The Elephant

The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens

Topic: Housing


Related Articles (50)

Maria Powell: Madison's long history of racist planning and development

  2023-11-14 (or before) by in The Capital Times: Madison WI News

Flying in the face of its stated commitment to racial equity and social justice, Madison is as racist and classist as less “progressive” cities — and when it comes to

  Tagged under: Economics | Housing | Finance


Monument, ironstone, basalt: Why the colour of the nation's roofs is a hot topic

  2023-10-23 (or before) in ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

  Tagged under: Housing


Housing and climate: UK homes need urgent adaptation to protect our health

  2023-10-05 (or before) in The BMJ: British Medical Journal

We must ensure that health is once again central to all housing policy, say Isobel Braithwaite and colleagues The climate emergency is already affecting our homes,1 and it will drive a range of key health risks in the coming decades.2 Many of these are closely connected to our housing system, including overheating and increased flood risks. This situation is further exacerbated in the UK by its wider housing crisis, with high levels of unaffordability—particularly in the private rental sector—as well as low tenure security, rising rates of homelessness and use of temporary accommodation, and an ageing and poor qua...

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing | Health | Committee on Climate Change UK


UK housebuilders save billions as government delays low-carbon rules

  2023-10-04 in The Guardian

Housebuilders have little incentive to take steps by themselves. It’s no surprise they are so keen to wade into the political arena as major donors

  Tagged under: Housing


MPs vow to fight new plans to scrap pollution rules for housebuilders

  2023-09-27 in The Guardian

Campaigners and parliamentarians gear up to fight ‘reckless proposals’ on pollution from new developments

  Tagged under: Housing | Wildlife


Community Solar Policy Screening Workbook for Multifamily Affordable Housing Building Portfolios | NREL Data Catalog

  2023-09-01 (or before) in NREL Data Catalog l NREL

  Tagged under: Solar Energy | Housing


New Housing Plans Could Cause 'Total Ecological Collapse' Of UK Rivers, Warn Campaigners

  2023-08-29 in Huffington Post UK

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove is set to announce plans to make it easier to build houses near rivers, according to reports.

  Tagged under: Rishi Sunak | Housing | Rivers | Collapse


Rishi Sunak took helicopter to housebuilding visit where he defended government’s ‘green credentials’ – as it happened

  2023-08-29 in The Guardian

PM flew to Norwich for the event where it was announced the government scrapping of nutrient neutrality rules

  Tagged under: Rishi Sunak | Housing


Remarks by Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Graham Steele at Event Hosted by the Brookings Institution's Assessing Insurance Regulation and Supervision of Climate-Related Financial Risk

  2023-08-29 (or before) in home.treasury.gov

As Prepared for Delivery Introduction Thank you, Carlos.  It is my pleasure to be with you all today, both those in the room and watching virtually. As the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, my portfolio includes developing the Department’s policy views on banks, credit unions, consumer protection, access to capital, and financial sector cybersecurity matters.  My remarks will focus on the work that Treasury, through the Federal Insurance office (FIO), is doing to understand and help address the financial risks that our changing climate poses in the insurance sector. Work on climate-related financial...

  Tagged under: Drought | Finance | Climate Change | Housing | Insurance | Litigation | Economic Growth | California | Climate Change Impacts | Wildfires | Florida | Climate Change Mitigation | Capitalism


England’s rivers at risk as Michael Gove rips up rules on new housing

  2023-08-28 in The Guardian

Exclusive: Announcement set to anger environmentalists, but builders say nutrient neutrality laws are exacerbating housing crisis

  Tagged under: Housing | Rivers


Solar Up 20X, Fossil Fuel Use Down In California

  2023-08-22 by in Cleantech News Ñ #1 In EV, Solar, Wind, Tesla News

California’s been getting a lot of bad press lately. There seems like an endless supply of videos on social media of robberies and shoplifting incidents, some committed in broad daylight. Housing shortages and homelessness, high interest rates, and even bad environmental stories flow out of the state as fast as residents supposedly do to other […]

  Tagged under: Solar Energy | Housing | California


On the Highway to Climate Hell

  2023-08-12 (or before) by in Foreign Policy - the Global Magazine of News and Ideas

The world's infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing


Portugal’s bid to attract foreign money backfires as rental market goes ‘crazy’

  2023-07-29 in The Guardian

Government incentives and deregulation have brought digital nomads, Airbnbs and ‘golden visas’ – but steep housing costs for locals

  Tagged under: Housing


Vermont Floods Show Limits of America’s Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change

  2023-07-11 in The New York Times

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing


Water supply fears prompt first housing objections - BBC News

  2023-06-26 (or before) in The BBC

The Environment Agency objects to thousands of new homes because of "significant risk" of harm.

  Tagged under: Housing


Opinion | Your Homeowners’ Insurance Bill Is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine

  2023-05-07 in The New York Times

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing | Insurance


Are you ready for a heatwave summer?

