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
The Research All Points in the Same Direction: Adding More Homes Curbs Rents for Low-Income Tenants
Eduardo Mendoza Metro Abundance (No paywall)The Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown Law made a surprising and contrarian argument in a new paper: adding more homes does not benefit low-income tenants. Three recent separate analyses of exactly this issue – by real estate economist , real estate economist , and also – all reached the opposite conclusion. They found that housing scarcity pushes up rents most for low-income tenants, but areas adding the most housing have seen rents drop, and those areas have seen rents drop most for low-income tenants.
https://www.metroabundance.org/adding-more-homes-curbs-rent/
# International, .Build Up Not Trickle Down: The Case for Need-Led Housing Policy
Sam Bloomer, Dr. Charlie Berry, Charlie Trew Shelter UK (No paywall)This paper sets out why a ‘trickle down’ approach to housing policy – prioritising private supply at the expense of social housing – cannot fix the affordability crisis and will fail to end the housing emergency. That’s why the government must adopt a need-led development model that delivers genuinely affordable social homes so that everyone has a safe, affordable and secure place to call home.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/policy_and…
# Hot topic, Research alert International, .The billionaire philanthropist making hundreds of Londoners homeless
Polly Smythe and Jim Waterson London Centric (No paywall)Thousands of people cheered this week as Sadiq Khan joined the family of billionaire landlord Asif Aziz to switch on the capital’s Ramadan lights in the heart of the West End. Aziz’s charitable foundation, which received widespread plaudits for funding the display, said it held the event to celebrate the “coexistence and community spirit that make this city so incredible”. What those attending the ceremony didn’t know was that the Aziz family were, at the same time they were publicly praising London’s community values, secretly embarking on “one of the worst mass evictions in our capital’s recent history”.
https://www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-mass-eviction-billio…
# International, Eviction.Minnesota tenants union urges renters not to pay rent amid ICE surge
CBS News (No paywall)Despite the White House saying Operation Metro Surge is over, the impact is still hitting home, with the University of Minnesota estimating people owe tens of millions of dollars in rent.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/video/minnesota-tenants-union-…
# Hot topic, Video International, .Government accused of caving in to building lobby amid plans to shake up housing sector in England
Fiona Harvey The Guardian (No paywall)The government has been accused of bowing to lobbying by housebuilders, in proposals that would prevent English local authorities from pursuing improvements to low-carbon homes standards. Under a consultation on planning rules, councils would be issued with guidance that would effectively limit their scope to demand builders construct new homes within their areas to the highest possible standards.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/24/uk-government-ho…
# International, .Govt defends rent reforms as major landlord predicts 25% rise in income
RTE (Ireland) (No paywall)Taoiseach Micheál Martin has defended the Government's rent reforms after a major landlord predicted they would lead to increases of over 25% in its rental income. Ires Reit, Ireland's largest residential landlord, owns 3,627 properties with an average rent of €1,852. In its preliminary results for 2025, it has said that the "positive" changes announced by the Government could see a "+25% potential rental income uplift with minimal added costs".
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0225/1560370-dail-housing/
# International, Rent.How the Frozen Housing Market Is Battering U.S. Manufacturers
John Keilman The Wall Street Journal (Paywall)The good news for appliance manufacturer Whirlpool WHR -1.27%decrease; red down pointing triangle is that when a refrigerator or washing machine breaks, homeowners generally purchase a new one. The bad news: The replacement usually isn’t very fancy.
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/how-the-frozen-housing-marke…
# International, .How Melbourne beats Sydney on housing crisis solutions
Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The NSW government has not prioritised the best type of residential development to deal with Sydney’s housing shortage and should follow Victoria’s blueprint to fix the crisis, a leading think tank says. Analysis by the Grattan Institute shows the most feasible housing option across Sydney’s established suburbs is three-storey townhouses and other forms of “gentle” density. But that is “precisely the housing typology that NSW has not allowed enough of” under recent planning reforms, said Brendan Coates, a Grattan Institute economist and co-author of the research.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/how-melbourne-beats-sydney-o…
# Hot topic NSW, .