Frank Newman: Tenancy changes ahead

By the end of the year, the new coalition government is likely to have introduced a number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act intended to "fix" the rental market.

The Minister of Housing said he wanted to introduce laws that, "bring the best out in people, and encourage their better side. And that's why modernising the tenancy laws will be about a set of rules that work for landlords and tenants - and encourage for instance longer term tenancies, which are good for families and good for landlords."

What a load of idealistic nonsense. The Minister's proposed changes will do nothing to "fix" the rental market. The most likely outcome is that it will make it worse for tenants. 

Richard Epstein: The Affordable Housing Crisis

Housing policy has become yet another flashpoint in these highly polarized times. Much of the controversy swirls around President Donald Trump’s nomination of Ben Carson, a distinguished neurosurgeon, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

HUD operates a wide range of subsidized federal housing programs that impassioned critics of his nomination are sure Carson will dismember. His chief vice in their eyes is his lack of direct experience working in the housing area. In a real sense this is a mixed blessing. 

Richard Epstein from the US: The Folly Of "Fair" Housing

This past week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a long and convoluted final rule, entitled “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (Final Rule). This rule sets out the new terms and conditions which all local governments will be required to meet if they receive federal funds to advance their local housing programs.

These obligations are not made out of whole cloth, but were explicitly set out in the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (FHA), which has two separate parts.