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
Build prefab homes to address harm to ‘generation of homeless children’, says Labour MP
Geraldine McKelvie and Michael Goodier The Guardian (No paywall)A Labour MP has called for the government to start building prefabricated homes in England to address the “terrible things” happening to a generation of homeless children. Dame Siobhain McDonagh, who helped found an all-party parliamentary group aimed at supporting record numbers of families in temporary accommodation after being “completely overwhelmed” by the amount of cases in her constituency, said the situation was “devastating”.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/27/build-prefab-hom…
# International, Eviction.New Aboriginal housing peak body to be established in South Australia
Callan Morse National Indigenous Times (No paywall)A new Aboriginal housing peak body is set to be established in South Australia, pairing Aboriginal housing with community leadership and culturally safe solutions. The South Australian Government, via the SA Housing Trust, will provide $2.5 million over five years to support the South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network (SAACCON) establish the peak body to improve Aboriginal housing outcomes. The peak body will be focused on supporting the development of a community-controlled housing sector which provides both housing and housing support services, such as tenant management.
https://nit.com.au/25-09-2025/20422/new-aboriginal-housing-peak-…
# Hot topic Australia, .'We could not be more happy with affordable home'
Richard Tisdale BBC (No paywall)A mother-of-three has said her family "could not be more happy" to move into an affordable home, after they were forced out of their previous property. Jessica Broomfield, her husband and three children had to move out of their previous rental house in Churchstoke, on the Shropshire border, after the landlord decided to sell it. They were unable to find somewhere else and wanted to stay in the area due to the children being educated nearby. On Wednesday, they picked up the keys to one of 13 new affordable homes with social rent in The Orchard, Chirbury, that make up the £3m development.
# International, Rent.America’s housing market gained $20,000,000,000,000 in 5 years
Samantha Delouya CNN News (No paywall)Buying a home has become increasingly pricey in the past few years. Now, Zillow has put a staggering number to those higher costs: America’s housing market has climbed 57% since 2020, to a record $55 trillion. That means that in just five years, the US housing market’s value has climbed $20 trillion, according to data from the real estate company released Monday.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/08/business/us-housing-market-va…
# International, .He was bulldozed to death when Atlanta cleared his homeless camp. Will there ever be justice?
Bryce Covert The Guardian (No paywall)After Cornelius Taylor’s death, the city made promises to change its homelessness policy – but his friends say it didn’t follow through. For the first time since she stopped calling it home, Lolita Griffeth set foot on Old Wheat Street, tucked behind Atlanta’s historic Auburn Avenue. She gingerly walked down the alley, leaning on her walker, and pointed. Here, she said, was where the tent she shared with her fiance once stood. There, she said, was where Cornelius Taylor died last January, crushed inside their home when a front loader came to clear the homeless encampment.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/23/cornelius-taylor…
# Must read International, .London homes 500m from station ‘command £42,700 premium over those 1,500m away’
Rupert Jones The Guardian (No paywall)People buying homes in London 500 metres from a tube or railway station pay £42,700 more than buyers of similar properties 1,500 metres away from transport hubs, according to new data. The figures indicate that despite the reshaping of the housing market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and dramatic changes to working patterns, the traditional estate agent mantra of “good transport links” continues to wield its power over buyers.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/23/london-homes-ne…
# International, .Tenants’ complaints about poor social housing in England jump 43% in a year
Julia Kollewe The Guardian (No paywall)Complaints from social housing tenants about poor living conditions have risen by more than 40% in England, according to the latest report from the housing ombudsman, including a case in which a child’s bedroom window was boarded up for four years. The Housing Ombudsman Service made 7,082 decisions on complaints from tenants to social landlords about lack of repairs and other failings including antisocial behaviour in the year to 31 March. This was up 30% from the previous year, the public body said in its annual complaints review.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/23/tenants-complain…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.Plans to build affordable housing rejected
Nadia Lincoln BBC (No paywall)Developers say they have been left "appalled" after a proposal of 20 affordable homes on the edge of a village was rejected. West Northamptonshire Council went against its officers' advice when it rejected the application for 20 houses on a paddock beyond the boundary of Potterspury, near Milton Keynes. Developers Abbeymill Homes and Grand Union Housing said the houses would be marketed under shared ownership and social rent. An Abbeymill Homes spokesperson said: "[We] were appalled by the behaviour of the committee and decision last week to reject its affordable homes-led proposal, despite the support of council officers."
# International, Rent.