Housing News Digest
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
Melbourne public housing tower residents win injunction against eviction notices ahead of High Court bid
Kate Ashton ABC (No paywall)Homes Victoria will be temporarily halted from issuing eviction notices to residents at three Melbourne public housing towers after a ruling by Victoria's Court of Appeal. About 32 households are thought to remain at a group of towers facing imminent demolition in Flemington and in North Melbourne. The towers — at 12 Holland Court, 120 Racecourse Road and 33 Alfred Street — are proposed to be redeveloped next as part of the state government plan to modernise 44 inner-city public housing sites to provide homes for more people.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/melbourne-housing-tower-i…
# Australia, Eviction.Jim Chalmers targets tax break that supercharged Boomer wealth
Samantha Maiden news.com.au (No paywall)Property investors are on high alert amid speculation Treasurer Jim Chalmers is set to slash and burn the capital gains tax (CGT) discount ahead of an inflation-busting budget. The crackdown would not apply to the family home because owner occupiers are already exempt from capital gains tax. However, it could mean instead of getting a 50 per cent discount when property investors sell a home they would get a reduced discount. And the big sell will be generational inequity, amid complaints it’s too hard for younger Australians to buy a first home because there’s too many investors.
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/jim-chalmers-targets-t…
# Australia, .A Victorian schoolteacher was applying for ‘heaps of rentals’ online – then someone accessed his bank account
Josh Taylor The Guardian (No paywall)Michael* has spent the past two months trying to get his digital identity back. The 47-year-old Victorian schoolteacher was in the process of moving to a new town and applying for rental properties online. Around this time – and unbeknown to him – his mobile phone number was transferred to someone else. Michael says this was achieved by having access to something often required for identity verification: his passport number. After that, someone was able to gain access to his bank and superannuation accounts, and began making transfers. He suspects this all stems from information he submitted to rent application platforms, which included his passport information.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/06/property-…
# Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Rental affordability hits record low as rents rise 2.5 times faster than wages, analysis shows
Samuel Yang ABC (No paywall)Australian rents have risen 2.5 times faster than wages over the past five years, pushing rental affordability to record lows, according to new analysis by property research firm Cotality. National rents climbed 43.9 per cent in the five years to September 2025, compared with wage growth of 17.5 per cent over the same period. As a result, tenants now pay an average 33.4 per cent of their pre-tax income on rent — the highest level on record, according to Cotality — placing growing strain on household budgets.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-11/rental-affordability-rent…
# Hot topic Australia, .Calls for action as rental crisis deepens
Andy Park ABC (No paywall)Experts are warning there's no end in sight for the rental crisis, prompting fresh calls for action to help struggling Australians. New analysis shows rental affordability is at record lows, with costs increasing at more than double the rate of wages over the past five years.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/calls-for-acti…
# Audio Australia, Rent.When it comes to homelessness, what we call ‘compassion fatigue’ is something else entirely
Timothy Martin The Conversation (No paywall)The 20th-century French philosopher Simone Weil once said that compassion was an impossibility. She said it is “a more astounding miracle than walking on water.” The word she used for meeting the needs of the sufferer is not love or charity, but justice. Today, there is plenty of research that points to a decline in compassion. Dealing with suffering, however, is part of the human experience, and as the American feminist philosopher Martha Nussbaum argued compassion is “an essential bridge to justice.”
https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-homelessness-what-w…
# Australia, .Where landlords have been able to put rents up most – and least
Elizabeth Redman The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Rents have soared faster than wages over the past five years in every jurisdiction except the one that caps rent increases – but experts agree that’s not the reason behind its modest growth. Instead, the ACT’s measured rent rises come as more new homes are on offer compared to NSW, Victoria or other states, giving tenants more choice and making it harder for landlords to increase rents. Rents in NSW have risen 40.9 per cent over the five years to September 2025, Cotality figures show, and 33.6 per cent in Victoria. The nation’s largest spike was WA, up 66 per cent, while Queensland also rose 50.4 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/where-landlords-have-been-a…
# Hot topic, Research alert Australia, .Enforcement is the issue on the decent homes standard
The Guardian (No paywall)While the anger at the timeline for enforcing the decent homes standard (DHS) in England might be expected, it is also arguable that enforcing decent home standards is not as difficult as campaigners make out (‘Absurd’: decent homes standard for England’s private renters will not be enforced until 2035, 28 January). Local authorities already have powers and duties to deal with threats to health and safety in both the private rented sector and the social rented sector.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/feb/03/enforcement-is-the…
# International, Security and safety.