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
How Menzies built social order through homeownership
Ahmad Yazdanian The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Menzies sold the Australian Dream as a path to independence, but he was really building a grid of social control. Today, that blueprint is failing. Robert Menzies first served as prime minister of Australia between 1939 and 1941, during the early years of World War II. He returned after the war and held power from 1949 to 1966, making this the longest prime ministership in Australian history. By this time, several decades had passed since the height of colonial narratives, and their presence in Australia’s political and economic discourse had begun to fade. References to Australia as a British colony, to the establishment of wool export industries under imperial control, or to pastoral landscapes as extensions of the British Empire were no longer as pervasive. It was as if the population had gradually detached from a central imperial force.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/columns/spinifex/how-menzies-built…
# Australia, .Majority of landlords back government limits on rent increases
Daniel Butkovich realestate.com.au (No paywall)Most landlords would support regulation of rent increases, according to a new national report that challenges claims that tighter rent controls would drive investors out of the market. The report found 65% of current and former landlords back regulated rent increases, while 71% say renting should be more affordable. Although landlords were broadly supportive of some rental reforms, there was less enthusiasm among surveyed landlords for potential changes to investor tax breaks, which are expected to form a key part of next month's federal budget.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/majority-of-landlords-back-go…
# Australia, .Annual rental affordability snapshot shows just one listing affordable for JobSeeker recipients
Tahlia Roy and Niki Burnside ABC (No paywall)JobSeeker recipient Jessica Menace said she has $28 left from her Centrelink payment after she has paid rent. "I can barely afford to live, and I've very much come to the conclusion that I will probably never own a home. So I've just sort of given up on saving at all," she said. The 23-year-old Canberra university student, who also earns a small income to cover food and bills, said her current rental property was stable, but that had not always been the case. "At one point, I had been in something like nine different places in three years. It got to the point where I've just lost count," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-30/rental-affordability-snap…
# Hot topic Australia, Starting a tenancy.The Boomer landlords: the charts that show how the over-60s control the rental market
Shane Wright The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Older and wealthier Australians have increased their ownership of rental properties by up to 1500 per cent over the past two decades while young people have been priced out of the investment market. As senior ministers prepare to sign off on key tax reform elements in the May 12 budget, including an overhaul of the capital gains tax concession and negative gearing, this masthead can reveal astonishing figures that show how the investor rental market has become the domain of people in their 60s and 70s.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-boomer-landlords-the…
# Hot topic Australia, .No-grounds eviction debate splits WA tenants and landlords, as polling shows support for reform
Cason Ho ABC (No paywall)Landlords evicting renters without giving a specific reason is a contentious practice — and in Western Australia, there is growing momentum to outlaw it. No-grounds evictions remain legal in WA and the Northern Territory. The ABC understands the WA government is set to make a rental law announcement within weeks. Advocates say tenants should be able to live without the fear of losing their homes through no fault of their own. But real estate agents argue landlords should be allowed to terminate a lease when they see fit, and say such cases are often not as simple as they first appear.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-23/no-grounds-evictions-comp…
# Australia, Eviction.WA government to ban no-grounds evictions amid state's rental housing shortage
Cason Ho and Chela Williams ABC (No paywall)No-grounds evictions will be banned in Western Australia in what the state government is describing as a "commonsense approach" to addressing a tight housing market. Under the proposed laws, landlords will no longer be allowed to terminate a tenant's lease without giving a reason. WA and the Northern Territory are the only jurisdictions in Australia that still allow no-grounds evictions. Commerce Minister and Attorney-General Tony Buti said it was important to have a "fair balance" between landlords and tenants.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-04/wa-to-ban-no-grounds-evic…
# Australia, Eviction.Baby found dead at Wagga beach homeless encampment as mother and another infant taken to hospital
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)A newborn baby has been found dead in a tent in regional New South Wales, prompting renewed calls to address homelessness across regional Australia. Police were called to a homeless encampment near Wagga beach on the Murrumbidgee River on Saturday, where they found a 37-year-old woman with two infants, one of whom was deceased. The surviving baby and the mother were taken to hospital, where the infant remained in a critical condition on Monday afternoon, authorities said.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/04/baby-dead…
# NSW, .What happened to well-designed public housing?
ABC (No paywall)With a rate rise adding extra sting for mortgagees and renters alike, one has to wonder how we got here in the first place. In the sixties, there was a rise in social housing complexes built in the city - affordable, well-designed units, fitting in swathes of people. One such was the Sirius Building, which was recently bought and redeveloped. Now a two-bedroom apartment sold there a year ago for $3 million - a marked difference from when it was built.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sydney-saturdaybreakfast/…
# Audio NSW, Public and community housing.