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
Single family homes for rent are getting more expensive. Here's where prices are going up
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy USA Today (No paywall)Even as the overall U.S. rental market cools, single-family rentals are bucking the trend, a new report shows.
While the yearly rent growth turned negative in March after a period of double-digit price growth in 2021 and 2022, single-family monthly rental rates increased from $2,212 to $2,330 at the close of the first quarter of 2023 (last week of March) compared with the same period in 2022, a 5.3% increase. That was despite a 75% increase in inventory year-over-year, from 36, 688 to 64, 210, according to a HouseCanary analysis shared exclusively with USA TODAY.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/05/07/single-family-ho…
# Hot topic, Research alert International, Rent, Families, International.Illegal buildings flourish in Bhiwandi with little safety
Sajana Nambiar Hindustan Times (No paywall)The expert claimed that builders mount more floors above the structure. “There is no check on the structure’s load-bearing capacity. Most of these godowns, and warehouses are already overloaded. The upper floors are simply built and given on rent for cheap rates.
Two days after the horrific building collapse in Bhiwandi that killed eight people, experts claim that several illegal constructions have mushroomed in Bhiwandi’s rural areas even after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was appointed as the planning authority.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/illegal-constr…
# Hot topic International, International, Planning and development, Work, employment.The climate crisis is making it harder for councils to protect rough sleepers from extreme weather
Liam Gerhaghty The Big Issue (UK) (No paywall)Councils in London have warned the climate crisis is making it more difficult to find the resources to protect rough sleepers from extreme weather.
The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (Swep) sees local authorities work with frontline homelessness teams to bring homeless people off the streets when weather conditions pose a threat to life.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/the-climate-crisis-is-…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Climate change, Homelessness, International.Eviction Fallout Follows Ex-Newhallville Family
Laura Glesby New Haven Independent (No paywall)Two years after an eviction lawsuit left Jacqueline Frett and her four kids with no place to live in New Haven, the 35-year-old former Harding Place tenant and her family are now trying to make their way back to the city they once called home.
They haven’t had a home of their own since 2021, when an affiliate of Mandy Management kicked them out for not paying rent on time.
Now crashing in a friend’s living room in the Bronx, Frett wants to come back to New Haven — where her kids attended school for years, where she felt safe and separate from a life she wanted to leave behind.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/how_a_family_survive…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Families, International.Tenants tackle rent hikes in Toronto’s High Park
Staff Spring Magazine (Canada) (No paywall)A property rental company that boasted record revenue growth during the last three years of pandemic intends to increase rent for more than 500 High Park tenants. Residents received notice from their landlord Great West Life Realty Advisors (GWLRA) to increase their rent by as much as 14 per cent. However, the tenants stood ground to stop “drastic, unaffordable” rates.
Ben Scott, a single parent living in a two-bedroom apartment with his son, received N2 letter in October 2022 with an 11.6 per cent increase. It meant an additional expense of $300 a year. “I had to seriously think about changing where I live,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “I happened to get another job that afforded me a little bit more, but the gain that I get from that job is essentially just going to cover my rent.”
https://springmag.ca/tenants-tackle-rent-hikes-in-torontos-high-…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.Labour vows landlord register to protect Generation Rent from rogue property owners
Mikey Smith The Mirror (UK) (No paywall)Labour would create a national register of landlords to protect ‘Generation Rent’ from unscrupulous property owners, Keir Starmer has told the Sunday Mirror.
The Labour leader said his party would stand behind a “talented generation” who are “left behind and forced to struggle” with skyrocketing rents imposed by rogue landlords.
The pledge came as hundreds of Sunday Mirror readers this week sent in questions for Mr Starmer and Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner - on topics as diverse as Brexit, food banks - and the cost of a weekly shop.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-vows-landlord-regi…
# Hot topic, New policy announcement International, Campaigns and law reform, International, Landlords and agents.An idyllic California town, a celebrity landlord, and a rental from hell
Tatiana Walk-Morris Business Insider (No paywall)In 2021, Sonaar Luthra and Sarah Szalavitz decided to leave Los Angeles.
The couple found a rental home online for $4,000 a month in La Quinta, California, a palm-tree-dotted hamlet about 2½ hours away, nestled between the resort-haven Palm Springs and festival-famous Coachella.
The four-bedroom ranch was the ideal setting for Luthra, a climate consultant, and Szalavitz, a producer and AI-prompt engineer, to begin planning their wedding and make headway on professional projects. Szalavitz could finally dive into writing her book, and Luthra imagined turning a room with a peaceful view of the property's pool into his office. It was perfect for them.
https://www.businessinsider.com/coachella-valley-celebrity-landl…
# Hot topic International, Rent, International, Personal stories.Evictions in New York are soaring. It’s my job to stop the bleeding
Mallika Kaushal The Guardian (No paywall)Last fall I began representing a woman who came to court to try to get her apartment back after she had been evicted just a few days prior. She was elderly, disabled and living alone on a fixed income after the death of her husband. Our only option to restore her tenancy was to find a way to pay her ever-growing and insurmountable rental debt of over $40,000.
When we accepted this case, her prospects were bleak and no one believed that my office could get a positive result. The situation was difficult because once someone has been evicted, no defenses can be raised, and the money owed must be paid in full to retain the apartment – before the landlord rents it to someone else.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/26/new-york-city-ev…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Eviction, International, Personal stories.