Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
UK tenants issued key advice on what to do if your rent is going up
Phoebe Jobling Manchester Evening News (No paywall)Tenants in the UK have been issued key advice on what to do if your landlord is putting your rent up. The average monthly private rent in the UK has increased by 7.7 percent over the last year, new data from from the Office for National Statistics has revealed. The average cost to rent a home in the UK was £1,332 per month in March 2025, which is £96 higher than 12 months previously.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/property/uk-tenants…
# Hot topic International, Rent.City of Moreton Bay throws homeless people's tents into garbage trucks
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)The City of Moreton Bay council has begun throwing away rough sleepers' tents and other possessions as it cracks down on "illegal" homeless campers. On Wednesday morning council rangers and police officers began dismantling tents at Eddie Hyland Park, north of Brisbane. Homeless woman Carol Ross said rangers gave her one hour to remove her personal belongings from her tent before they loaded it onto the back of a garbage truck.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-10/city-of-moreton-bay-throw…
# Must read Australia, .Poor living conditions for renters to influence millions of votes
ABC (No paywall)Poor living conditions for renters will be influencing the vote of millions this election... with many renters angry about costs increasing, while standards slip. With record-low vacancy rates, many renters say they're reluctant to complain about maintenance issues or poor conditions in fear of losing their lease. They're calling for a policy overhaul to take some of the pressure off.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/rental-rights/105172956
# TUNSW in the media, Audio Australia, Rent.Victorian housing program helping young people at risk of homelessness
Shannon Schubert ABC (No paywall)Having his own home has given Joel Eyton a sense of calm he thought he would never experience. The 21-year-old Bendigo resident can cook whenever he wants to and decorate in his own style. But perhaps most important of all is the sense of security vital for his mental health. "It feels foreign … the consistency of a regular life where I don't have to worry about food and a place to sleep," Mr Eyton said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-11/vulnerable-young-people-r…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Housing affordability is a problem for Australian foreign policy
Hugh Piper Lowy Institute (No paywall)If, like me, you’ve had the (mis)fortune of attending a few too many dinner parties in Sydney, then you’d be well-acquainted with Australians’ preoccupation with home ownership. Older Australians are obsessed with accumulating investments. Younger Australians, meanwhile, are fixated on simply entering the property market in the first place. It’s a profound source of intergenerational inequality in Australia – one that successive governments have found too politically inconvenient to address meaningfully. But one dimension of the problem remains under-examined: what it means for Australia’s influence in the world.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/housing-affordabil…
# Hot topic Australia, .https://theconversation.com/election-diary-liberal-and-labor-launches-focus-on-housing-but-who-thinks-either-side-can-fix-that-crisis-any-time-soon-254206?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20April%2014%202025%20-%20333
Michelle Grattan The Conversation (No paywall)If anyone had any doubts before, Sunday’s Liberal and Labor launches highlighted that this election is an auction for votes, in particular those of the under 40s and people in the outer suburbs. Amid the usual launch hoopla – the Liberals choosing western Sydney and Labor returning to Perth – both parties announced major fresh housing initiatives. They were making a deep bow to what’s a central issue for younger Australians who still aspire to the so-called “Australian dream” but can’t see themselves affording it.
https://theconversation.com/election-diary-liberal-and-labor-lau…
# Hot topic Australia, .Average London rent soars to £2,243 per month
Pedro Goncalves Yahoo News (No paywall)The average UK monthly private rent rose to £1,332 in the 12 months to March, but in London tenants are paying on average £2,243, the highest in the country. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed monthly rents in the private sector rose 7.7% to £1,332 over the 12-month period. This marks a modest slowdown from February’s annual growth rate of 8.1% and a further retreat from the 9.2% peak recorded in November.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/london-rent-house-prices-uk-on…
# Hot topic International, Rent.Housing reform that pays for itself – and helps future generations
Karl Fitzgerald John Menadue (No paywall)Tinkering around the edges isn’t helping. We need to reverse the commodification of housing with a model that puts people first. All we’ve seen so far in this election campaign is that both major parties are comfortable addressing our housing crisis with the same old, tired policies. Preferring to tinker around the edges rather than drive structural change, the common policy thread is that housing commodification is here to stay. The last five years have seen the most drastic land price inflation on record. National land values have jumped from $6 trillion to almost $10 trillion, yet the policy response is more of the same – let’s give developers even more market power.
https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/04/housing-reform-that-pays-fo…
# Must read Australia, .