62 h. ago The housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into crypto and economic nihilism

Locked out of home ownership, young adults are turning to risky financial behaviour

Economics

3 d. ago Coastal gem and birthplace of Thanksgiving faces housing affordability crisis

Despite being dubbed 'America's hometown', this area doesn't have many homes that Americans can afford.

Events

3 d. ago To halt the far right, Europe’s progressive parties must fix its housing crisis. Our research shows how | Tarik Abou

The mantra of ‘build, build, build’ misses something crucial: that few can afford these new homesHousing costs across Europe have become a growing burden for many households, both for those trying to buy and those trying to rent. Over the past decade, property prices have surged faster than incomes in many European countries. The same is true for rents, which have increased exponentially in large cities but have also increased substantially in suburban areas and smaller university towns.Given how much housing costs affect Europeans’ quality of life, it is comparatively absent from the agenda of progressive political parties. When politicians do emphasise housing, the focus is usually solely on building more houses. Former German chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, promised to build 400,000 new homes in Germany every year – a goal his government failed to reach by some distance. At the same time, far-right parties such as the Freedom party (PVV) in the Netherlands or Chega in Portug...

Events

3 d. ago Europe’s housing crisis is fuelling the rise of the far right. Our research shows how to address it | Tarik Abou

The mantra of ‘build, build, build’ misses something crucial: that few can afford these new homesReport: European progressives must tackle housing crisis to beat far right, say researchersHousing costs across Europe have become a growing burden for many households, both for those trying to buy and those trying to rent. Over the past decade, property prices have surged faster than incomes in many European countries. The same is true for rents, which have increased exponentially in large cities but have also increased substantially in suburban areas and smaller university towns.Given how much housing costs affect Europeans’ quality of life, it is comparatively absent from the agenda of progressive political parties. When politicians do emphasise housing, the focus is usually solely on building more houses. Former German chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, promised to build 400,000 new homes in Germany every year – a goal his government failed to reach by some distance. At the same ti...

Events

3 d. ago European progressives must tackle housing crisis to beat far right, say researchers

Centre left can win broad support by addressing soaring house prices and rents, according to data analysisCentre-left parties can build a broad new coalition of support if they tackle Europe’s deepening housing crisis, researchers have said. Conversely, ignoring it risks pushing increasingly fed-up voters into the arms of the far right.Research by the Progressive Politics Research Network (PPRNet) suggests dramatic rises in the cost of housing over recent years have eroded support for centre-left parties – once the champions of affordable housing – and fuelled anti-establishment disaffection. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Art installation spotlights 'heartbreaking' fuel poverty crisis affecting millions

A new sculpture, displayed in central London, is part of a campaign by Skipton Building Society, Age UK and National Energy Action to highlight the growing crisis facing households

Events

5 d. ago ‘I was hospitalised for a week due to mould in my damp house’

The Royal College of Physicians warn air pollution will contribute to the equivalent of 30,000 deaths in the UK in 2025

Politics

5 d. ago How Paris and Japanese model for housing could solve London’s crisis

How Paris and Japanese model for housing could solve London’s crisis  Southwark News

Events

9 d. ago Fuel poverty crisis spotlighted by 'frozen' home as energy bills rise

A new ice sculpture has been erected in central London as part of a campaign to highlight the growing energy crisis facing households across the UK

Events

9 d. ago Households fear worse to come as London sculpture highlights energy bill crisis

The sculpture, on display in central London, is part of a wider campaign to spotlight the growing energy crisis

Events

1 week ago Nearly 3,300 children homeless in Glasgow weeks before Christmas as housing crisis deepens

EXCLUSIVE: New figures also show the number of homeless people in temporary accommodation is at a high.

