europe/king-charles-ren…
# Must read, Hot topic International, History, International, Landlords and agents.As UK housing costs soar, anxiety grips homeowners and renters: 'I'm in meltdown'
Slyvia Hui and Pan Pylas ABC (USA) (No paywall)For Sadie James, the cost-of-living crisis in Britain just never seems to ease.
First, it was skyrocketing energy and food costs stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, the 61-year-old worries whether she can keep a roof over her head.
James, who lives in south London, has struggled for years to stay on top of her finances. Just as she was starting to clear her debts, she's back to square one: Her rent keeps rising, and on top of higher food and energy bills, her welfare payments just can't keep up.
“I’m actually in a meltdown each time I think about it," said James, who cannot work because of underlying health problems. “I’m literally depressed, I’m angry, I’m totally overwhelmed about it because I don’t want to lose my home.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/uk-housing-costs-soar-…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.‘Vast’ growth in value of England rentals since 1990 would have built 3m council homes
Robert Booth The Guardian (No paywall)Private landlords in England have made enough money from rising house prices in the last three decades to build at least 3m council homes, research suggests.
Owners of private rental properties have seen their assets grow in value by £400bn since 1990, equivalent to the amount needed to build more than 50 times the number of council homes that were actually built in England in that period.
The windfall calculation, commissioned by the Renters Reform Coalition campaign group and based on Office for National Statistics data, comes as landlords demand tax cuts to help ease the impact of rising interest rates. The National Residential Landlords Association has said many landlords “simply cannot afford to soak up” rising costs and will have to sell up or raise rents.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/18/vast-growth-in-v…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.Rent prices across Mid-West up 30% with no cost rentals available in the region
Emer Walsh The Irish Examiner (IE) (No paywall)The number of homes available to rent in Ireland's Mid-West is just half what it was less than a year ago, with prices rising by almost 30% as supply shrinks.
According to the most recent Mid-West Rental Monitor published by Limerick Chamber, increasing rental prices are having a significant impact on people's ability to save for a home, with the current interest rate environment also creating additional challenges for prospective homeowners.
Calling for affordable rental options in the region, Seán Golden, chief economist at Limerick Chamber noted that to date, no cost rental has been delivered across the Mid-West, adding that this needed to change "as a matter of urgency."
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-41185933.html
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.How Philadelphia Kept Thousands of Tenants From Being Evicted
Aidan Gardiner The New York Times (No paywall)In early February, a piece of paper slipped through the mail slot in Ivy Handy’s door. She owed her landlord $2,184.75, it said, and if she didn’t pay, she would have to leave.
“It broke me,” Ms. Handy said. She knew what it could mean. When she was 19, she and her siblings were forced out of their home and into a homeless shelter for nine months. The thought of going through that again at age 53 filled her with dread.
Eviction notices are being served to a rising number of people in the United States now that moratoriums, which protected renters like Ms. Handy early in the pandemic, have ended and billions of federal dollars for rental assistance have stopped flowing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/headway/philadelphia-tenants-…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, International.NY Lawmaker Uses AI to Write Housing Bill That Does Little to Help Renters
Kyle Barr Gizmodo (USA) (No paywall)Can AI research and write a piece of legislation? Sure, though not well. Should AI be used to write a piece of legislation on a subject impacting millions of beleaguered renters in the most-populated city in the U.S.? No, definitely not.
That didn’t stop one New York legislator from trying it out, then putting a limp, ineffective piece of legislation on the docket. As first noted by City&State earlier this week, Assemblyman Clyde Vanel-sponsored Bill 6896 would require landlords to provide renters a copy of their lease agreement upon request. It’s a small, though worthy case for New York City renters who are so often screwed by the byzantine operations of both corporate and individual lessors.
https://gizmodo.com/clyde-vanel-ai-housing-bill-new-york-autogpt…
# Hot topic International, Campaigns and law reform, Housing affordability, International.Should LA make AC mandatory for all rental units?
Steve Chiotakis KCRW (USA) (No paywall)In the midst of a heat wave, cranking up the AC can be a much-needed source of refuge. But for many renters in Los Angeles, that isn’t possible — because their apartments don’t have air conditioners installed.
Unlike heating units for the winter, landlords are not required to provide cooling mechanisms for tenants. But as climate change makes dangerously hot weather common, some local officials are questioning whether air conditioning transformed from a luxury to a necessity.
In June, Los Angeles City Council asked city staff to study the costs and feasibility of requiring landlords to make AC mandatory in all rental units.
“We know that this issue is affecting renters across the state, across the world, and increasingly so,” says Sasha Harndon, senior public policy advocate at Inner City Law Center. “There's been some great reporting in the last couple of years that has shined a light on the level and number of heat-related illnesses and deaths that are occurring in California. And it's extremely alarming.”
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/immigration-heat/ac-m…
# Hot topic International, Campaigns and law reform, Fixtures - lights, aircon etc, International.