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
New rental rule in Aussie state to tackle hated real estate practice: ‘Widespread issue’
Tamika Seeto Yahoo News (No paywall)Landlords and real estate agents in New South Wales will soon be forced to declare when they’ve used artificial intelligence to edit pictures in rental ads. Rental advocates are calling for other states and territories to follow the state’s lead, or go even further and ban the use of AI-edited images altogether. The NSW government introduced a bill to Parliament that would impose penalties on those who fail to disclose if photos have been digitally altered, such as with AI, in a way that would “mislead or deceive” a prospective renter. The bill has passed the lower house and is now before the upper house.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/new-rental-rule-in-aussie-stat…
# Hot topic NSW, Starting a tenancy.Tenants in proposed Waterloo Park get relocation notices
Geoff Turnbull The South Sydney Herald (No paywall)Evelyn Morris is an 86-year-old Waterloo resident who has lived in Cooper Street for 27 years. She was an active tenant representative for many years until she lost mobility. On 26 March, she answered the door and received her six-month notice of relocation letter. Her home is where Council’s new park will be built, but only the 99 tenancies on the western side of the park received notices. Evelyn has lots of questions that are not answered in the relocation factsheet she was given or the general information provided about the redevelopment. She thinks others will have similar questions.
https://southsydneyherald.com.au/tenants-in-proposed-waterloo-pa…
# Must read NSW, Eviction.How desperate is the NSW government to build housing? This unassuming site may provide a clue
Penry Buckley The Guardian (No paywall)An aged care development in Sydney’s inner west is looming as a key test of the New South Wales government’s plans to rapidly boost the housing supply. The proposal for seniors housing at Junction Street in Forest Lodge, including a 12-bed aged care facility and 71 independent living units, is being assessed under the state significant development pathway after closing to public submissions in October last year. But environmental and emergency agencies have warned the flood-prone location poses a serious risk to life.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/19/nsw-housi…
# NSW, .When ‘the birdman’ of St James tunnel died, Sydney commuters streamed past his body for days
Christopher Knaus, Gaurav Pokharel and Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Bikram Lama had a morning ritual.
The rough sleepers of Hyde Park remember it well. The young Nepali man would emerge from his sleeping bag, perched in the bushes near the bustling tunnel entrance to Sydney’s St James station. Throngs of office workers would stream past, eyes fixed to phones or dead ahead – anywhere but the dishevelled young man in front of them. Lama paid them no mind. He’d return from breakfast, a bag of breadcrumbs in hand, and head straight to the flock of pigeons that also called the St James tunnel home.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2026/a…
# NSW, .Sydney Rents Up 52% In 6 Years, Tenants “Under Significant Pressure” Amidst Record Unaffordability
Will Thorpe City Hub (No paywall)Rents in Sydney climbed 52 per cent over the past six years, and New South Wales has further solidified its position as the least affordable state in Australia for tenants. Those are two of the findings in REA Group’s latest Rental Affordability Report, released this month. Rental affordability in New South Wales is now at the worst level that the company has recorded, falling below the 2010-11 low point which followed the Global Financial Crisis. A median-income household in the state could afford merely 25 per cent of rentals advertised on realestate.com.au between July and December 2025.
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media NSW, .Sleepless in Bellambi: residents dig heels in against proposed six-storey 'shoebox' plan
Jay-Anna Mobbs Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)“They’re going to have to build around me because I’m not budging.” Annie Leeks has called Bellambi Beach home for 20 years, and in a stroke akin to the infamous Australian classic The Castle, she is not prepared to leave her home without a fight. Unafraid to “speak up”, Ms Leeks was one in a crowd of a hundred who took to the microphone on Saturday in protest of the Bellambi Beach redevelopment.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/9209615/bellambi-beach…
# NSW, .Housing Crisis?
3CR (No paywall)This episode we hear edited highlights from the panel 'What do people really think about the housing crisis?' from the Progress 2026 conference, with speakers including Ben Spies-Butcher and Alistair Sisson (Macquarie University), Maiy Azise (Everybody's Home) and Leo Patterson Ross (NSW Tenants Union).
# TUNSW in the media, Audio Australia, .NSW urged to follow Victoria on rent rise protections
Newshub (No paywall)Tenants on the brink of homelessness could be spared devastating rent hikes if New South Wales follows Victoria’s lead and cracks down on increases above inflation, Homelessness NSW said today. The call comes amidst a deepening cost-of-living crisis, with a single rent increase now enough to push vulnerable renters out of housing altogether. “Right now, an above-inflation rent increase can be the event that ends someone’s tenancy,” Homelessness NSW CEO Dom Rowe said. “With winter approaching and grocery prices expected to surge by 20 per cent we are deeply concerned about people who are already teetering on the edge. “Victoria has recognised this risk and recently acted. NSW should do the same before more people are pushed into homelessness.”
https://newshub.medianet.com.au/2026/04/nsw-urged-to-follow-vict…
# NSW, .