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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Eviction applications spike in Ontario as rents soar, vacancies dwindle
Matt Lundy Globe and Mail (No paywall)As Ontario faces a chronic shortage of housing and rapidly climbing rents, landlords in the province are increasingly trying to evict their tenants and take possession of those rental units.
In 2022, the Landlord and Tenant Board, which adjudicates rental-housing disputes in the province, received more than 5,550 eviction applications in which landlords sought units for themselves, family members or new buyers. That was an increase of 41 per cent from 2019, according to numbers provided by the province to The Globe and Mail.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-housing-evictio…
# International, Eviction, Landlords and agents.‘Extending the eviction ban is a doomsday scenario for me’: Renters and landlords on the ban
Nathan Jones Irish Times (No paywall)Renters have cited fears of homelessness in calling on the Government to extend the ban on evictions in advance of its expiration at the end of this month.
In response to an Irish Times reader call-out on experiences of the winter stay on evictions, several Dublin tenants spoke of there being “nowhere to go” if they lose their current accommodation.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2023/03/06/i…
# International, Eviction, Personal stories.First-of-its-kind workers' co-op offers housing to low-income earners in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Lori Culbert Vancouver Sun (No paywall)Wendy Tredger lived for seven years on the first floor of the historic Keefer Rooms SRO in Chinatown, where her sleep was routinely interrupted by responding to the increasing number of overdoses caused by the toxic drug crisis.
“There was nobody on the front desk, so the paramedics would pull up below my window and yell, and I would run down (to the ground floor) to let them in. I don’t think that in the last year there was ever one night that there wasn’t at least one ambulance call,” said Tredger, 69.
https://vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/first-of-its-kind-…
# International, Co-operatives and resident-led housing, Housing affordability, Work, employment.‘It’s legal, there’s just no precedent’: the first US town to demand a rent decrease
Wilfred Chan The Guardian (No paywall)’s 2pm after an overnight shift, and Amanda Treasure is lying in bed unable to sleep. She can’t stop thinking about how most of what she brings home from her full-time job as a caretaker – two $900 checks a month – goes to rent for the two-bedroom apartment with a mold problem she shares with her disabled husband, teenage son and five pets.
Treasure has lived her whole life in Kingston, New York, a quiet city about 90 miles north of Manhattan. She got her first job at 14 delivering papers, and by 16 she was paying for her first car and insurance. The skating rink and bowling alley Treasure frequented as a teen disappeared soon after the IBM factory that once employed thousands of residents closed in the early 1990s, devastating the town. “Now there’s nothing to do here, and the prices are through the roof,” Treasure says. “And I’m working my butt off, but there’s nothing to show. This world is just not what I expected being 52 years old.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/new-york-housing…
# Legal significance International, Rent, Housing affordability, Local Government, Strong communities.City mayors call for rent freeze and eviction ban for England’s tenants
Kevin Rawlinson The Guardian (No paywall)An immediate rent freeze and a ban on evictions should be introduced in England to help renters deal with the cost of living crisis, the mayors of three of the biggest cities have said.
It would bring the country into line with Scotland, where tenants have been protected under emergency measures designed to curb a “humanitarian emergency” announced by Nicola Sturgeon last September.
“Rising costs of food and energy mean millions are struggling to make ends meet,” the campaigners wrote in an open letter to the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, on Wednesday, saying renters were “among the worst affected by the cost of living crisis”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/23/city-mayors-call…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Housing affordability.EU Parliament agrees position on buildings law despite pushback
Kira Taylor Euractiv (No paywall)The European Parliament approved its stance on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Tuesday (14 March), setting out a more ambitious position ahead of negotiations with EU countries.
“The EPBD deal is adopted! Huge step forward for lower energy bills, reducing energy poverty, and tackling 36% of EU emissions,” said Ciaran Cuffe, the Green Irish lawmaker in charge of the Parliament’s negotiations on the buildings directive.
Europe’s buildings are responsible for 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of its energy consumption, but renovation rates are well below where they need to reach Europe’s climate goals.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/europea…
# International, Utilities water energy internet, Climate change.Bob has no idea where he will be living in six weeks as Sydney's rental crisis hits hard
Paige Cockburn and Kamin Gock ABC (No paywall)Bob Davis has no idea where he will be living in six weeks.
He's being evicted from his Sydney rental home of 30 years and doesn't like his chances of finding something else in the city's white-hot market.
Bob, 79, is one of three pensioners in the Waverley building who have been served no-grounds eviction notices.
"I'm nervous, anxious and frustrated," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-27/sydney-rental-crisis-hits…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, No-grounds evictions, Older people, State Government.Bondi real estate agent's advice for capitalising on rental crisis reignites calls to ban no-fault evictions
Rosemary Bolger ABC (No paywall)A Sydney real estate agent has advised landlords wanting to capitalise on the "once-in-a-decade" rental crisis they can kick out long-term tenants to raise rent quickly.
The email sent from Ray White Bondi to its clients says it's reasonable that most landlords would want to "maximise this opportunity" and lays out three options.
The first is the "aggressive" option to evict a long-term tenant, tidy up the property and re-let it at a higher rate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-16/bondi-real-estate-rental-…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Campaigns and law reform, Landlords and agents, No-grounds evictions, State Government.