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
Housing crisis taking a toll on caravan park owners in WA's South West
Madigan Landry ABC (No paywall)Caravan park owners say they are copping the brunt of the housing crisis, as those on the brink of homelessness turn to these facilities as a last resort. Owners have spoken to the ABC about the emotional toll of turning desperate people away and dealing with anti-social behaviour from some long-term residents. Greg Homer has run the Waterloo Village Caravan Park on the outskirts of Bunbury, 160km south of Perth, with his family since 2011. Mr Homer said, while he found running the park fulfilling, the demand for accommodation he faced on a daily basis was overwhelming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-05/housing-crisis-has-impact…
# Australia, Land lease communities.Woolworths and Coles to energy, rent and housing: The 5 years that changed Australia
Tarric Brooker Yahoo News (No paywall)Since the Covid pandemic first arrived in Australia more than half a decade ago, the nation’s cost of living has at times seen the largest and swiftest rise in over 30 years. Prior to the pandemic the RBA dropped interest rates again and again for over eight years, as they tried to bring the rate of inflation up to sustainably sit within it’s 2 per cent to 3 per cent target range.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/woolworths-and-coles-to-energy…
# Australia, Rent.'Somebody needs to explain': Border braces for waves in its rental market
Hana Humboldt The Border Mail (Paywall)Border estate agents have been told the NSW rental sector is facing changes predicated on addressing "a crisis in deterioration". Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin used the description during training sessions held at Albury's Commercial Club. The conference, run on the mornings of Monday, December 8, and Tuesday, December 9, were to provide essential updates on "quite wide-reaching changes" for Border real estate professionals, including sales agents and property managers. A key feature of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Regulation 2025, which came into effect on May 19, 2025, includes the outlawing of no-grounds evictions, bringing it in line with similar legislation south of the border.
https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/9129658/nsw-gov-reforms-for-…
# NSW, .Aussie renter calls for major landlord change amid national shift: 'Doesn't make sense'
Joe Attanasio Yahoo News (No paywall)As renting becomes the norm for more Australians than ever, tenants are calling for stronger, more empathetic relationships with their landlords. Nikki, 27, a long-term renter in Southern River, Western Australia, said responsiveness and understanding matter just as much as affordability. She is one of a growing number of Australians struggling with soaring rental prices, a problem she said hits single parents hardest. "I know not all people are big fans of it, but I’d like to see more rent freezes or caps," she said in an interview with Yahoo News.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-renter-calls-for-major-landlord…
# Australia, Rent.The kindness of strangers: I couldn’t afford a pricey hotel, then a student let me sleep on her dormitory floor
YiZhong Zhuang as told to Katie Cunningham The Guardian (No paywall)ack in 2006, I went to Canberra for a medical school interview. I figured I would book accommodation when I arrived but when I arrived, there was a big convention in town and all the backpacker hostels and budget accommodation were fully booked. Coming from Singapore, I thought perhaps I could just sleep at the airport – but quickly found Canberra airport, unlike Singapore’s, was not open 24 hours. Not knowing quite what to do and getting a bit desperate, I caught a bus into town, then started wandering towards the casino, thinking I might spend the night in a place that was open all night.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/08/kindness-of…
# Australia, .Renters need $300,000 more superannuation in retirement than home owners, report finds
Jason Dasey ABC (No paywall)Older Australians who retire without owning a home will need about double the superannuation of those with a paid-off property if they want to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, research has uncovered. Advocacy group Super Consumers Australia warned renters were "at real risk of retirement disaster" if the federal government failed to act. The report highlighted the wealth gap, quantifying how much extra those who rented would need in super to match the quality of life of someone who owned their home.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-09/renters-need-twice-more-s…
# Australia, Rent.Techno Park residents win zoning battle to remain in Williamstown affordable housing estate
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)Residents of an affordable housing estate in Melbourne's industrial west have won the legal right to remain in their homes, years after they were first threatened with eviction because of a zoning issue. The tenants live in a former migrant hostel known as Techno Park, which sits in the shadow of a row of decommissioned Mobil fuel storage tanks in Williamstown. Having moved in under the impression the homes were lawful, many were blindsided when their local council ordered them to immediately leave in May 2023, claiming it had become aware people were living in the industrial-zoned area.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/techno-park-affordable-ho…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent.Europe’s housing crisis is fuelling the rise of the far right. Our research shows how to address it
Tarik Abou-Chadi, Silja Häusermann and Björn Bremer The Guardian (No paywall)
Europe’s housing crisis is fuelling the rise of the far right. Our research shows how to address it
Tarik Abou-Chadi, Silja Häusermann and Björn Bremer
The mantra of ‘build, build, build’ misses something crucial: that few can afford these new homes
Report: European progressives must tackle housing crisis to beat far right, say researchers
Thu 27 Nov 2025 23.00 AEDT
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Housing costs across Europe have become a growing burden for many households, both for those trying to buy and those trying to rent. Over the past decade, property prices have surged faster than incomes in many European countries. The same is true for rents, which have increased exponentially in large cities but have also increased substantially in suburban areas and smaller university towns. Given how much housing costs affect Europeans’ quality of life, it is comparatively absent from the agenda of progressive political parties.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/27/far-right-…
# International, Rent.