Tonight, BBC One's Inside Out looks at the housing shortage and the desperate need to build more homes. This morning's headlines quote the housing minister Brandon Lewis telling the programme that success for the government on housebuilding would be building 1 million more homes by the end of the Parliament. 

Don't miss @BrandonLewis talking to @BBCMarkEaston about the #housingshortage on Inside Out, BBC One, 7.30pm tonight pic.twitter.com/LIPJAZU4IR

— Alix Johnson (@Alix_Riverside) September 21, 2015

Generation Rent has raised enough money to keep campaigning for private renters across the UK, amassing nearly £18,000 in donations.

A month ago our future looked very bleak, with no guarantee that we would be able to survive past September. The team here has thrown everything we had at fundraising and we have been humbled by the response. 

Since we launched our emergency crowdfunding campaign at the end of July, 371 people have donated a total of £17,982. With our grant from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust of £45,500, these funds allow us to continue our work in London and nationally with a team of two: director Betsy Dillner and communications manager Dan Wilson Craw.  

There's a lot of muttering right now from the landlord lobby that they'll be putting up rents because of changes to the tax regime and expected increases in interest rates. 

The threats would sound scarier if rents weren't already going up faster than inflation. The fact is many landlords will use any excuse to put up the rent when they get the chance. Many others value their tenants, and won't. 

If you face a rent hike, you don't need to accept it. We've put together a 3 minute video on what to do to avoid paying too much.

Inflation is one of those annoying things that you just have to accept and deal with - the official target is, after all, 2%. But that gives the government no excuse to allow rents to go up the way they have.

Since 1998-99, when the government started collecting data on housing costs in the Family Resources Survey, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the measure they currently use for inflation, has risen by 38%. In the same period, the median weekly rent (according to the FRS) has gone up by 80%. If rents had just matched inflation, renters would be an average of £30 better off a week.

We're at the halfway stage of our campaign and although we have reached our minimum thanks to the generosity of our supporters we still have a long way to go to reach our £60,000 target. 

However, we can announce today that Generation Rent has been awarded a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. The grant of £45,500 will support our campaign for rent controls ahead of the GLA elections in 2016.   

The Trust exists to correct imbalances of power and strengthen the hand of organisations striving for reform. As the grant is intended for this particular campaign, it does not count towards our wider crowdfunding effort. It is nevertheless a huge boost to our organisation.

Every pound we receive takes us a step closer to a private rented sector that works for everyone. Please donate today.

Just when you thought you'd heard all the horror stories that the housing crisis had to offer, Barking & Dagenham Council raises the stakes. In raids yesterday morning with police, council officers found 55 people living in three houses, including 11 children.

Two of the homes had three bedrooms, but residents were crammed into every space possible, including a loft and a shed at the third property.

Today the Department for Communities and Local government released some of the datasets underpinning the latest English Housing Survey (comprising of data up to the year 2013/2014, the most recent we have) and the central finding is no longer surprising – the private rented sector continues to grow.

As the major parties choose their mayoral candidates for the 2016 London elections, today Generation Rent publishes a manifesto for London that that sets out a programme that any Mayor who is serious about the private rented sector should adopt. Whoever wins in May will have to be robust in demanding new powers to regulate the sector, so it's vital that politicians understand how hard private renters are being squeezed in the capital. Today renters can call on them to commit to solving the London housing crisis.

Another year, another inflation-busting rent rise. Many of London's workers would be forgiven for wondering whether it wouldn't make sense just to up sticks and join the commuters vaulting the green belt every morning. Well wonder no more. 

We looked at whether it is cheaper to rent outside of London and commute in by train every day, or if the capital is still worth it. The answer is the latter - just about.

Today the government announced a raft of measures that will be in the Housing Bill that being is being prepared for Parliament later this year.

Sadly much of the focus was on the extension of the duty to all landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants. We’ve already expressed our opposition to this policy elsewhere, but it is particularly galling that this is being taken forward when there has been no public analysis of the West Midlands ‘pilot scheme’, and other groups have seen cases of it increasing discrimination in lettings.

Despite this policy dominating the headlines, though, the Department for Communities and Local Government has also announced more welcome plans to improve the systems for tackling rogue landlords.

The government has made a big song and dance about the zero inflation rate - for the first time in years the cost of living isn't rising. But that only applies if you don't have to worry about the rent.

Today the Office for National Statistics published the latest private rental inflation figures, which stand at 2.5% across Great Britain, and 3.8% in London.