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
Why Housing Became So Unaffordable and How to Fix It
World Habitat (No paywall)Housing across Europe has become increasingly unaffordable. When the average person can no longer afford the average home, something is clearly wrong. Many people today are forced to settle for worse housing than they could have afforded a generation ago. Renters face a cost of living crisis, where the price of goods and the rental market outpace their incomes, often forcing them to downsize or cut back on essentials. Without genuinely affordable homes, those on lower incomes are at risk of being pushed out of housing altogether and ending up homeless.
https://world-habitat.org/blog/why-housing-became-so-unaffordabl…
# International, .Tax incentives, renovation and less red tape to tackle the EU’s housing crisis
European Parliament ()On Tuesday, Parliament adopted its recommendations on the housing crisis in the EU, proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing. The final report of the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis, adopted by 367 votes in favour and 166 against, with 84 abstentions, emphasises that millions of Europeans face precarious living conditions due to the housing crisis, and calls for EU initiatives to help address rising prices and shortages by supporting construction and renovation.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260306IPR375…
# International, .LA county reports first drop in deaths of unhoused people in a decade
Sam Levin The Guardian (No paywall)More than 2,200 unhoused people died in Los Angeles in 2024, marking the first time in a decade that the homeless mortality rate decreased in the nation’s most populous county, public health officials announced on Tuesday. The signs of progress come as the county has also reported decreases in the overall unhoused population in a region that has long struggled with a severe affordable housing shortage and one of the worst street homelessness crises in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/10/la-county-homele…
# Must read International, .Local government minister Simon Watts can't guarantee rates cap won't increase social housing rents
Lillian Hanly Radio NZ (No paywall)The local government minister cannot guarantee a rates cap will not cause higher costs for tens of thousands of social housing tenants. Simon Watts said the final rates cap policy was still being designed, but did not anticipate it would cause higher costs for those living in roughly 10,000 council-owned rental homes. Advice from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) to the Department of Internal Affairs said if rate rises were restricted and replaced with more user charges then the impact would likely be a rent increase for those living in council homes, which was predominantly pensioners.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/589089/local-government-min…
# International, Public and community housing.Market conditions for renters ‘best for six years’
Vicky Shaw Yahoo News (No paywall)(UK) Competition for rental homes has fallen to its lowest level for the month of February in six years, according to a property website. Zoopla said the average number of inquiries per property was 4.8 in February, down from 6.5 last year, meaning fewer renters typically competing for each home. It marks the lowest level in the month of February since February 2020, when there were around 4.2 inquiries per rental home.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/market-conditions-renters-best…
# International, Rent.Want to rent in Amsterdam? You’d better cough up an €8,600 deposit first
Ida Allen-Auerbach Dutch Review (No paywall)It seems the rental horror stories from the Randstad just keep getting worse: an overview from !Woon reports that security deposits go as high as €8,600. In 2025, tenants reported unfair deposits, cameras in the home, exorbitant housing prices, rental scams, and rat problems unaddressed by landlords in Amsterdam. The !Woon foundation, which, according to their website, “informs, advises and supports residents”, found that a majority of reports filed with them concerned security deposits.
https://dutchreview.com/news/rent-in-amsterdam-now-requires-8600…
# International, Starting a tenancy.AI & tenancy advice: Helpful tool or hidden risk?
Brendan Ross Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Whether it’s ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude or Gemini, AI tools are becoming increasingly part of everyday information-seeking and problem-solving. They are always online, and can help break down complex material and offer quick explanations when people are under pressure. It can feel like talking to a confident person, which – as social creatures – we find trust-worthy. They can also create professional and confident-sounding documents, which is an area people can struggle with when trying to address a legal issue or go to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/ai-and-tenancy-advice-helpful-to…
# Must read NSW, Rent, Tribunal NCAT.I inspected the CHEAPEST house in Sydney, Australia
Brooko Moves (No paywall)For the low price of $1.5 million you can pick up a house with mould, cracks in the wall, a tarp keeping the rain out, and masking tape holding the floor together! BARGAIN!!
# Video, Satire NSW, .