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
‘Worse than wasting food in a famine’: The empty homes that could help solve Sydney’s housing crisis
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)With two degrees and a successful career as an award-winning business reporter, Jeanne-Vida Douglas had everything going for her – or so most people assumed. But when her marriage failed 15 years ago, Douglas couldn’t find a place to rent because she didn’t have a rental history. “I was seriously considering camping near a local park because I needed to keep the children close to their school,” she said. Douglas found a temporary home when a real estate agent recalled an empty house not on the market. It was waiting on renovations, but the builder was delayed.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/worse-than-wasting-food-in-a…
# NSW, Rent.Sydney deputy mayor warns of short-term rental loophole amid state pledge for thousands of new homes
Miriah Davis ABC (No paywall)As Sydney grapples with rising homelessness and low vacancy, local councils hold little power to act against short-term accommodation operators some say are draining the city's long-term rental supply. Homelessness NSW has called for a 7.5 per cent levy on providers who rent out their properties on platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz, arguing it could generate millions to fund housing support services and free up extra rental stock.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-24/nsw-airbnbs-sydney-short-…
# Hot topic NSW, .The state wants 800 new homes in this Sydney suburb. The council is arguing for more
Cindy Yin The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A council in NSW Premier Chris Minns’ backyard has accused the state government of under-delivering on housing, claiming Labor’s plan for a key part of southern Sydney falls short on new homes and infrastructure compared to its alternative proposal. The state government’s rezoning proposal could deliver 800 homes in buildings up to 22 storeys high, about 190 jobs, shop spaces, and pedestrian links next to a train station at Beverly Hills – marking the suburb’s “biggest transformation in decades”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-state-wants-800-new-home…
# NSW, .Ancestors, early settlers and the rise and fall of prime real estate
Philip Bull The Fifth Estate (No paywall)There are slippery migrants in this town that I loosely associate with my own ancestors. There is a myth in my father’s family about arriving early in Sydney. It was 1792 when the first ancestor on the maternal side, Captain Thomas Rowley, arrived on the Minerva. There was nothing glorious about the Minerva. Its journey to Sydney started in Cork in Ireland, where I presume my obedient ancestor must have assisted the then British government with transporting 200 united Irishmen to the colonies.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/arts-and-letters/ancestors-early-s…
# History NSW, .A response to critics of the Save Waterloo Encampment
Action for Public Housing (No paywall)On July 15th, Michael Mackenzie-Shreenan posted an article ‘Waterloo: When Did Solidarity Stop Listening?’ criticising the Save Waterloo Encampment on his blog site. Shreenan is the Executive Officer at Counterpoint Community Services, a NGO that operates a tenant service centre in Waterloo. The article was also sent through the local Redfern resident group RedWatch’s email list. Homes NSW also distributed a newsletter containing a ‘Rumours Corner’, which it says corrects “misinformation” circulating in Waterloo. Action for Public Housing, a grassroots group campaigning to save Waterloo from demolition and its tenants from eviction, helped lead the month-long Waterloo Encampment.
https://actionforpublichousing.org/a-response-to-critics-of-the-…
# NSW, .Renting around Koori Knockout
Tenants' Union of NSW ()The Koori Knockout (KO) is an annual football competition that draws crowds of over 40,000 spectators. In 1971 at the Clifton Hotel in Redfern, six deadly blackfullas created what is today the largest gathering of First Nations people in NSW. It is run by and for the Aboriginal community, largely funded from private sponsorship and community support. Make sure your home and rent are all sorted beforehand so you can enjoy the Koori Knockout stress-free! The Tenants’ Union and the Aboriginal Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services put together these 4 top tips to help Aboriginal renters get ready for Koori Knockout season.
https://www.tenants.org.au/resource/renting-around-koori-knockout
# NSW, Aboriginal renters, Rent.Sydney’s top ten priciest listings reveal eye-watering prices in unexpected suburbs
Unity Jackson-Muir news.com.au (No paywall)Tenants are being charged up to $1,800 a week just for a single room in a Sydney sharehouse as vacancies continue to tighten.
Exclusive new Flatmates.com.au data has revealed multiple instances of sharehouse rooms advertised for well above $800 a week - figures that only recently would have been enough to rent out a full house in many suburbs. It comes as low vacancy rates continue to squeeze would-be renters, driving up competition and rents for the scant supply of available properties. The citywide vacancy rate is currently 1.7 per cent. For some perspective, a “balanced” rental market with an even balance of supply to demand would have a vacancy rate of about 3 per cent.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/sydneys-top-…
# NSW, Rent.We’re building a New York-sized city every month. That’s worrying for our climate
Philip Oldfield The Fifth Estate (No paywall)Each of us needs of a roof over our head, classrooms to learn in and offices or space to work from. To meet this unprecedented demand for new buildings, globally we’re constructing the equivalent of an entire New York City every month. This provides us with vital infrastructure, but also generates an enormous amount of world-warming emissions. So how can we build what we need, without harming our planet? Our new research provides some answers.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/the-conversation/were-building-a-n…
# Australia, .