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
Labor conference housing focus
ABC (No paywall)Labor's national conference will today hear motions calling for the return of a National Housing Commission and a commitment to more social housing for Australia's poorest people. It comes as a new report show's the Housing Australia Future Fund has delivered more social housing, but that those efforts are about to stall.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/housing-comission/1069…
# Audio Australia, .ACT public housing residents waiting weeks for heater repairs, say Canberra Liberals
Monte Bovill ABC (No paywall)In the depths of winter in Canberra, when the temperature often dips below freezing, most locals rely on their heaters to keep their homes warm. But for Barbara Belmonte, her split system air-conditioning unit has been out of action for much of the season. "I haven't had adequate and sustainable heating in this house since the 9th of June," she said. "This has started to wear me down so much that I was in tears a few weeks ago."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-21/act-public-housing-reside…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Indigenous housing progress staring into funding abyss
Abe Maddison National Indigenous Times (No paywall)Urgently needed long-term funding to address the housing crisis in remote Aboriginal communities will be vital if Australia is to hold off abject and worsening First Nations poverty. It is a message that has been personally delivered, with a delegation of Elders highlighting the critical importance of funds for sustainable accommodation, infrastructure and essential services on homelands during a meeting with powers that be in Canberra. Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory chief executive Leeanne Caton says the group received ''a lot of positive responses'' from ministers and bureaucrats.
https://nit.com.au/06-07-2026/25198/indigenous-housing-progress-…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters.Hundreds of households leave Queensland social housing after tenancy and rental review
Claudia Williams ABC (No paywall)Dozens of households have been kicked out of social housing in Queensland after being found to own property or earn more than $80,000 a year. A state government review of 46,210 households in public housing over the last financial year has led to 359 leaving. Of those, 76 owned property or had a high income — less than 1 per cent of those reviewed. Another 143 public housing tenants are being examined further after being identified as potentially owning property.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-29/queensland-public-housing…
# Australia, Rent.Sydney social housing experiencing extreme heat due to lack of standards, study says
Declan Bowring ABC (No paywall)It gets so hot in Mark Hartley's social housing home in summer in Sydney's west that his TV breaks down. Mr Hartley lives in what he describes as a "fibro dog box" in South Windsor with no insulation, air-conditioning or cross-breeze. "The sound goes, the picture goes. And it's basically all from heat," Mr Hartley said. In one recent summer, the front room reached an indoor temperature of 42 degrees Celsius and stayed above 35C for 11 hours.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-23/sydney-social-housing-ext…
# Must read NSW, Public and community housing, Rent, Utilities water energy internet.Bulli couple told two modular homes on one block makes it an 'estate'
Grace Crivellaro ABC (No paywall)On a half-empty suburban block sits an incomplete Australian dream, suspended in planning limbo. For two years Caitlin Holme and Chris Robinson have been trying to build a modular home on a large subdivided block they bought with Ms Holme's sister. The problem is, Ms Holme's sister has her own modular home there. Wollongong City Council has ruled that having two modular homes on the property met the definition of a "manufactured housing estate".
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-26/modular-housing-dream-in-…
# NSW, .The wait for unbuilt social housing felt as Sydney's homeless 'still out on the street'
Millie Roberts and Lydia Feng ABC (No paywall)Reverend Bill Crews says he has never seen Sydney's homelessness crisis worse than it is today. On any given day between 60 and 100 people line the street for his foundation's food truck in Woolloomooloo, with some travelling from as far away as Blacktown, he said. "People will say, 'I've been walking past your vans for years and I never thought I'd be in the queue,'" Reverend Crews said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/sydney-homelessness-crisi…
# NSW, .Shoalhaven Council votes to sell homeless shelter, children's disability service sites
Charles Rushforth ABC (No paywall)Not-for-profit groups on the NSW South Coast say they are "devastated' by a plan to uproot their services as part of a $14 million council land deal. The Shoalhaven City Council has narrowly voted to rezone and sell the land which is currently used by a children's disability service, a crisis housing shelter and a local youth hub. The sites are among more than 20 properties it hopes to sell in a bid to raise money and stave off a potential rate rise for residents. The affected groups include the Ulladulla-based children's disability service Noah's Inclusion Services.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-29/shoalhaven-council-land-s…
# NSW, .