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
Lessons From The U.K.’s Transformative Social Housing System
Roshan Abraham Next City (No paywall)UK: Historian John Boughton explains how the U.K.’s council housing system changed millions of low- and middle-income people’s lives – and how privatization has crippled its power. Conversations about social housing often become polarized around examples with widely differing outcomes: robust and fully funded social housing in places like Vienna, Austria, or on the other hand, the often deteriorating and chronically under-funded public housing in the United States.
https://nextcity.org/features/lessons-from-the-british-transform…
# International, Public and community housing, History, International.NYC's eviction hotspots: Tracking the 10K removals since moratorium ended
Neil Mehta and David Brand Gothamist (No paywall)USA: Evictions take a heavy toll on individuals and families, along with broader communities in a city already struggling to house tens of thousands of low-income and homeless people. After a pandemic-spurred moratorium on evictions ended last January, certain sections of the city are emerging as eviction hot spots, where property owners ranging from large firms with thousands of units, to small landlords with a single residence are successfully removing tenants.
https://gothamist.com/news/nycs-eviction-hotspots-tracking-the-1…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Homelessness, Housing market, Human rights, International.How the housing crisis is hitting tenants hardest
Nimo Omer The Guardian (No paywall)UK: No-fault evictions are rocketing, bills are ballooning and social housing lists are overloaded – what the statistics reveal about renting today and why urgent reform is needed. On average there are 20 people requesting to view each rental property that comes on the market in Britain, more than triple what it was in 2019. In some parts of the north-west, that number inches closer to 30 per property.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/08/tuesday-briefing-f…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Applying to rent, Homelessness, Housing market, Landlords and agents.How a mobile-home park saved its community from a corporate buyout
Kirbie Bennett and Jamie Wanzek High Country News (No paywall)USA: In southwest Colorado, a cooperative and a land trust partnered to preserve affordable housing. On a quiet day this spring, Alejandra Chavez walked into her office at Westside Mobile Home Park in Durango, Colorado. Residents were gathered in the community space, discussing their plans for the park’s future, some leaning on the kitchen’s baby-blue counters while others sat in plastic lawn chairs. A year ago, this building was owned by a New York corporation and was off-limits to residents. But now, residents use the space for yoga, child care and community events.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/south-housing-how-a-mobile-home-par…
# International, Land lease communities, Rent, Co-operatives and resident-led housing, Home, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, International, Rent to buy, Renting culture.NZ rents up 83 percent in 20 years, but interest rates not the biggest contributor - Treasury, Reserve Bank
Mark Quinlivan Newshub (No paywall)Aotearoa New Zealand: A new report by multiple agencies has found supply and demand and wage inflation are the two biggest contributing factors to rising rents in New Zealand. Research by agencies including the Treasury, Reserve Bank and Housing and Urban Development Ministry said average rents rose 83 percent between 2003 and 2022.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2023/08/nz-rents-up-83-perc…
# International, Rent, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.Housing is a direct federal responsibility, contrary to what Trudeau said. Here’s how his government can do better.
Carolyn Whitzman and Alexandra Flynn The Conversation (No paywall)Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that “housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility” at a funding announcement in Hamilton, Ont. on July 31. This statement is neither accurate nor politically smart, with recent polls suggesting that 70 per cent of Canadians think the Liberal government isn’t adequately addressing the high and growing cost of housing.
https://theconversation.com/housing-is-a-direct-federal-responsi…
# International, Affordable housing, Federal Government, Housing affordability, Housing market, International, Local Government.Airbnb Hosts Try to Evade City Regulations, From Copenhagen to Catalonia
Feargus O'Sullivan and Jessica Loudis Bloomberg (No paywall)As tourists flood back, cities have responded with a flurry of new rules on short-term rentals. But policing this housing sector remains a challenge. It’s been almost 15 years since the launch of Airbnb Inc. kicked off a global boom in short-term home rentals, and it still feels as if no city has yet found the right formula for regulating the sector. But it’s certainly not for lack of trying.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-08-02/cities-keep-t…
# International, Eviction, Rent, Anti-social behaviour, Home, Housing market, International, Local Government, Renting culture, Short-term holiday letting.Economists Support Nationwide Rent Control in Letter to Biden Admin
Roshan Abraham Vice (No paywall)USA: "All the empirical literature suggests that the basic economic story does not hold" when it comes to anti-rent control arguments, said one economist. A group of 32 economists have signed a letter released Thursday supporting the use of rent control nationwide, joining a campaign asking the federal government to regulate rents in buildings with government-backed mortgages.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d9yvz/economists-support-nation…
# International, Rent, Housing market, Human rights, International.