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
Developer gets green-light to turn Sydney boarding house into luxury homes after tenants rehoused
Phoebe Pin ABC (No paywall)A rundown boarding house which was once a haven for vulnerable people in inner Sydney is set to be converted into luxury apartments after a lengthy legal fight. Private developer LFD Homes has been granted approval on appeal to transform the 32-bedroom Selwyn Street site in the leafy suburb of Paddington into four luxury homes. It is the latest update in a long-running legal battle between the developer and the City of Sydney, which in 2023 rejected the proposal due to concerns about the loss of affordable housing stock in the area.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-25/luxury-apartment-approved…
# Must read NSW, Rent.South Africa is short of 2.6 million homes: Vienna’s approach to social housing offers useful lessons
Andreas Scheba and Judith Lehner The Conversation (No paywall)South Africa faces a housing backlog of at least 2.6 million units, for more than 12 million people. The state supply of new, subsidised housing has declined over the past decade and the government’s housing policy is shifting. It sees the private sector as becoming the main provider of “affordable housing”. The market, according to the Banking Association of South Africa, is households earning up to R34,400 gross per month (US$2,111). Yet most residents in South African cities earn far less than that. (The national median household income in 2023 was R7,980 or US$490.) Much more affordable accommodation is therefore needed.
https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-short-of-2-6-million…
# International, Public and community housing.How window‑mounted heat pumps can give tenants efficient heating and cooling
Moncef Krarti The Conversation (No paywall)People who rent their homes, or don’t have enough money to make major upgrades to their homes, have for many years been left out of a major shift in heating and cooling technology that can improve efficiency, save money and be better for the global climate: heat pumps. Heating and cooling buildings consumes 35% of all the energy used in the United States each year. Many homes and businesses are converting their fossil fuel-powered heating and cooling systems to electric-powered heat pumps, which use electricity not to generate hot or cold air but to move heat into spaces needing warmth and out of spaces needing cooling.
https://theconversation.com/how-window-mounted-heat-pumps-can-gi…
# International, Utilities water energy internet.Senate passes landmark housing affordability bill after bipartisan breakthrough
Kaia Hubbard CBS News (No paywall)Washington — The Senate passed a bill aimed at lowering housing costs on Monday after a major breakthrough and rare bipartisan consensus that comes as affordability remains top of mind for voters heading into the midterm elections. In an 85-5 vote, the Senate approved the legislation along wide bipartisan margins. It now heads to the House for approval. The bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, 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/senate-passes-landmark-housing-affo…
# International, .Fraudster who scammed renters out of £77k jailed
Sophie BottandStephen Menon BBC (No paywall)A fraudster who admitted stealing more than £77,000 from would-be tenants has been jailed. Freddie Priestley, 34, of Leathermarket Court in Southwark, south London, was previously found guilty of fraud by false representation. He offered his victims a room to rent in his property and then made up excuses for why people could not move in, while retaining their deposits. Appearing at Inner London Crown Court, he was sentenced to 35 months in prison.
# International, .‘Extremely overwhelmed’: apartment renters face rising tide of fees
Tracie McMillan The Guardian (No paywall)Tenants at apartment complexes operated by Greystar, the largest owner and manager of apartments in the US, don’t just pay rent. They pay a mass of fees that many renters have never heard of before. These add-ons include “boiler management fees”, “variable refrigerant flow fees”, “solar rebill” fees, even “lifestyle fees”. Tenants and lawsuits in multiple states call many of these fees inflated, illegal, predatory or overwhelming. “A fee for this, a fee for that was just crazy to me,” Nichole Collins, a former tenant at a Greystar-managed building in Colorado, said. “I had never experienced that before.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/24/a…
# International, Strata.‘The soul’s been ripped out of it’: Birmingham community housing scheme on brink over costs dispute
Neha Gohil The Guardian (No paywall)A housing development in Birmingham, touted as a model for community-owned housing in the UK, is at “serious risk of collapse” due to a dispute over construction costs. The Stirchley Cooperative Development (SCD), which was founded by local residents and businesses in Birmingham in 2016, was meant to provide 39 affordable and landlord-free homes owned and run by the people who live and work there by 2024. Prospective residents described it as a “landmark community housing project” that was “intended to be a national model for community-owned, democratically managed housing”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/24/the-souls-been-r…
# NSW, .The 30% rent rule was a warning. Now it's policy.
Mina Martin MPA Mag (No paywall)New Zealand's longstanding 30% rule for housing affordability is back in the spotlight ahead of the 2026 budget — and for many renters, it is no longer a ceiling but an uncomfortable reality. Stats NZ data from the 2023 Census shows that 26.5% of renting households were already spending at least 30% of their income on rent, up from 26% in 2018 and 24.2% in 2013. Of those, 18.3% were spending 40% or more, and 12.8% were committing half their income or more to rent — proportions that have held steady since 2018.
https://www.mpamag.com/nz/news/general/the-30-rent-rule-was-a-wa…
# International, .