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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Large-scale seniors housing plan at Tumbi Umbi amended
Coast Community News (No paywall)The Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure is now considering amended plans for a $188M multi-storey retirement village at Tumbi Umbi, proposed by Mingara Recreation Club in partnership with Pariter. Classified as a State Significant Development, the large-scale development drew substantial community debate over: the impact on the adjacent athletics facility, particularly concerning the loss of 150 car parking spaces; concerns that the multi-storey buildings would be too large and disruptive; and concerns over increased traffic and prolonged construction noise.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2026/01/lar…
# NSW, .Why We All Got Stuck In Big Cities
ABC News In-depthABC News In-depth
ABC News In-Depth ABC (No paywall)
In the 1950s three quarters of Australians were homeowners, most lived on a quarter-acre block, with a mortgage that could be covered with one income while someone stayed at home to look after the children. Nowadays, house prices have sky rocketed and younger generations largely feel locked out. So where did it all go wrong?
# History, Video Australia, .Alice Springs residents waiting 10 years for public housing while homes sit vacant
Elsie Lange ABC (No paywall)This week, Julie Coulthard was told she would have to wait 10 years for a public housing home in Alice Springs. The Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte woman said she had been on the public housing waitlist in Central Australia since 2022, when she requested a transfer from Darwin. She first requested a home in Alice Springs, before changing her application to her home community of Hermannsburg to increase her chances — a move she did not think would impact her claim.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/nt-public-housing-waitlis…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Rent.As Melissa’s rental swelters in Adelaide’s heatwave, she is confined to her bedroom – the only bearable part of the house
Tory Shepherd The Guardian (No paywall)When temperatures are this extreme, Melissa Fisher is trapped in her bedroom – the only bearable spot in her home in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth Vale. Fisher sweltered through South Australia’s hottest 26 January on record, with an overnight minimum of 31C. Now she faces a top of 43C on Tuesday as severe heatwaves continue across the nation. Victorians are preparing for top temperatures to break records – as high as 49C in Ouyen and Mildura. And there is an extreme heatwave warning in place for New South Wales, with some areas expected to see temperatures in the high 40s.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/27/housing-s…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs, Utilities water energy internet.Improving temporary accommodation after a natural disasters
Richelle Hunt ABC (No paywall)In this edition of The Conversation Hour we explore how much prefab housing could be used as a form of temporary housing particularly in the wake of catastrophic bushfires. Also, in this program, do we need better support for renters after bushfires, do they slip between the cracks?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/theconversationhour/the-c…
# Audio Australia, .From lifeline to 'existential crisis': The high human cost of Victoria's public housing overhaul
Sydney Lang SBS (No paywall)In the middle of a housing and cost-of-living crisis, the Victorian government is in the process of demolishing all 44 of Melbourne's public housing towers. Despite significant pushback and a parliamentary inquiry calling for an immediate halt to works, the Victorian government is pushing ahead with the plans. "Moving house is considered to be one of the most stressful events in a person's life. “For me, it's an existential crisis. You know, as someone who doesn't have a lot, again, to offer her children. You know, there was the certainty of where we're living, which is so that rug has been pulled out from under our feet, and there's not a lot of certainty as the policy has unfolded.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/from-lifeline-to-exi…
# Audio Australia, Public and community housing.'Riches to rags story' highlights challenges for homeless on the Gold Coast
Danielle Mahe and Tom Forbes ABC (No paywall)Bethany Turner once spent her days managing a small business in one of the Gold Coast's wealthiest suburbs. Now she's one of hundreds sleeping rough in the city. "You're literally looking at a riches to rags story," Ms Turner said. The 40-year-old owned a fashion boutique at Mermaid Beach, but when the business folded after the pandemic she never got back on her feet. She said various jobs and living situations in a cost-of-living crisis, along with business debt, exacerbated her hardship and in mid-2025 she had nowhere to go. "I'm ashamed of this situation but unfortunately, circumstantially, I've ended up here."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-21/gold-coast-socialite-home…
# Australia, .Rental market growth stalls in some capital cities as household budgets stretched to limit
Jason Dasey and Samuel Yang ABC (No paywall)The home rental market is "hitting a speed limit" and "starting to rebalance", with prices flat in some Australian capital cities as tenants reach the limits of what they can pay, according to property portal Domain. House rental asking prices fell or were stagnant in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin over the past three months, Domain's December Quarter Rent Report found. Even so, house rents across Australia's combined capital cities rose a total of 2.3 per cent — or $15 — over the quarter, with Brisbane (3.1 per cent increase), Hobart (1.7 per cent) and Canberra (1.4 per cent) leading the way.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/rental-market-capital-cit…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.