  2023-5-2 in building.co.uk

Preparing your house for soaring summer temperatures requires thinking tactically about solar and natural ventilation, before rushing into expensive high-tech fixes, writes Susan Roaf

  Tagged under: Solar Energy | Adaptation | Housing | Heatwaves


BREAKING: COURTS PROVE THEMSELVES TO BE “MORALLY BANKRUPT” AS FIVE PEOPLE  ARE JAILED IN ONE WEEK FOR VOWING TO CONTINUE IN CIVIL RESISTANCE - Insulate Britain

  2023-04-20 by in Insulate Britain

A further two Insulate Britain supporters were jailed today for public nuisance after they told the court they planned to continue in civil resistance until the government decarbonises the U.K. housing stock and halts new oil and gas. They join three people jailed on Tuesday bringing to five the total number of people sent to … BREAKING: COURTS PROVE THEMSELVES TO BE “MORALLY BANKRUPT” AS FIVE PEOPLE  ARE JAILED IN ONE WEEK FOR VOWING TO CONTINUE IN CIVIL RESISTANCE Read More »

  Tagged under: Housing


A home for all within planetary boundaries: pathways for meeting Englands housing needs without transgressing national climate and biodiversity goals

  2023-03-31 (or before) in OSF - Center for Open Science

Secure housing is core to the Sustainable Development Goals and a fundamental human right. However, potential conflicts between housing and sustainability objectives remain under-researched. We explore the impact of current English government housing policy, and alternative housing strategies, on national carbon and biodiversity goals. Using material flow and land use change/biodiversity models, we estimate from 2022-2050 under current policy housing alone would consume 104% of Englands cumulative carbon budget (2.6/2.5Gt [50% chance of <1.5C]); 12% from the construction and operation of new builds and 92% from the existing s...

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing | Sustainability


A Huge City Polluter? Buildings. Here’s a Surprising Fix.

  2023-03-10 in The New York Times

  Tagged under: Housing


Insulation only provides short-term reduction in household gas consumption

  2023-01-25 (or before) in cam.ac.uk

First study to look at long-term effect of home insulation in England and Wales finds fall in gas consumption per household was small and only lasts a few

  Tagged under: Insulation | Housing | Sustainability


Prioritization of carceral spending in U.S. cities: Development of the Carceral Resource Index (CRI) and the role of race and income inequality

  2022-12-22 (or before) in PLOS - Open Science

Background Policing, corrections, and other carceral institutions are under scrutiny for driving health harms, while receiving disproportionate resources at the expense of prevention and other services. Amidst renewed interest in structural determinants of health, roles of race and class in shaping government investment priorities are poorly understood. Methods Based on the Social Conflict Model, we assessed relationships between city racial/ economic profiles measured by the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) and budgetary priorities measured by the novel Carceral Resource Index (CRI), contrasting investments in car...

  Tagged under: Economics | Housing | Health


The UK needs better insulated homes to free us from Putin and the fossil fuel giants | Helena Bennett

  2022-09-13 in The Guardian

Government investment should be targeted at cutting bills by cutting waste. Until then we will remain dependent, says Helena Bennett of the Green Energy Alliance

  Tagged under: Housing | Vladimir Putin


New greenfield housing still designed around cars, report finds - BBC News

  2022-07-11 (or before) in The BBC

Services such as shops, schools and doctors are often almost impossible to reach on foot or by bike

  Tagged under: Housing | Cars


Architects call for mass insulation of England’s interwar suburbs

  2022-02-11 in The Guardian

RIBA says scheme targeting efficiency and heating of older 20th-century housing could cut emissions by 4%

  Tagged under: Insulation | Housing


New greenfield housing forcing people to use cars, report finds

  2022-02-07 in The Guardian

Research finds sites too often far from amenities without public transport, cycling links or even pavements

  Tagged under: Housing | Cars


Heat pumps are suitable for all types of housing, government-backed study concludes

  2021-12-17 in Business Green

Findings deliver blow to claims that heat pumps will only be able to decarbonise certain types of homes

  Tagged under: Housing


Audit office blames UK government for botched £1.5bn green homes scheme

  2021-09-08 in The Guardian

Spending watchdog says home insulation drive was fatally rushed and missed chance to cut heating bills and create jobs

  Tagged under: Economics | Greenhouse Gases | Insulation | Housing


Washington State fails to protect low-income communities from toxic chemicals - Toxic-Free Future

  2021-08-10 in Toxic-Free Future | Science, Advocacy, Results

By Colin Hartke Community members living in affordable housing and construction workers building affordable housing in Washington State are left vulnerable to toxic chemicals under a recently updated regulation. The Department of Commerce (DOC) has released an update to the Evergreen Sustainable De

  Tagged under: Housing | Washington State


A fifth of Tory party donations from property sector

  2021-7-12 in housingtoday.co.uk

Anti-corruption charity says scale of donations creates 'real risk of corruption' as controversy over planning bill continues

  Tagged under: Housing


Leading housebuilder pushed for weaker climate targets

  2021-07-05 in Greenpeace UK - Unearthed

Taylor Wimpey, one of Britain’s largest housebuilders, tried to water down the government’s signature green homes policy.

