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
Fixing Australia's housing crisis — is increasing supply really a silver bullet?
Natasha Mitchell ABC (No paywall)Build more houses. That'll fix Australia's housing crisis won't it? If you listen to governments, you'd sure think so. Under the National Housing Accord, all governments have agreed to support a target of building 1.2 million new, well-located dwellings in 5 years. But will that increase housing affordability, availability, quality, security of tenure, and the growing gap between the haves and have-nots? What's missing from this picture? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 National Housing Conference with guests debating the rhetoric, reality and policies around housing supply.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/bigideas/housing-crisis-s…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, .Rental vacancy rate stuck at 1 per cent in 'gridlocked' Queensland market
Jessica van Vonderen ABC (No paywall)New data shows the rental market in Queensland remains "gridlocked", with the statewide vacancy rate stuck at 1 per cent. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland's (REIQ) September quarter report reveals 38 out of 50 regions in the state have recorded vacancy rates of 1 per cent or less. There is next to no chance of finding a rental in the Cook region in Far North Queensland, which has maintained a vacancy rate of an astonishing 0 per cent. Charters Towers and Goondiwindi are not much better on 0.1 per cent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-13/qld-rental-market-gridloc…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.Real estate agents, landlords warned as new rental rules come into effect in days: 'Significant changes'
Nick Whigham Yahoo News (No paywall)Real estate agents and landlords are bracing for a raft of rental reforms due to officially kick in from next week in one Australian state. It comes as authorities move to boost the rights and protections of tenants and make life easier for millions of renters around the country. Authorities have been cracking down on dodgy price practices seen in the real estate market. And the new rules will tighten the screws on bad landlords.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/real-estate-agents-landlords-w…
# Legal significance Australia, .Victorian Ombudsman finds ‘rushed and flawed’ planning led to retirement village flood
Inside Local Government (No paywall)An investigation report by the Victorian Ombudsman has found “rushed and flawed” flood modelling and building plan mistakes by Melbourne Water, caused major flooding at a retirement housing estate near the Maribyrnong River in 2022. Tabled in Parliament today by Ombudsman, Marlo Baragwanath, the ‘When the water rises’ investigation focused on two sites – Rivervue Retirement Village, which was significantly affected by the 2022 Maribyrnong river flood; and the Kensington Banks residential estate, which modelling has shown is at risk of future flooding.
https://insidelocalgovernment.com.au/victorian-ombudsman-finds-r…
# Australia, Disasters, Land lease communities.Homes NSW: From “Worst Landlord to Best”?
Eloise Parrab Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has set an ambitious goal for the newly launched Homes for NSW 10 Year Strategy - to take the agency from “the worst landlord to the best.” It’s a bold statement, and there are plenty of long-standing issues that will need to be addressed for that vision to be realised. The Strategy’s overall aim is simple but vital, that everyone should have access to a decent home and get the support they need. We shouldn’t too quickly accept that Homes NSW is the worst landlord. As a public housing provider they charge rents that take into account the household circumstances, they make much more of their decision-making publicly and accountably and ultimately they are accountable to the community - there are no other homes in the state where you can, even in theory, vote out the management. But it’s certainly true that there are deep-seated issues and frustrations to address.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/homes-nsw-worst-landlord-best
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Public and community housing, Rent.Jaya was forced out of her rental. She just bought the house for $200
Jack Gramenz The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Jaya Roche went along to an auction of her old rental to see how much it sold for – and ended up buying the house for $200. “They were just going for so cheap,” she said. “We just thought, ‘Why not just give it a go?’” Roche and her partner, Cory Lowe, with children Milla, 4, and Archie, 2, previously lived in the two-bedroom house at South Murwillumbah in northern NSW. They began renting it in 2020 but had to flee two years later when devastating floods hit the region.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/jaya-was-forced-out-of-her-r…
# NSW, Rent.Barangaroo ‘poor door’ shows just how broken our idea of affordable housing has become
Women's Agenda (No paywall)Affordable housing tenants at a Barangaroo apartment complex are required to use a separate entrance. Dr Gemma Killen and Katherine Berney share this piece on what this says about who we believe deserves access to housing. This week, reports emerged of an apartment complex in central Sydney requiring affordable housing tenants to enter the building from a separate entrance. The tenants at Watermans Residences at Barangaroo have also being denied access to the building’s pool, spa, sauna and gym. For the privilege of segregation, these tenants are offered a 25 per cent discount on the market rate for rent.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/barangaroo-poor-door-shows-ju…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, Rent.Share Housing: A Case for Certainty and Stronger Protections
Nicole Grgas Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)Nicole is a long-standing Tenant Advocate. Recent reforms to NSW renting laws — including the end of “no grounds” evictions and better rights for tenants with pets — have been widely welcomed, but for the growing number of people who have no option but to live in share style housing, there may be little to celebrate. While share housing can be an affordable alternative, legal protections for this group of renters are confusing, limited, and in some cases, non-existent. Tenant advocates across the state regularly speak with people living in shared houses who are unsure of their legal status or unaware of how few rights they may actually have.
https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/share-housing-case-certainty-and…
# NSW, Rent, Share houses.