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
Mum suffers 'chemical exposure' after moving into Housing Trust property
Daniel Keane ABC (No paywall)An Adelaide mum says drug contamination at the public housing property she recently moved into has forced her to resort to "squatting" at her old home because she does not want to put her son and herself in further danger, with the state government confirming a review into the case is now underway. The tenant, Lauren, who asked for her last name not to be used, said she and her son had become ill almost immediately after moving into an SA Housing Trust property at West Beach.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-27/housing-trust-meth-proble…
# Australia, .Home workers could claim thousands as ATO scrambles to fix loophole
By Nina Hendy The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)
Australians who work from home could be eligible for thousands of dollars in tax deductions after an ABC presenter successfully challenged a ruling from the Tax Office that rent could not be claimed as an expense by such workers. However, the finding from the Administrative Review Tribunal has spurred a Federal Court challenge from the ATO, which is seeking to overturn the decision.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/tax/home-workers-could-claim-thousa…
# Australia, Rent.Lack of housing in remote NT community Borroloola forcing families off country
Tilda Colling ABC (No paywall)When Darcy Isaac moved back to the remote Northern Territory community he grew up in, he had hoped to bring his children and raise them on country. But a lack of suitable housing available in Borroloola instead forced Mr Isaac to leave his three kids behind in Queensland. "I am worried … this is where we live, and when we go out there [away from country] we [are] nothing," he said. "We feel like we want to come back here, but in the back of the mind [we] think: 'Oh there's a house problem back there, all the time'."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-18/borroloola-housing-lack-f…
# Australia, .Australians lose hope as nation lags on housing targets
Michael West Media (No paywall)No state or territory is on track to meet housing needs over the next five years and Australians lack confidence the crisis will be solved, a national scorecard has found. Independent advocacy group Amplify said the results of its research, tracking housing delivery and community sentiment on the housing crisis, are “grim”. Amplify chief executive Georgina Harisson said the promise of an affordable and secure home for Australians “has been broken”. “We’re not building enough homes and people don’t trust governments to turn it around,” she said. “Low confidence in housing delivery reflects more than just supply issues, it signals deeper challenges; when people feel disconnected from decision-making, optimism erodes.”
https://michaelwest.com.au/australians-lose-hope-as-nation-lags-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Some tenants can now force landlords to make their home liveable. What about the thousands who can’t?
Kwajo Tweneboa The Guardian (No paywall)When two-year-old Awaab Ishak tragically died in 2020 after prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s housing association flat, it shocked the nation. His parents, Faisal and Aisha, turned unimaginable grief into tireless campaigning to ensure no other child would die from the same neglect. Their determination has led to the passing of Awaab’s law – a landmark piece of legislation that will finally hold social landlords to account when it comes to tackling mould, damp and other hazards in people’s homes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/tenants-so…
# International, Rent.‘Transformational’: Renters’ Rights Bill passes final stage in commons
Ellie Brown Inside Housing (No paywall)The landmark legislation will ban Section 21 no-fault evictions, which reached a six-year high last year and are cited by Shelter as the leading cause of homelessness. It will bring other changes including applying the Decent Homes Standard (DHS) and Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector, abolishing blanket bans on tenants who have children or receive benefits, and cracking down on bidding wars.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/transformational-renters…
# International, Eviction.How Depictions of Poverty Shaped Our Perception of Homelessness
Cynthia Griffith Invisible People (No paywall)Imagine you are in a fairy tale set back in a European castle hundreds of years ago. Who are you? The princess who pricks her finger on the spindle? The royal knight or prince who swoops in to save everyone in town? Or are you the sly beggar who swindles the rich and lives an immoral life in the shadows of society? If you’re like me, you longed to be the princess. She was beautiful and kind, nothing like those poor trolls who lived under the bridges.
https://invisiblepeople.tv/how-depictions-of-poverty-shaped-our-…
# History International, .What will Labour sacrifice for its housing targets? A standoff in south London is putting it to the test
Anna Minton The Guardian (No paywall)Teekall and his wife are raising a family in Peckham, south London. He runs a successful business as a commercial designer with a studio just down the road, and she works in higher education. Their two boys attend the local primary school. However, the family has outgrown their one-and-a-half-bedroom flat. Although they would like to stay in Peckham, they can’t afford to.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/28/labour-hou…
# International, .