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
Before It Was Struck Down, Albany’s Good Cause Eviction Law Worked
Roshan Abraham Next City (No paywall)Tenant rights advocates in Albany rejoiced in July 2021 when the city enacted a “Good Cause” eviction bill, the first city in the state to do so. The law restricts building owners from evicting renters without legitimate reason and restricts evictions when rent goes up by 5%. For the more-than-one-year period that the Good Cause eviction law was in effect, it was working for Albany tenants, who were able to renegotiate excessive rent increases and avoid eviction.
“It was empowering tenants themselves to step up and say, ‘You can’t do that,’” says Canyon Ryan, executive director of United Tenants of Albany. “We saw in real time how it fostered tenant empowerment outside of the courts, which was really unique.” Ryan says since the court stopped it, “the state needs to step up and fix it.”
https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/before-it-was-struck-down-alb…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Eviction, Housing market, International.Renters Face Another Hot Summer with Scant Protections
Naomi Klein, Andrea Krombein, Zuzana Modrovic, et al. The Tyee (No paywall)The 2021 heat dome, British Columbia’s deadliest environmental disaster to date, killed 619 of our friends and neighbours. Two years later, B.C.’s tenants are still unprotected in the face of extreme weather.
In January, Environment Canada announced that the country will experience warmer seasonal temperatures in the coming year. When the next extreme weather event hits our province, we expect hundreds more vulnerable tenants will suffer, unless strong, urgent action is taken to protect them.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/03/30/Renters-Summer-Scant-Prot…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Climate change, Health, International.In Bengaluru, landlords call the shots as techies fight for flats
Bloomberg Hindustan Times (No paywall)Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, is home to over 1.5 million workers including those for global firms.
Rents in India’s technology hub of Bangalore have nearly doubled since the start of last year, making it the country’s hottest residential market.
Landlords in the city, often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley, now charge the highest proportion of their property’s value as rent, edging out financial center Mumbai, according to data from market researchers.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/real-estate/in-bengaluru-landlord…
# Must read, Hot topic International, Housing affordability, Housing market, International.Forced rental to go ahead for vacant homes
The Portugal News The Portugal News (No paywall)The most controversial measure of the More Housing programme was approved in the Council of Ministers. António Costa explains the details of the new regime.
The compulsory rental of vacant properties was one of the main topics of discussion, leading even the President of the Republic to admit rejecting the law if the bill goes forward. But not even this made the Government set back.
The measure, so-called forced rental, will go ahead in the case of flats vacant for more than two years, in high density territories, according to what was approved in the Council of Ministers on Thursday, March 30.
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2023-04-01/forced-rental-to…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing market, International.Tenant Advocates Urge Oregon Legislature to Strengthen Rent Control After Record Inflation
Isabella Garcia Portland Mercury (No paywall)If Robbin McMain gets another rent increase, she’s worried she’ll become homeless.
McMain lives in a 55-and-older mobile home park in Brookings, Oregon, where she—like many other such residents—owns her mobile home while renting the lot it sits on. This year, McMain and her neighbors all received a 14.6 percent rental increase—the maximum allowed under current state law. For seniors who are on fixed incomes, the increase is squeezing their limited budgets and upending their housing stability.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/Housing/2023/03/28/46427039/tena…
# Hot topic International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.These Hamilton tenants fight to return to their affordable units after renoviction
Samantha Beattie CBC (No paywall)Tenants at a Hamilton apartment building are fighting for their affordable units after they say their landlord illegally denied them their right to move back in following renovations.
It's an example of how cities are "bleeding" affordable housing, which researcher Steve Pomeroy says is happening in Hamilton. Tenants are evicted or move out and their units are then rented at a significantly higher price, far faster than new affordable units are being built.
For every affordable unit Hamilton builds, it's losing 29 affordable units to market forces, said Pomeroy.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-tenants-afforda…
# Hot topic International, Eviction, Housing market, International.Renters have stepped up efforts to address the housing crisis — it’s time for property managers to do the same
Grant Alexander Wilson, Gabriel Millard and Cameron Hills The Conversation (No paywall)With my co-authors Gabriel Millard and Cameron Hills, executives of one of Canada’s largest property owner-operators, Avenue Living, we examined the spending habits of renters and the rental strategies of property managers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Our research, published in the real estate economics journal Property Management, involved a multi-national study of 1,251 renters. Our results showed that consumers were successfully prioritizing needs over wants, but many were still struggling financially.
https://theconversation.com/renters-have-stepped-up-efforts-to-a…
# Hot topic, Research alert International, Rent, Housing affordability, International.How the private rental sector created a homelessness crisis in Ireland and England
Mark Jordan and Padraic Kenna The Conversation (No paywall)There is a homelessness crisis in Ireland. More than 11,000 people including 3,500 children were living in emergency homeless accommodation at the end of 2022 – a 300% increase since 2014. And these figures do not even capture the full extent of hidden homelessness because thousands of people in Ireland are living in unaffordable, unsafe, insecure housing.
In recent years Ireland’s private rental sector has been used to plug the gap left by reduced social housing availability. Combined with booming demand from private renters, properties are now in very short supply.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-private-rental-sector-create…
# Hot topic International, Homelessness, Housing affordability, International.