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
Boarding House Redevelopment Displaces Long-Term Residents in Paddington
Surry Hills News (No paywall)For over 20 years, Jeff Elliott lived in a modest studio inside a Paddington boarding house on Selwyn Street. He and 31 others formed a close-knit, low-income community that offered more than shelter — it provided social connection, mutual support, and stability. In early 2025, both the Selwyn Street boarding houses were sold to LFD Developments, who plan to replace the ageing properties with four new luxury homes. Most residents, including Mr Elliott’s long-time companions, were relocated with little time to say goodbye, leaving behind decades of shared memories.
https://surryhillsnews.com.au/boarding-house-redevelopment-displ…
# Hot topic NSW, Boarders and lodgers.NSW Rental Taskforce to tackle fairness in rental market
Aksel Ritenis Sydney Times (No paywall)*Media Release by Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong. Renters in NSW now have a dedicated Rental Taskforce to hold landlords and real estate agents to account, and will address rental law violations following the Government's most significant rental reforms in more than a decade. With an $8.4 million investment, NSW Fair Trading's Rental Taskforce Willa analyse activities and trends within the rental market and conduct compliance actives such as inspections, audits and blitzes to prevent and act on breaches of the law.
https://www.sydneytimes.net.au/state-politics-and-government/nsw…
# Hot topic NSW, .Misinformation on housing issues
Coast Community News (No paywall)When reading Central Coast News issue 480, I noted that one of the three full-page Liberal Party advertisements featuring Lucy Wicks as the Robertson candidate for the forthcoming Federal election is focused on housing issues. This interested me as when recently looking at what housing policies the two major parties were putting forward, I studied what was available online and was concerned that a Liberal policy included the statement that ‘Labor has also revealed it is looking to introduce new housing taxes (including changes to negative gearing)’.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/03/mis…
# Hot topic NSW, .The cost of living crisis is hitting renters in Sydney harder than anywhere else in Australia
7 News (No paywall)The cost of living crisis is hitting renters in Sydney harder than anywhere else in Australia, with a new report revealing that housing in the Harbour City is $200 a week more expensive than in Melbourne.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHAvWK2BBwV/?utm_source=ig_web_co…
# TUNSW in the media, Video NSW, .Minns Labor Government delivers on rental reform by ending no grounds evictions on 19 May 2025
NSW Government (No paywall)More than 2.3 million renters in NSW will be better off thanks to the latest round of changes to rental laws which will help create a fairer rental market, including ending ‘no-grounds’ evictions and making it easier to keep a pet. The reforms will come into effect on 19 May 2025 following extensive consultation with renters, investors, animal welfare groups and industry representatives. They follow changes which commenced in October last year which ensure renters cannot be charged for background checks and limit rent increases to once per year. Further reforms, including stronger privacy protections for renters and the introduction of a portable rental bond scheme, are set to be introduced later in 2025.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/minns-labor-governme…
# Must read, Legal significance NSW, Eviction, Rent.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-23/lismore-squatters-reclaim-abandoned-homes-despite-govt-threat/105076944
Jason Om and Richard Mockler ABC (No paywall)A short walk from the heart of Lismore are a bunch of homes among the gum trees on a dead-end road called Pine Street. Small camp fires burn, dogs saunter up and down the street. A sign in the grass says "Welcome". The people here are a mixed group of travellers, locals and activists who, for the past nine months, have occupied the empty homes, now seven in total. They call Pine Street a community, but the law calls it illegal. Some, like Tina, say she came here out of desperation, after her "heavy depression time". She told 7.30 that she and her teenage son moved here from the Central Coast, having lived in a car and a caravan for the past three years. In Lismore, 487 people are recorded by Homelessness NSW as homeless.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-23/lismore-squatters-reclaim…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Rent.North coast caravan park residents face homelessness amid crackdown on leases
Charles Rushforth and Cathy Adams ABC (No paywall)In 2016 military veteran Roger House used his life savings to purchase a holiday van at Minnie Water Holiday Park. On March 15 his lease was terminated by the Clarence Valley Council, giving him 120 days to vacate. He is now facing the prospect of having nowhere to live. "The prices of rentals these days … you can't get a decent place to live on your superannuation and your pension," Mr House said. "I'll be homeless. I've got no family close by where I can go and live. "What am I going to do, pitch a tent?"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/clarence-valley-council-h…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Land lease communities, Rent.Former WestConnex sites spark debate over inner city Sydney's affordable housing
Ursula Malone ABC (No paywall)The NSW government has ruled out setting aside three former WestConnex tunnelling sites in inner-city Sydney for social housing. The prize parcels of government-owned land are at the centre of a political tug-of-war, with the Greens arguing they present a "golden opportunity" to provide much-needed housing close to the city for those on low incomes. Inner West Greens councillor Izabella Antoniou lives in Ashfield and passes two of the vacant sites every day on her way to the bus stop. "It feels like such a waste to have them sitting there," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/westconnex-sites-debate-i…
# Must read NSW, .