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
Can America fix its housing crisis?
ABC (USA) (No paywall)Congress passed the most significant housing affordability bill in decades, then Trump cancelled it. #PlanetAmerica explains why home ownership has become out of reach for so many.
# Video International, .Lived experience is often dismissed – but we should recognise it as a form of expertise
Snita Ahir-Knight and Hazel Godfrey The Conversation (No paywall)Institutions increasingly invite people to contribute their lived experience. Government agencies appoint patients to advisory panels and call on communities for their views on policy. Health New Zealand employs peer support workers and universities seek lived experience in research. These initiatives acknowledge that lived experience matters. But there is a catch. In many cases, it is still treated as perspective or testimony rather than as a form of expertise.
https://theconversation.com/lived-experience-is-often-dismissed-…
# International, .Tenant wins right to keep cat after landlord’s refusal ruled unreasonable
Pulse Tasmania (No paywall)A Tasmanian landlord’s concerns that her tenant’s cat could damage a renovated property, affect its sentimental value and worsen allergens have been rejected by a tribunal. The tenant had asked for permission to adopt an indoor cat named Celeriac at her rented three-bedroom home. The landlord refused, saying the house had been built by her grandfather and more than $34,000 of work had been done in 2022, including sanding floorboards and installing new flooring. She took the matter to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) to decide whether her refusal was reasonable.
https://pulsetasmania.com.au/news/tenant-wins-right-to-keep-cat-…
# Australia, Pets, Tribunal NCAT.Indigenous housing progress staring into funding abyss
Abe Maddison National Indigenous Times (No paywall)Urgently needed long-term funding to address the housing crisis in remote Aboriginal communities will be vital if Australia is to hold off abject and worsening First Nations poverty. It is a message that has been personally delivered, with a delegation of Elders highlighting the critical importance of funds for sustainable accommodation, infrastructure and essential services on homelands during a meeting with powers that be in Canberra. Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory chief executive Leeanne Caton says the group received ''a lot of positive responses'' from ministers and bureaucrats. '
https://nit.com.au/06-07-2026/25198/indigenous-housing-progress-…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters.How to keep your home warm if you're renting or on a budget
Tegan Osborne ABC (No paywall)Shivering through winter and searching for ways to make your space warmer? If you're strapped for cash or renting a home, installing an expensive heater or renovating for improved thermal efficiency may not be an option. But these cheap and innovative tricks can make a big difference. Heating expert Chris Barnes, from consumer group Choice, says air leakage from under doors and around windows is a big problem in many Australian homes. Based on Gadigal land in Sydney, Mr Barnes says a simple way to find the source of draughts is to walk around your home with a lit incense stick.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-03/how-to-keep-your-home-war…
# Australia, Rent.Australian rental prices soar to new record high amid chronic housing shortage
Heath Parkes-Hupton news.com.au (No paywall)Australian rental prices have hit a new record high accelerating well past household incomes and a chronic shortage drives a “profound shift in affordability”. Just how high prices have risen depends on which analysts you ask, but what they agree on is the chronic shortage of rentals and recent property tax changes point to a worsening situation. Critics of the federal government’s May budget, which scrapped negative gearing and tweaked capital gains tax for investors, had warned it could drive rents up as landlords exited the market.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/australian-r…
# Australia, Rent.Senator speaks up for Mount Isa families in limbo as forced house auctions loom
Tim Little and Zara Margolis ABC (No paywall)Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe has joined a fight to stop Indigenous homes in a Queensland mining town from being auctioned, which threatens affected families becoming homeless. Earlier this year, Mount Isa City Council moved to auction 25 properties owned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services (ATSICFWS) after the organisation accrued almost $1 million in unpaid rates.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-03/outback-families-in-limbo…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters.Housing inequity in Australia 'must focus beyond age'
Ahmed Yussuf and Zena Chamas ABC (No paywall)The federal government must consider age and wealth together to meaningfully address the growing wealth divide between generations, says The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS). It comes after a Senate inquiry into intergenerational housing in Australia. ACOSS said older households held the majority of the country's wealth. ACOSS said people under 35 hold just 7 per cent of the country's wealth. But the wealthiest 10 per cent of households own 25 times as much as the lowest 60 per cent on average.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-08/housing-inequity-in-austr…
# Australia, .