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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
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, .Bay Area lawmaker seeks to strengthen rent cap, tenant protections
CBS News (No paywall)Assemblymember Ash Kalra of San Jose has introduced a measure that aims to strengthen tenant protections, including a cap on how much rent can go up every year. Anne Makovec reports.
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/video/bay-area-lawmaker-see…
# Video International, Rent.Voters and economists united against major party housing policy promises
Adelaide Miller and Rhiana Whitson ABC (No paywall)Since becoming a single mum three years ago, Angela Ramsey said buying a property for her and her daughter became her number one priority. But, despite working overtime as a nurse and receiving an early inheritance from her mum — which secured her more than $60,000 for a deposit — Ms Ramsey said the banks wouldn't loan her enough for a property in Sydney. "Because of my single income … I could only borrow $500,000," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/voters-economists-united-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Every four days a young homeless person dies. Advocates are calling for urgent reform
Shalailah Medhora ABC (No paywall)Every four days, a young homeless person aged between 15 and 24 dies. Most of the time the cause of death is suicide, according to new figures released by community support organisation, Melbourne City Mission. The organisation cross-checked Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data with coronial records and homelessness services to try to estimate the prevalence of suicide in young people without a fixed address.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-15/youth-homelessness/105175…
# Must read Australia, .