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
How the housing crisis is fuelling a mental health catastrophe
Dr Ehsan Noroozinejad The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Every day more Australians are forced to spend a huge share of income on rent or mortgages, putting them under intense stress. In 2024, all major cities hit record rental unaffordability: the National Shelter/SGS Rental Affordability Index reports that rents have surged so much that householders on JobSeeker or basic pensions now find every market “critically unaffordable”. In Sydney the median rent is $700+ a week (30 per cent of median income) and in Perth $600+ (31 per cent). Homeownership is ever more distant, vacancy rates have collapsed, and poorer renters in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane are facing similar gaps between incomes and costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-the-housing-crisis-is-fuelli…
# Australia, .New limits for short-stay accommodation proposed in Whitsunday region
Meghan Dansie ABC (No paywall)Tourists in some of Australia's favourite winter holiday destinations could soon face new limits on where they stay, as local governments crack down on short-term accommodation. Changes proposed by the Whitsunday Regional Council, which includes popular north Queensland tourist hub Airlie Beach, would zone accommodation rented through companies like Airbnb or Stayz away from residential suburbs. Tourists in some of Australia's favourite winter holiday destinations could soon face new limits on where they stay, as local governments crack down on short-term accommodation. Changes proposed by the Whitsunday Regional Council, which includes popular north Queensland tourist hub Airlie Beach, would zone accommodation rented through companies like Airbnb or Stayz away from residential suburbs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-29/short-stay-accommodation-…
# Australia, .WA's housing affordability crisis laid bare as report details pain for renters and would-be homeowners
Lily Kristanto ABC (No paywall)More than half of West Australian households consider their housing unaffordable, an increase of 91 per cent in just two years, according to a new report. This was true of both renters and those paying off a mortgage, the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) report found, with the housing market beset by multiple problems including rapid population growth, limited supply, escalating rents and construction delays. The report shows the median weekly rent in WA has increased by 76 per cent since 2020, and now sits at $740.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-12/wa-housing-and-rental-cri…
# Hot topic Australia, .'Unacceptable': The question nearly seven in 10 renters fear asking their landlord
SBS (No paywall)Almost seven in 10 private housing tenants worry about asking for repairs in case they face a rent increase. A survey of more than a thousand renters across Australia has also found a third would be unable to afford a 5 per cent increase on what they're currently paying. Half the respondents live in homes that need repairs, and one in 10 need them carried out urgently. Conducted by the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), University of NSW, Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, National Shelter and the National Association of Renter Organisations, the study is the 26th published by the advocacy network.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/renters-fear-asking-landlord…
# Research alert Australia, Repairs.‘Not the main problem’: Unexpected response to the ‘Robin Hood of renters’
Natalie Brown news.com.au (No paywall)Few figures are more synonymous with Australia’s ongoing housing crisis – or more polarising – than Jordan van der Lamb. A fierce critic of the real estate industry, the so-called “Robin Hood of renters” and socialist politician has attracted a hundreds-of-thousands-strong audience across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok under the moniker PurplePingers. Unlike the heroic outlaw after whom he’s been nicknamed, Mr van der Lamb does not advocate for anyone to steal from the rich. He does, however, encourage those in need of shelter to squat in their “vacant” properties. He has created an entire database of such homes across the country.
https://www.news.com.au/national/not-the-main-problem-unexpected…
# Hot topic Australia, .‘Nowhere to go’: NSW renter given less than 24 hours to leave home over repairs
Kate Kachor Domain (No paywall)A New South Wales renter has been left in a state of shock after being given less than 24 hours to vacate their home. The tenant, who we’ll call Amanda, revealed she received the sudden news after returning to her apartment to find a letter from her property manager. “Have received this today at 5.30pm. No way to contact agency as was after close of business,” she wrote on June 24 in the Facebook group Don’t Rent Me. She shared a screenshot of the letter with her personal details, location of her apartment and name of her real estate agent cropped out. The subject line of the letter read: “Termination notice of residential tenancy agreement frustration of residential tenancy agreement”.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/nowhere-to-go-nsw-renter-given-le…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media NSW, Eviction, Repairs.Final residents of Paddington boarding house face eviction, ahead of redevelopment
Ursula Malone ABC (No paywall)With eviction day fast approaching, long-time tenant Jeff Elliott reluctantly packed up his belongings over the weekend. He spent years living on the streets after his mother died when he was 14. He credits finding a room at a boarding house in Sydney's inner city with helping him turn his life around. "It was like a family," he said. "We all got on, we all helped each other out. "If you had no money or something, they'd help you out. You had no food, they'd help you out." He lived there for 21 years, working as a postman and paying $300 a week in rent for a room with a kitchen, shower and small living area attached. Moving out, he said, has been the worst experience of his life. "I don't want to go. To be honest, I'd rather stay here."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-30/final-tenants-of-paddingt…
# Must read NSW, Eviction.NSW social housing process ‘inequitable’
Christopher Kelly Government News (No paywall)The process to apply for social housing in New South Wales is inefficient and inequitable, says a report from the Auditor-General’s office. Monitoring the activities of Homes NSW – a division of the Department of Communities and Justice established in February 2024 to streamline housing and homelessness services across the state – an audit drawing on data for 2023-24 found the new agency took an average of 33 days to fill a vacant property, more than three times its target of nine days. The application process requests substantial amounts of evidence to determine whether an applicant is a priority. “Collecting this evidence can be difficult and expensive for vulnerable households,” says the report. “This discourages applications from potential applicants who would otherwise qualify.”
https://www.governmentnews.com.au/nsw-social-housing-process-ine…
# NSW, Public and community housing.