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
Claims of double-charging and excessive rent in NSW child protection system
Michael McGowan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Out-of-home care in NSW has been left open to questionable financial dealings by non-government providers, including double-charging and excessive rents, according to a sweeping review of the $2 billion service. Prompted by stinging criticism of child protection in the state, the review described the care set-up as “not fit for purpose”. It identified “a profound lack of accountability and ineffective oversight” by the Department of Communities and Justice that led to potential profiteering. The co-reviewers, former NSW Police assistant commissioner Gelina Talbot and Lauren Dean, a former executive in the Department of Communities and Justice, made 13 recommendations to remedy weak governance and a lack of oversight.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/claims-of-double-charging-an…
# Must read NSW, .LA fire victims fear new housing crisis
Max Matza, Kayla Epstein, and Gabriela Pomeroy BBC (No paywall)Michael Storc and his family had just survived a devastating wildfire. Now they have to face a daunting new challenge that he had hoped to never experience again - the Los Angeles housing market. After losing the Altadena home that he owned in the Eaton fire, he was scouring for a new place to rent, and having little luck. "What's available is not nice at all and the rents have gone up a lot," Mr Storc told the BBC. "I told my teenage daughter we had to accept we would live somewhere not very nice." The Los Angeles area already has one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. And with thousands now displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires, Angelenos are anxious that the sudden surge in demand could make rents and home prices soar even higher.
# Must read International, Disasters, Rent.London needs a new town due to 'huge housing need'
Noah Vickers BBC (No paywall)At least one new town inside the Greater London boundary is needed to meet the "huge housing need in the capital" a business group has said. BusinessLDN's report said the capital could host a new town because factors such as public transport were already in place. As part of its strategy to tackle the housing crisis, Labour promised in its election manifesto earlier this year to "build a new generation of new towns". The Labour government said these locations would be announced in 2025 and ministers were "already taking steps" to accelerate housing delivery in London.
# Hot topic International, .US Justice Department accuses six major landlords of scheming to keep rents high
Jesse Bedayn AP News (No paywall)DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is suing several large landlords for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents high by using both an algorithm to help set rents and privately sharing sensitive information with their competitors to boost profits. The lawsuit arrives as U.S. renters continue to struggle under a merciless housing market, with incomes failing to keep up with rent increases. The latest figures show that half of American renters spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2022, an all-time high.
https://apnews.com/article/algorithm-corporate-rent-housing-cris…
# Must read International, .Landlords in England face ban on ‘outrageous’ upfront charges
Kiran Stacey The Guardian (No paywall)Landlords in England would be banned from charging more than a month’s rent upfront under changes MPs are due to vote on Tuesday. Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, has amended her renters’ rights bill to limit the amount of money property owners can demand before a tenant moves in, as part of a package of new protections for those in rented accommodation. The move is one of a number of amendments Rayner has proposed before the bill is debated again by MPs on Tuesday afternoon. The housing secretary is also planning to stop landlords charging friends and family who have acted as guarantors if the renter in question has died.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jan/14/landlords-england-…
# Hot topic International, .Half of US Tenants Are ‘Rent Burdened’
Diana Ionescu Planetizen (No paywall)Roughly half of all American renters spend more than a third of their income on housing costs, according to data from the U.S. Census, with costs rising sharply since 2021. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “the amount of housing that low-income renters can afford declined nationwide from 2019 to 2022, and that the trend has the biggest impact on extremely low-income Americans—a majority of whom live with disabilities, are caretakers for someone else, or are older adults.” An article in the Lexington Herald Leader outlines how Kentucky compares to the rest of the country. “In Kentucky, where more than 579.1 thousand people rent their homes, 40.4% are considered rent-burdened, while 20.6% of renters are severely rent burdened.”
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/01/133665-half-us-tenants-a…
# Hot topic International, Rent.More people in late 20s still living with parents
Kevin Peachey BBC (No paywall)An impression - or possibly a fear - that 20-somethings are still hanging about in the family home is based on fact, an influential think-tank has concluded. The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third in nearly two decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The living at home trend has been driven by men, and those in their late 20s, researchers found. High renting costs and rising house prices were the most significant reasons for the change.
# Hot topic International, Rent.NT Court of Appeal ends long-running water rights legal battle with victory for Aboriginal tenants
Giovanni Torre National Indigenous Times (No paywall)The NT's Court of Appeal confirmed this week that the NT government, through its public housing landlord, is legally required to supply water for its tenants, and the water supplied must be safe for drinking. In 2019, residents of the remote community of Laramba, west of Alice Springs, took their landlord, the NT Chief Executive Officer (Housing), to the NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT) over concerns about their drinking water. It was common ground that that water contained uranium at levels three times the maximum level set out in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Expert evidence filed by the tenants showed this was damaging to the kidneys of those who drank the water over an extended period.
https://nit.com.au/27-12-2024/15568/nt-court-of-appeal-ends-long…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Discrimination, Rent.