Society

1 week ago The Guardian view on crypto’s latest crash: it reveals who pays the price for a failing economy | Editorial

The bitcoin collapse lifts the lid on a society without opportunity, where risk is privatised and rightwingers sell illusions of freedom while ordinary punters bear lossesThe crypto crash has come again. And it is as brutal as ever. In barely six weeks, more than $1.2tn has evaporated from cryptocurrencies’ market capitalisation. The sell-off has sent bitcoin back to levels last seen in April. The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly fell below $90,000 this week, shedding almost a third of its value since its October peak.The key to understanding crypto is that it has no “value” in any economic sense. It generates no income, commands no productive capacity and pays no dividends. Unlike state money, it is not backed by a tax base or a fiscal authority. What props up its price is not cashflow but expectation: the hope that someone else will validate today’s valuation tomorrow. When sentiment turns sour or people pull their money out, there is nothing to break cryptocurrencies’ fall....

Events

2 w. ago ‘I was a pandemic hero – now I’ve been forced to live in a caravan because of housing crisis’

For carer and cleaner Kirsty Brett, ‘extortionate’ asking prices for housing rents meant she had to find other ways of living outside the parents’ home

Events

2 w. ago Trump live: Fallout with ‘traitor’ MTG over Epstein files adds to Republican crisis as House vote looms

Trump called Greene, who is expected to vote next week on a proposal to force the government to release more Epstein files, a ‘traitor’

Politics

2 w. ago Scotland’s housing crisis is one of complacency and an absence of imagination

Until we rebuild public imagination and civic confidence, no amount of policy will fix our housing problem, writes Frazer Macdonald Hay

Events

2 w. ago London boroughs seek ‘funding firepower’ to tackle housing crisis through investment in existing estates

London boroughs seek ‘funding firepower’ to tackle housing crisis through investment in existing estates  London Post

Events

2 w. ago Big Short investor Michael Burry shutters hedge fund after big bets against AI giants

A hedge fund manager made famous for major bets against the US housing market ahead of the 2008 financial crisis is set to close his firm.

Economics

2 w. ago Homelessness is increasingly hard to ignore – unless you are the Labour party | Simon Jenkins

The government is focused on building new homes for floating voters, while landlordism is discouraged and homes stand empty As opera-goers trooped into the London Coliseum this week, three helpless drunks were camping on the adjacent front steps. One was struggling to stop another pulling down his trousers – or possibly helping him. In Chandos Place around the corner, half a dozen more were bedding down out of the rain. Over the road, staff at the hallowed St Martin-in-the-Fields homeless charity were under siege.There is only one housing crisis. It is not the lack of somewhere nice to live. It is the lack of somewhere to sleep. Rough sleeping is vagrancy, and illegal in England and Wales under the Vagrancy Act. It means the police can “move you on”. The government promised to “develop a new cross-government strategy” to “put Britain back on track to ending homelessness” in its election manifesto, so next spring it is scrapping the 19th-century act. Rough sleeping will be decriminal...

Society

2 w. ago Building apartment projects near public transit helps address housing crisis, combat climate change

Quantavia Smith, who was often homeless for a decade, now has a studio apartment in Los Angeles with easy access to public transit

Society

2 w. ago The rapid rise of renters in their 60s: ‘I hate the idea of house

It is often assumed that people of retirement age will no longer have housing costs to cover. But for a significant and growing group, this is far from the caseNow that she is retired, Deborah Herring’s days are hers to fill – usually with leisurely walks, museums and trips to the theatre. But she still manages to spare a thought for her ex-colleagues at the private boarding school where she taught religious studies for 14 years. “In their nice, expensive Oxfordshire village, I think they’d be frankly horrified about my situation,” she says with a laugh.Horrified that a few weeks ago she came home to find two strangers asleep on her sofa; horrified that she has to put up with an overflowing litter tray belonging to a cat that isn’t hers; above all, horrified that at the age of 65, she is about to leave a two-bedroom flatshare to move into a four-bedroom one where she will “probably be living with people whose combined age is less than my own”. Continue reading...

Society