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
Beachside apartments deemed ‘affordable’ cost $1,000 a week. Is the NSW policy helping renters or developers?
Anne Davies The Guardian (No paywall)A small block of units on Clovelly Road built in 2021 was granted extra floor space so the developer could add five affordable units, taking the total development to 13. The Sydney units, three minutes’ walk from the beach, with parking and a bus stop outside, are in a highly desirable spot. But “affordable” they are not. According to RP Data, the affordable two-bedroom units now rent for $960 to $1,000 a week, which is a 20% discount to other two-bedroom units in the block in line with government policy.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/29/nsw-in-fi…
# NSW, .Most Australians agree there’s a housing crisis. But they differ on what’s causing it – and how to fix it
Ben Spies-Butcher, Adam Stebbing, Alistair Sisson, Kristian Ruming and Shaun Wilson The Conversation (No paywall)Housing was a key issue during the 2025 federal election. In a campaign fought on the cost of living, rising housing costs – rents, mortgage repayments and house prices – were issues that all parties had to address. Major housing announcements were key to the campaign launches of both the Albanese government and the Peter Dutton-led opposition. While all parties agreed housing needed urgent attention, they were divided over how to fix it. Labor and the Coalition focused on first homebuyers and housing supply. The Greens emphasised rent control and social housing, and One Nation campaigned on cutting immigration and taxes on building materials for new houses.
https://theconversation.com/most-australians-agree-theres-a-hous…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.Home in Place evicts social housing tenants from Morningside apartments over landlord failures
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)Scott Giuffrida feared he would become homeless after being told he would be evicted from transitional housing due to his landlord's ongoing failure to maintain his apartment. Community housing provider Home in Place initially told Mr Giuffrida there were "no guarantees" they would find another home for him by the eviction date of October 31. Mr Giuffrida is one of six transitional housing tenants being evicted from the Morningside apartment, which Home in Place rents from a private landlord.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-15/home-in-place-evicts-morn…
# Australia, Eviction, Rent.Rental price ranges banned on major property sites across Vic
Nathan Mawby realestate.com.au (No paywall)Victorian landlords and real estate agents have been blocked from advertising rental homes with price ranges or ‘contact agent’ in the latest phase of a rental taskforce crackdown. It comes as Consumer Affairs Victoria has revealed the watchdog that aims to stamp out dodgy rental providers has now issued 90 fines worth a combined $750,000 since it was established in 2024. Penalties have been issued for a range of offences, including for landlords and agents who have incited rental bidding — a practice in which would-be tenants make offers above an asking price to secure a tenancy.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/rental-price-ranges-banned-on…
# Australia, Rent.The government wants more of us living in high rises. Here’s why Australians don’t want to
Emma Baker, Amy Clair and Chris Leishman The Conversation (No paywall)Australia was once a nation where the great Australian dream was owning a home with ample space for a lawn and a garden. But by the 1990s, the dream had shifted, at least politically, with then prime minister Paul Keating famously saying there was “more to life than the quarter acre block”. He suggested governments should plan for more diverse, denser and consolidated housing options. Our cities could be more efficient, allow people to be closer to the services they needed, and the smaller land requirements of higher density and high rise would provide people with more affordable housing options.
https://theconversation.com/the-government-wants-more-of-us-livi…
# Australia, Strata.‘No brainer’: The new plan to help tenants with a common rental headache
Benn Dorrington realestate.com.au (No paywall)
Renters need to hand over their driver's licence, passport and other ID when they apply for a new home, but a new national trial wants to make this tiresome process easier and safer. Proving your identity can be a nightmare for renters, who often have to share some of their most sensitive information with property managers and real estate agencies every time they apply for a new home. But the federal government has launched a new pilot program with accredited digital ID providers, real estate groups and renters to make it easier to prove who you are when applying for rentals.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/no-brainer-the-new-plan-to-he…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Survey finds majority of Victorian renters face problems — but not nearly as many lodge a complaint
Leanne Wong ABC (No paywall)A new report has found the vast majority of Victorian renters surveyed faced a tenancy issue over a 12-month period. But only half of the affected households escalated the issue by lodging a complaint, the survey of 1,000 renters by the Consumer Policy Research Centre found. The independent think tank is launching a Renter Confidence Index in the hope that regular feedback from renters will show whether regulations are working as they should.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-22/victorian-renter-confiden…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent.Greens plot govt home builder rebirth – Libs plan more cops on beat
David Simmons InDaily (No paywall)A multibillion-dollar spend to re-establish the SA Housing Trust as a publicly owned builder and fix a maintenance backlog that has “skyrocketed out of control”, top the SA Greens newest policy launch. While the Liberals target gaps in police frontline. The South Australian Greens would push to build 20,000 public homes over the next four years, clear out a public housing maintenance backlog, and introduce a new Commissioner to protect tenant rights, under new pre-election policy announced today.
https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in/2025/10/21/greens-plot…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.