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
Public servant Nadine Marie Smith allegedly helped intimate partner skip social housing waitlist
Daryna Zadvirna and Callum Liddell ABC (No paywall)A Perth public servant who allegedly helped her partner skip ahead a long list of people on the public housing wait list in order to secure a home has faced court on a corruption charge. Nadine Marie Smith, 55, who was arrested earlier this month at her Clarkson home in Perth's north, allegedly committed the offence in September last year at her workplace in Mirrabooka. Police allege Ms Smith entered into an intimate relationship with a social housing applicant and created a housing offer for him, bypassing a significant number of applicants on the wait list.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-25/public-servant-allegedly-…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Max lives in a 'renters' utopia', but some say the city's famous housing system isn't fair
Jennifer Scherer SBS (No paywall)In a desirable Viennese neighbourhood, within walking distance to a lively market square, bars and lush green spaces, an apartment block that looks like any other is nestled between rows of pastel-coloured, baroque apartment buildings. It's a public housing block, known as a Gemeindebau, and Maximilian Schranz, 28, lives here with his partner Lisa, 24. "The area here is very nice," Schranz told SBS Dateline. "I like it a lot personally — it's very green, a bit on the outskirts of the city, but very well connected."
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/max-lives-in-a-rent…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.CLCs hit back at federal minister for questioning their role
Grace Robbie Lawyers Weekly (No paywall)Community legal centres (CLCs) across Australia have joined forces in an open letter to a federal minister, shining a light on their vital work and the support they provide to communities in strengthening the nation’s legal systems and ensuring justice for all. This follows recent comments by Madeleine King, Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia, who claimed that CLCs “are not political campaign vehicles – they are there to provide legal services to the community, nothing more”, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/sme-law/43948-clcs-hit-back-at-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Judge issues AI warning after landlord uses fake law defence
BBC (No paywall)A judge has warned AI users they could face contempt of court proceedings after the technology invented fake legislation and fictitious references in a case he heard. Sheriff John MacRitchie dealt with a case brought by landlords seeking £5,000 in rent arrears from two former tenants at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. The defendants, Your Home Partners, told the sheriff they were relying upon legislation called the Interest on Debts (Scotland) Act 1985. This legislation does not exist. The sheriff said the claimants actions were reckless but did not find them in contempt of court. In a judgement, he said: "The lodging of false legal references has the potential to obstruct justice."
# International, AI.Could Australia adopt Finland's plan to end homelessness?
ABC (No paywall)Over the past three years, homelessness in Australia has grown by at least 10 per cent. Meanwhile in Finland, a strategy known as Housing First has seen long-term homelessness rates drop significantly over the past decade. The idea is simple: instead of moving people through hostels and emergency shelters, give them permanent housing first — and then provide the support they need. So could it work here, and what would it take to implement at scale?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/could-we-adop…
# Audio International, .In Defense of QUIMBY — a Rebuttal
Michael W. Mehaffy Planetizen (No paywall)I noted recently that my listserv colleague Michael Lewyn, a professor of law at Touro University, provided a thoughtful critique right here on this site of the “QUIMBY” concept, short for “Quality In My Back Yard.” (He described it as “Quality Urbanism In My Back Yard” — close enough in my book.) As one of the people who articulated the concept (in these pages and elsewhere as early as 2018), I think I should address several points. First, let me concede — or, more accurately, heartily agree with Michael — that we in the U.S. do need more housing supply, at least in many markets.
https://www.planetizen.com/features/137059-defense-quimby-rebutt…
# Hot topic International, .Property company denies trying to mass-evict tenants before England’s no-fault evictions ban
Peter Walker The Guardian (No paywall)A property company accused of trying to mass-evict tenants in the weeks before no-fault evictions are banned has denied doing so, saying it is simply implementing “routine and lawful tenancy management”. A statement from Criterion Capital, set up by the billionaire property magnate Asif Aziz, was issued in response to Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, who wrote to the company to seek “urgent” answers about its plans. Criterion has reportedly sent section 21 notices, which give notice of proposed eviction, to large numbers of its tenants.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/24/criterion-capita…
# International, Eviction.High levels of debt on essential UK bills are the ‘new normal’, warn campaigners
Hilary Osborne The Guardian (No paywall)High levels of debt on essential bills have become the “new normal” for many low-income households, the charity StepChange said on Monday, with average arrears for housing, utilities and council tax all going up last year. People’s budgets have been stretched in recent years as they have faced higher prices for many goods and services, and the crisis in the Middle East has led to concerns over a new wave of increases.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/mar/16/debt-high-levels-e…
# International, Rent, Utilities water energy internet.