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
Generation rent growing old: ‘This is a window into the future for enormous numbers of people’
Peter Apps Substack (No paywall)I believe this is a seriously under-discussed issue in the current landscape of Britain’s housing debate. How are pensioners supposed to cope with large rental payments? We really do not have an answer. But this is an issue which is here, and will grow sharply in the coming decades as further cohorts of renters retire while still needing to pay full market housing costs. Could we look at targetted pension support - perhaps funded by breaking the triple lock? Or do we need to focus more social housing towards pensioners and older people? Both suggestions have their downsides, but so does the status quo (a small note - the below passage was written before the Renters Right Act passed - the renters have more security against eviction now, but very little against rent rises).
https://peteapps.substack.com/p/generation-rent-growing-old-this…
# Must read International, Rent.Awaab’s law is not working, say social housing tenants stuck in mouldy homes
Jessica Murray The Guardian (No paywall)Sarah Killick has been battling problems in her social home for months, including mould and damp. She says the anxiety has been insufferable and she has permanently damaged her teeth from grinding them due to stress. She thought help would come in the form of Awaab’s law, new legislation designed to force social housing landlords in England to fix dangerous hazards, which came into effect in October last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/21/awaabs-law-not-w…
# International, Public and community housing, Rent.Pay rent, eat or keep warm? Growing numbers face hard choices as housing benefit gap grows
Patrick Butler and Will Parman The Guardian (No paywall)o you prioritise paying the rent, putting food on the table or keeping the house warm in winter? In practice, says Laura Braddock, a single mum from Wirral, Merseyside, you always pay the rent first and improvise the rest. “If I’ve got a roof over our head, then everything else I can muddle through.” The pressing problem for Braddock, 39, is that muddling through is getting harder. The monthly rent for her two-bedroom flat far outstrips the local housing allowance (LHA) she receives – and the gap may widen.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/23/pay-rent-eat-or…
# International, .‘Addiction is not only caused by weak will’: how a talking pigeon got Czechia to face up to its alcohol problem
Miloš Hroch The Guardian (No paywall)Czech film-maker Pepa Lubojacki originally set out to make a film about pigeons. What fascinated the 39-year-old director was that the grey birds are clearly beautiful and highly intelligent creatures, yet human cruelty towards them is socially acceptable in the way it isn’t towards, say, crows or magpies. “You can spot kids kicking and chasing pigeons while their parents cheerfully look on,” she says. The moral blind spot reminded her of the way that people looked at homeless people like her older brother and her cousins. “The public has learned to avert their eyes,” she says. “My cousin was declined care seven times with open wounds in the hospital, and finally, they had to amputate both of his legs.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/22/czech-documentary-h…
# International, .Students scramble for accommodation after owner goes bust in Dundee
Julia Kollewe and Amee Joshi The Guardian (No paywall)Nearly 70 students in Dundee have been left scrambling to find accommodation for this academic year after the latest in a string of university housing schemes went bust amid severe financial strain on the sector. Students in the city have been forced to find alternative housing and rapidly move their possessions as term begins this month after the collapse of the owner of Marketgait Apartments, a city centre block. The company filed for administration in mid-July with 68 rooms let. Just weeks earlier it had been urging students to quickly secure its “perfect homes” in online marketing.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/19/scottish-stude…
# International, .Farewell, nimbys of Piddington…
The Guardian (No paywall)So the people of Piddington have spoken – an overwhelming majority want to leave the UK (English village votes to leave UK in protest over migrant housing plan, 16 September). They didn’t really consider the consequences, did they? We can say goodbye, but to protect our borders we would need to erect a solid barrier around the village. Obviously anyone who works in the UK outside Piddington’s borders would need a work visa now, and travel visas will be needed by people wanting to visit supermarkets – or relatives. I note that there’s a small river running through Piddington. Any attempt to leave on small boats should be dealt with like any other attempted illegal entry.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/23/farewell-nimbys-…
# Hot topic International, .‘Cost of housing’ crunch looms for low-income families, warns Resolution Foundation
Heather Stewart The Guardian (No paywall)More than 1.1 million low-income families in rented homes face a “cost of housing” crunch without action from John Healey in next month’s budget, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has warned. Local housing allowance (LHA) has been frozen in cash terms since autumn 2024. In a new report, Saving Private Renters, the thinktank found that rising rents since then have led to a widening gap between what families claiming LHA can afford, and the realities of the market.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/19/cost-of-housing…
# International, .Community housing tenants more likely to face eviction threat than those in public housing
Ahmed Yussuf ABC (No paywall)Soolin McCauley moved 10 times after she was evicted from her community housing unit of five years, crisscrossing between sleeping in a car, tent and boarding house. After being sent another eviction notice to appear at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) due to rental arrears, she moved in with her former partner. "I felt like my only option was to just go in there and agree to leave," Ms McCauley said. According to new data obtained by the ABC, community housing tenants are more likely to face eviction applications than those in public housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-23/community-housing-evicito…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Research alert NSW, Domestic violence.