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
Sirius irony: The elites who have bought into the landmark former public housing block
Lucy Macken The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)As a couple of mining moguls, the son of billionaire Lang Walker and a venture capitalist trophy homeowner from Mosman take the keys to their flash new apartments in the Sirius building, the irony of the whole development is as obvious to many Sydneysiders as the brutalist landmark itself. After all, the Tao Gofers-designed block is arguably the most famous public housing complex in the country, even after the state government sold it in 2019 for $150 million to developer JDH Capital to be refashioned into 75 luxury apartments. Think gentrification on steroids.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sirius-irony-the-elites-who…
# Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing.The Market Alone Can’t Fix the U.S. Housing Crisis
Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan Harvard Business Review (No paywall)The United States is experiencing a serious housing crisis, and has been for a long time. Growth in rents continues to exceed overall price inflation. Mortgage rates have been at a multi-decade high due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes since summer 2022. Tens of millions of households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Shelter is a basic human need and unaffordable housing is — and should be — a national scandal.
https://hbr.org/2024/09/the-market-alone-cant-fix-the-u-s-housin…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Policy Lab: Cracking Down on Rental “Junk Fees”
Katie Wilson Urbanist (No paywall)President Biden has called out junk fees, but landlords continue to charge them in most jurisdictions, Seattle included. “Junk fees” are a growing problem across the economy, as corporations nickel and dime consumers with arbitrary and surprise costs added to the prices of concert tickets, hotel stays, and more. Here in Seattle we’ve received a pointed lesson in the subject this year, as delivery app company DoorDash has tried to strongarm elected leaders into rolling back minimum pay standards for gig workers by slapping on fees.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/09/11/policy-lab-cracking-down-…
# International, Rent.Can rent controls help tackle Scotland’s housing crisis?
Laurie Macfarlane Future Economy Scotland (No paywall)Last week’s Programme for Government reaffirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to introducing long-term rent controls. The pledge follows the publication of the Housing (Scotland) Bill in March 2024 which, if passed, would grant Scottish Ministers to designate ‘rent control areas’ based on recommendations from local authorities. Within these areas, increases on private tenancies could then be restricted for a fixed period. The inclusion of rent controls in the Bill marked a significant victory for activists and Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants’ union, who have long demanded that the Scottish Government take bolder action to control soaring rents.
https://www.futureeconomy.scot/posts/57-can-rent-controls-help-t…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Ban on rental bidding wars is on the way - but will it work?
Becky Morton BBC (No paywall)With renters in popular areas facing intense competition for homes, many are increasingly finding themselves pitted against each other in bidding wars. Housing campaigners have welcomed plans for new laws to ban the practice in England - but are warning more action will be needed to tackle unaffordable rents. Jason Phillips had been living in his flat in Crouch End, north London, for 10 years when his landlady decided to sell up.
https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.com/news/arti…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Ex-Manus Island detainees stranded in PNG threatened with eviction over unpaid rent
Paul Karp and Ben Doherty The Guardian (No paywall)Asylum seekers stranded in Papua New Guinea have been threatened with eviction if an alleged $110,000 rental arrears debt is not paid, leading to urgent calls for the Australian government to intervene to prevent them becoming “homeless”. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) wrote to the home affairs department revealing that refugee families with 10 children at Latitude apartments in Port Moresby face eviction on Friday unless the bill is paid by Thursday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/sep/11/e…
# Must read International, Eviction.For Tenants, AI-Powered Screening Can Be a New Barrier to Housing
Patrick Sisson Bloomberg (No paywall)The promise behind tenant screening technology is simple: By automating the process of sifting through apartment applications and performing background checks, landlords can quickly weed out prospective tenants they consider too risky to rent to — people with shaky finances, cloudy rental history or concerning criminal records. By streamlining a lot of paperwork-intensive detective work, these computerized services — part of a flourishing field of real estate industry tools known as proptech — are billed as a means of cutting down on evictions, fending off fraud and reducing costs for owners and tenants alike.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-09-11/ai-powered-te…
# International, Eviction, Rent.Aim for no-fault eviction ban to be in place by summer
Becky Morton and Jennifer McKiernan BBC (No paywall)The government hopes a ban on evicting tenants in England without a reason will be in place by next summer, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has said. The plans are part of a Renters’ Rights Bill, which was published and introduced to Parliament on Wednesday. A ban on "no-fault" evictions was first proposed under the Conservatives but it was delayed amid concern about the impact on landlords from some Tory MPs, and time ran out to pass the law before July’s election was called. The bill would also ban "bidding wars" and prevent landlords from blocking tenants on benefits or with children.
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Rent.