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
New social housing for Sydney trans women secured via government funding
Alexander Lewis ABC (No paywall)For Kooncha Brown and Chantell Martin, finding a stable home has always been a battle. Faced with hatred and prejudice because of their gender identity, the trans women have struggled to find housing in the private rental market. "Landlords won't rent to us," Ms Brown told the ABC. "Most of us end up in … public housing, and some of us end up couch surfing, homeless." Even when they do find housing, it often feels unsafe because of stigma and discrimination from neighbours. "Getting yelled at, getting called names, things are left in [the] mailbox," Ms Martin said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-09/trans-women-housing-sydne…
# NSW, Discrimination.Not just 'poor people problem': despair as families wait a decade for a home
Saffron Howden Newcastle Herald (Paywall)Desperate people in parts of NSW are languishing for more than a decade on the public and community housing waiting list, which has ballooned by 8,500 in the past 12 months.
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/8961116/grim-reality-pu…
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Public and community housing.Why Sydney families are choosing apartment living over houses
Taylor Troeth realestate.com.au (No paywall)Demand for apartments has surged as many families choose units over houses – for more reason than one. While the affordability factor has pushed many to look at the apartment market, many families are embracing the convenience, amenity and easy lifestyle apartment living brings with it. Small business owner and mum of two Liliana Rubiano has lived in an apartment for 11 years, and even as her family has grown she has no desire to move into a house. “If you gave me the option to buy a house in the eastern suburbs, I would rather buy a small modern apartment than a house,” she said.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/why-sydney-families-are-choos…
# NSW, .The plan to build more 11-storey unit blocks in Sydney’s inner west
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Apartment blocks up to 11 storeys will be allowed around train stations in Sydney’s inner west after the local council objected to a state-imposed rezoning and drew up its own plans to deliver more than 30,000 new homes. The Inner West Council on Tuesday revealed its long-awaited proposal to boost housing supply after it objected to the government’s transport-oriented development (TOD) scheme to rezone land within 400 metres of dozens of train stations across Sydney to allow six- or seven-storey unit blocks.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-plan-to-build-more-11-st…
# NSW, .New neighbourhood coming to Sydney
Taylor Troeth realestate.com.au (No paywall)One of the largest landholdings in Austral has sold for a record $119.5m and is set to create a new Sydney neighbourhood of 550 homes. The mammoth landholding of 41.32 hectares at Lot 10 Gurner Ave has been secured by Castle Group who plan to build a connected, sustainable masterplanned community. Austral currently has around 1,800 homes and the project is set to increase that total by a quarter. With proximity to major infrastructure and jobs at the Western Sydney Airport and aerotropolis, the area is surrounded by the natural bushland of Western Sydney Parklands.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/new-neighbourhood-coming-to-s…
# NSW, .Labor has promised to tackle homelessness. Here’s what homeless people say they need
Robyn Martin, Carole Zufferey and Michele Jarldorn The Conversation (No paywall)The 2025 election is over and now it’s time for Labor to deliver on campaign promises to address homelessness. Action on homelessness is long overdue. Affordable housing options remain scarce and public and community housing waitlists keep growing. The crisis springs from decades of government policy failures in many areas. Homelessness is linked to poverty, stigma, violence and poor health.
https://theconversation.com/labor-has-promised-to-tackle-homeles…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Inside the Pingers campaign
Red Flag (No paywall)If you’re as old as me (soon to be 45), you’ll remember setting up your first Hotmail account and choosing a super cool email address. Using lyrics from my favourite song (“32 flavors” by Ani DiFranco) seemed like a great idea at the time. The same goes for purplepingers, as I found out when I first met Jordan van den Lamb in a bar in Brunswick to suss out whether I wanted to lead his campaign team. He was gracious in answering the question that he’s been asked hundreds of times. It turns out that “purplepingers” was a high school gaming handle that stuck. As Karl Marx (roughly) said, the political challenge we faced was set by the circumstances we found ourselves in. As a founding member of the Victorian Socialists, I have been part of the party’s development.
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Report finds Victoria needs 80,000 new homes in next decade to start fixing social housing crisis
Harrison Tippet ABC (No paywall)Victoria must build 80,000 new social housing homes over the next decade just to catch up to the national average, according to new data released by housing advocates. The Victorian Housing Peaks Alliance today released the Growing Social Housing report, modelling the state's social housing demand and calling on the government to act. The report found Victoria needs an extra 377,000 social housing dwellings by 2051 to meet the expected total demand for social housing — the term used to describe both public and community housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-12/social-housing-crisis-vic…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.