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
Blind veterans' lives being damaged by evictions, says former charity boss
Chris Clements BBC (No paywall)Plans to evict blind veterans from a charity estate is harming their lives, according to the charity's former director. Tenants at the Linburn estate in West Lothian were told by landlord Sight Scotland Veterans – formerly Scottish War Blinded – last June that they had a year to vacate their homes. Rebecca Barr, who led the charity for four years, said she was "horrified" by moves to sell the site to housing developers and is supporting residents. Sight Scotland Veterans told BBC News that the sale was "necessary to support visually impaired veterans into the future".
# International, Eviction.UK housebuilders face class action suit over alleged collusion to inflate prices
Julia Kollewe The Guardian (No paywall)Britain’s biggest housebuilders, including Barratt Redrow and Taylor Wimpey, face a multibillion-pound class action lawsuit over claims that they colluded over higher prices for homebuyers. The lawsuit is being led by Mark McLaren, a former legal affairs manager at the consumer group Which?, on behalf of more than 700,000 consumers who bought a new-build between 2015 and 2026, against Barratt, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Vistry Group, Countryside Partnerships (party of Vistry) and Bloor Homes.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/30/uk-housebuilder…
# International, .Trump cancels bipartisan housing bill signing, reiterates demand for SAVE America Act
Kaia Hubbard, Kathryn Watson, Caitlin Yilek and Mary Cunningham CBS News (No paywall)Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony on Wednesday for a landmark housing affordability bill that passed Congress by wide bipartisan margins, saying he will not sign the legislation into law until lawmakers pass an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act. Mr. Trump was set to sign the bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, during an event at the Capitol. The measure, the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades, aims to increase housing supply and bring down costs, including by limiting institutional investors from purchasing certain single-family homes.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-housing-bill-capitol/
# International, .Google founder Sergey Brin exits New York real estate after mayor Zohran Mamdani's rent freeze
Times of India (No paywall)Google co-founder Sergey Brin has quietly walked away from a sizable bet on New York City apartments, selling his stake in a struggling real estate fund for just six cents on the dollar—a steep loss that lands right as Mayor Zohran Mamdani's rent freeze tightens the screws on the city's landlords. The world's third-richest man offloaded his holding back to the fund's manager, A&E Real Estate, according to documents filed in December and first reported by Bloomberg.
https://timesofindia-indiatimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/times…
# International, .The homeless Australians turning to derelict boats to avoid sleeping on the streets
Myles Houlbrook-Walk ABC (No paywall)On the boat that has become his home, James Bryan has a clear message for the authorities that want to evict him: "They'll have to get me off with a gun". Mr Bryan is among the many Australians struggling with housing affordability. When he lost his job, rather than joining the throngs of homeless in NSW, he turned to living on the Lindy Lou at Brisbane Water on the NSW Central Coast. "Lost my job, lost my apartment, ended up on the water," Mr Bryan said. There's just one problem with that. It is illegal to live on a boat in NSW and, as a result, authorities want to seize the vessel.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-02/homeless-australians-livi…
# Must read Australia, Eviction.Revealing the human side of why some people need social housing
Alan Morris The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Although federal and state governments have recognised the desperate need for more social housing, and homes are being constructed (and demolished), the waiting list continues to grow. To have any chance of accessing social housing within a reasonable time frame, applicants (waitees) invariably need to be on the priority list. For example, if a waitee chooses Mount Druitt as their “allocation zone”, the waiting period for waitees on the general waiting list is 5 to 10 years for a studio or 1-bedroom property.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/revealing-the-hum…
# Australia, Public and community housing.How planning fixed the housing crisis
Alistair Sisson Substack (No paywall)In the last five years we’ve seen a raft of planning reforms in Australia, presented as solutions to the housing crisis. In two recent papers (in International Journal of Housing Policy and Urban Policy and Research) Kristian Ruming, Liz-Murphy-May and I examine how planning became a crisis fix and its political effects. As Iain White and Gauri Nandedkar argue, housing crises are ideological artefacts, not objective events. While housing has undoubtedly become harder to find, pay for and keep hold of, particularly for private renters, the causes of and solutions to this ‘crisis’ are debated from a range of political viewpoints.
https://moresocialhousing.substack.com/p/how-planning-fixed-the-…
# Australia, .The government wants to increase home ownership. But life is tough for many new homeowner
Rachel Ong ViforJ The Conversation (No paywall)On Tuesday, the Albanese government struck a deal with the Greens to allow sweeping changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to pass parliament. The government has consistently asserted it is sharply focused on helping more Australians into home ownership. Key actions have included expanding the 5% deposit scheme and other government assistance programs, and overhauling housing tax concessions in this year’s budget. But at the same time as we try to help more people get a foot on the property ladder, are we forgetting to pay attention to what it’s like for those who do?
https://theconversation.com/the-government-wants-to-increase-hom…
# Hot topic Australia, .