Two of my close friends need your help! They have been partners for several years and are working on moving in together - they have a new apartment lined up and everything.

However: The current apartment complex one of them lives in (HUD disability housing) has a recurring bedbug problem that the owners don't seem particularly interested in properly treating - friend has been doing their own treatments at their own expense for a while now. My friends do not want to bring bedbugs to their new place. Thus, they are going to have to pay for thorough bedbug treatment, preventive measures for the new place, and replacement furniture out-of-pocket. They've been crunching to save up on their own, but they need help.

They have set up a gofundme to help close the last stretch of costs before their move-in date in August. As of this posting they're at $4527 / $6000 total - they're asking for help with the remaining $2000 $1430. (As of edit time, they are at $754!!)

Please boost and send your love, they've both been through very much and deserve to have a good clean peaceful place together!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tara-nicoles-bedbugfree-journey

@mutualaid

#mutualaid#MutualAidRequest #transmutualaid #disabledmutualaid #housing #housingaid #gofundme #gofundmecampaign

Utah Sen. Mike Lee Says Selling Off Public Lands Will Solve the West’s Housing Crisis. Past Sales Show Otherwise.
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Last month, Lee introduced a now-removed amendment to Trump’s policy megabill that mandated the sale of up to 3 million acres. It did little to address the challenges of building affordable housing on public land.
https://www.propublica.org/article/utah-mike-lee-public-lands-sell-off?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#Utah#Housing#PublicLands#Conservation#Law

I've been toying with the idea of some sort of Solarpunk/Library Socialism Movement in St. Louis for a while. I do not feel like any current organization deals with the specific issues I'm concerned with in a comprehensive, local way.

As a result, I have a vision I've been toying with that I feel ready to share: https://nextcloud.nullarch.com/s/qkkisXnC5iw2EAX

I'm very open to feedback or interest in this idea/project.

#stl #stlouis #saintlouis #solarpunk #librarysocialism #climate #urbanism #housing #anarchism

Very good article on how the financialisation of housing is driving the rise of the far right.

"The housing crisis is now as big a threat to the EU as Russia. We’re running the risk of having the working and middle classes conclude that their democracies are incapable of solving their biggest problem.”
Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona

#Housing#Rents

Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It’s a political timebomb | Tim White | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/07/europe-financial-sector-house-prices-politics?CMP=GTUK_email

China risks repeating Japan’s policy mistakes of the 1990s by misdiagnosing a deep demographic and real estate crisis as a short-term economic slowdown, potentially triggering long-term stagnation and population decline. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/07/06/world/chinas-housing-crisis-is-worse-than-it-seems/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #china #realestate #housing #chineseeconomy #japaneseeconomy

We treat home-ownership as the normality to which all aspire.... but:

in 1918, 77% of households rented (most privately);

by 1961, 25% were renting socially & 34% renting privately, with ownership still a minority;

in 1971, renting & owning were about equal... while in 1981, the majority (58%) owned, a proportion that has now grown 65% down from a peak of 70% in 2001.

So renting is our history & better renters' rights (in the new Renters bill) may revive this history?

#housing
h/t ONS/FT

China's rapid urbanization is driven by factory-based home construction, significantly reducing costs and build times. This approach, with homes built for as little as $40-50/sq ft, offers a potential solution to global housing affordability crises.

https://youtu.be/E1whWppZxoY

#china #housing#HousingCrisis

Six months after the wildfires that devastated the eastern and western flanks of Los Angeles, some victims are coping with life in RVs as the arduous rebuilding effort goes on. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/04/world/society/la-fires-rv-living/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #wildfires #us #california #housing

These 5 Charts Show How Hotels Became New York’s Response to Homelessness
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Social services agencies across the state now place nearly half of all individuals and families seeking shelter in hotels, leaving people without resources like food and help finding housing.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-york-homelessness-hotels-five-charts?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#NewYork#Homelessness#Homeless#Housing#Hotel#Data

Apartment rents in Tokyo are rising at the fastest pace in 30 years, in the latest sign for the Bank of Japan that the nation’s inflation trend is spreading deeper through the economy. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/06/26/economy/tokyo-apartment-rents-up/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #housing #realestate #economicindicators #japaneseeconomy #inflation #boj

How Hotels, Once a Last Resort, Became New York’s Default Answer to Homelessness
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Statewide spending on hotels has more than tripled in recent years. The shift away from shelters has prevented families from accessing services like child care and help finding housing.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-york-homelessness-hotels?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#NY#NewYork#Homelessness#Homeless#Hotel#Housing#Shelter

"Aaron Hendry ... set up an organisation, Kick Back, to offer wraparound support for young people sleeping rough, including 24/7 accommodation, health services, and legal advice ... He suggested New Zealand follow the lead of Wales, which trialled the 'Duty to Assist' legislation, which is a homelessness prevention strategy that's been successfully implemented to enforce the human right to housing."

#AmandaGillies, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/thedetail/564850/nowhere-to-go-for-more-than-100-000-kiwis-the-worsening-reality-of-homelessness

#housing#HousingCrisis#DutyToAssist#Wales

"284,000 empty homes."

#DebbieNgarewaPacker, 2025

"That's two homes per every homeless person in this country."

#RawiriWaititi, 2025

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/pat-brittenden/episodes/BHN-Te-Paati-Mori-co-leaders-Debbie-Ngarewa-Packer-and-Rawiri-Waititi-LIVE-for-the-whole-show-e33dv69

#podcasts#BlindfishMedia #BigHairyNews #BHN#TPM#TePātiMāori #housing#HousingCrisis

"NZ has had a housing shortage for so long, it has fostered a cohort of entitled property owners and landlords whose businesses can't survive normal market conditions, in which occupants and tenants have a modicum of choice. We need to weed these businesses out."

Stu Donovan, quoted by Hayden Donnell, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=cf3970fc-9508-4412-a6da-c98a0a64a102

#podcasts#RNZ#MediaWatch #housing

In 2021, 42% of low-income households paid more than 50% of their income for #housing;

https://www.hud.govt.nz/stats-and-insights/homelessness-outlook/homelessness-indicators

But the real problem is landlording not being profitable enough;

"It's a classic oversupply, we added so many houses to the market with the Ardern [government's] incentives, that we have too many homes and renters have so many options."

#SteveGoodey, 2025

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/04/23/pain-for-property-investors-as-rental-listing-levels-hit-high/

#HatTip to Hayden Donnell of RNZ MediaWatch for highlighting this story

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=cf3970fc-9508-4412-a6da-c98a0a64a102