  Tagged under: Housing | Net Zero | Greenpeace


Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey opposed plans to cut new home emissions

  2021-07-05 in The Guardian

Exclusive: firm also argued against heat pumps, which are proposed as a replacement for gas boilers

  Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases | Housing | Fossil Fuels


How are our cities going to look in a rapidly heating world? It won’t be long before 50C will be normal | James Bradley

  2021-06-14 in The Guardian

Hot weather bakes in disadvantage. Regenerating natural and living ecosystems will help us all

  Tagged under: Oceans | Extreme Weather | Housing | Wildlife | Trees


Climate emergency

  2021-06-09 (or before) by in Birmingham City Council

The council is committed to making Birmingham carbon neutral by 2030. Read about the climate emergency and what the city is doing to tackle climate change.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing


BedZED: The story of a pioneering eco-village – Bioregional

  2021-04-21 (or before) in Bioregional Consultancy

BedZED, in Sutton, south London, has gone down in history as the UK’s first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community. It has been an inspiration for low-carbon, environmentally- friendly housing developments around the world

  Tagged under: Housing


Pioneering rewilding project faces ‘catastrophe’ from plan for new houses

  2021-03-21 in The Guardian

Storks, butterflies and turtle doves could all suffer at the Knepp estate in West Sussex

  Tagged under: Birds | Housing | Wildlife | Butterflies and Moths | Rewilding


Eco-homes become hot property in UK's zero-carbon ‘paradigm shift’

  2021-03-06 in The Guardian

Smart, low-carbon homes were once the preserve of one-off grand designs – now there are up to 30,000 projects in the pipeline

  Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases | Housing


How climate change could spark the next home mortgage disaster

  2020-12-01 (or before) in Politico

Taxpayers are backing more than a trillion dollars in home mortgages, but the agencies buying them are neglecting to consider climate risks.

  Tagged under: Climate Change | Housing


No more natural gas in new San Francisco buildings starting next year

  2020-11-11 (or before) by in San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to ban natural gas in...

  Tagged under: Coal | Housing


Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me

  2020-11-10 by Kontrast.at in TheBetter - thebetter.news

In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

  Tagged under: Housing


'This is the Everest of zero carbon' – inside York's green home revolution

  2020-10-04 in The Guardian

The city plans to build Britain’s biggest zero-carbon housing project, boasting 600 homes in car-free cycling paradises full of fruit trees and allotments. When will the rest of the UK catch up?

  Tagged under: Solar Energy | Housing | Trees


Shadow chancellor calls on ministers to fulfil pledge on money laundering

  2020-10-03 in The Guardian

Introduce promised register for foreign owners of UK properties now, says Anneliese Dodds

  Tagged under: Housing


Covid-19 impact on ethnic minorities linked to housing and air pollution

  2020-07-19 in The Guardian

Exclusive: Minority ethnic patients twice as likely to live in deprived environments and to be admitted to intensive care

  Tagged under: Housing


The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America

  2020-02-09 (or before) by in The Atlantic

In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry.

  Tagged under: Housing | Economic Growth | Health | Economics | Finance


New UK housing 'dominated by roads' - BBC News

  2020-01-22 (or before) in BBC

Roads are dominating new housing developments, a report says, despite more people wanting to drive less.

  Tagged under: Housing


Too hot for humans? First Nations people fear becoming Australia's first climate refugees

  2019-12-17 in The Guardian

As the big dry bites and temperature records tumble, Aboriginal people in Alice Springs say global heating threatens their culture and very survival

  Tagged under: Extreme Weather | Drought | Housing | Health


Favela green roof

  2019-11-25 in Natural capital • Ecosystem services • Nature-based solutions | Oppla

Context In Rio de Janeiro the population living in slums (favelas) in 2010 was 19 % of the inhabitants (last census). The informal occupation of steep slopes and flood-prone areas occurs mainly because of the absence of social housing planning, inducing low-income people to use protected areas that the formal real-estate market cannot occupy. The climate is tropical, with

  Tagged under: Housing


Ecological reconstruction » BIOS: Ecological reconstruction

  2019-11-10 (or before) in BIOS: Ecological reconstruction

We are living in the ruins of a fossil-fuelled economy. To phase out fossil fuel use, the material structures and social practices of production, transport and housing must be reconstructed. This necessary transition is analogous to the post-war reconstruction, during which the physical infrastructure was rebuilt and foundations of the welfare society were laid. The […]

  Tagged under: Economics | Housing


Secret Deal Helped Housing Industry Stop Tougher Rules on Climate Change (Published 2019)

  2019-10-26 in The New York Times

The arrangement, in place for years, guarantees industry representatives a bloc of seats on two powerful committees that recommend building codes.

  Tagged under: USA | Housing | Climate Change | Greenhouse Gases


Housing and car industries should be ‘ashamed’ of climate record

  2018-06-28 in The Guardian

Failure to build energy-efficient homes and clean cars risks UK missing its carbon targets, says government’s climate adviser

  Tagged under: Greenhouse Gases | Housing | Cars


The Elephant's Footer

Back to top of page

Feed the Elephant - email us your links and listings


Stay in touch - sign up for our mailing list


Follow the Elephant on X/Twitter: @ElephantClimate


About The Elephant



Website powered by cogapp: building a better online world