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
Waterloo social housing residents evicted in first step to redevelopment
Mikala Theocharous 9 News (No paywall)More than a hundred residents in the biggest social housing project in the country have been handed eviction notices as the NSW government ploughs ahead with a multibillion-dollar redevelopment. Waterloo Estate in Sydney's inner-south is home to almost 3000 residents, with 150 receiving the first round of eviction notices as the building is handed over to developers. Tenants have at least six months to find alternative housing. Property developer Stockland is moving into the first stage of the project, a decade after the controversial plan was first announced.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/waterloo-social-housing-reside…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing.Australia's hidden homeless seek shelter outside the system
Ahmed Yussuf ABC (No paywall)In a storage shed on the outskirts of Victoria, Lisa* keeps all her belongings — decades-old letters, diaries, photo albums and furniture. As the years go by, she worries if there will be a time when she can empty the shed packed with memories and move them into a place she can call home. If predictions come true it will be another year of deteriorating housing affordability, prices will rise at twice the rate of disposable income.vLisa, now in her mid-50s, can't find an affordable rental on her disability pension. So she has a nomadic life, driving around Australia with her caravan.vIt's been six years now on the road for Lisa, she doesn't know how much longer she can live this way.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-05/australia-hidden-homeless…
# Must read Australia, Rent.'Too hot in summer, too cold in winter': Call for action for Aussie renters
Sarah Swain 9 News (No paywall)Before Madeline Cooper goes to bed in her Melbourne home, she has a cool shower, sets up two fans and spritzes her sheets with water. But some nights it's simply not enough to combat the heat which leaves her bedroom sweltering. The temperature can get up to 32 degrees, and she faces no option but to camp in the living room instead, which has air conditioning. "When it's that hot my entire life then revolves around dealing with the heat," she said. While Cooper, 40, who works for a non-profit, said she was lucky to have the air conditioning unit, she only got it after months of negotiations. She asked her landlord to replace the old unit because it didn't meet the heating standards Victorian rentals now require.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/rental-homes-plea-for-action/5…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Real estate agent called out for ‘disrespectful’ routine inspection act
Ally Foster news.com.au (No paywall)A South Australian real estate agent has been called out by a frustrated renter over a repeated routine inspection act, and it’s something that appears to be an all too common experience among tenants. Throughout her 10 years of renting, Eliza Andersen-Ponton has encountered her fair share of difficult property managers and landlords. The 28-year-old lives about 30 minutes outside of Adelaide and has been living in her current rental property since May 2024, for which she pays $550 a week.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/real-estate-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Housing Hostages: The blame game
ABC (No paywall)How did Australia go from a place where most middle-class people could own their own house, to one where even a small apartment is out of reach for so many? You can pick your villain. Is it immigrants, investors, Howard and Costello, the big banks, or something else? In this episode, ABC business editor Michael Janda identifies the key moments and policies that cemented property as a lucrative investment, creating a mismatch in supply and demand and sending house prices to extraordinarily high levels.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/housing-ho…
# Audio Australia, Rent.For rent? Or room-only? Vacancy rate data questioned as WA rental crisis shows signs of easing
Sarah Brookes The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The latest rental data released by a popular Western Australian-based real estate portal has been called into question by advocates who say it paints an unrealistic and inaccurate picture of the current state of the Perth market. Last week, the Real Estate Institute of WA reported Perth’s vacancy rate reached 2 per cent in January for the first time since June 2020, with predictions the rental crisis could be over by mid-2025.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/for-rent-or-room-only-vacan…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Could 'medium density housing with small gardens' help solve the housing crisis? Experts think so
Selina Ross ABC (No paywall)Isobella Mitchell, her housemate, and Meredith Grey the cat live in an apartment above shops. It's in Launceston in northern Tasmania where, as in most Australian regional cities, housing options are dominated by separate dwellings. For Ms Mitchell, the smaller, more central option suits her lifestyle as a young shift worker. "I can walk to work, which means I don't have to rely on my car, which is nice, and I find everything's here that I need as well," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/medium-density-housing-in…
# Hot topic Australia, .Older women like me are the ‘missing middle’ in Australia’s housing crisis
Maggie Shambrook The Guardian (No paywall)For many older women in Australia, secure housing remains an elusive dream. My own journey, shaped by decades of renting, highlights the stark realities of a market that prioritises wealth generation over tenant security and affordability. Born in the mid-1950s, my first home was a small van beside Myall Creek in Queensland. When I was still a baby, my parents secured public housing through sheer determination. My mother, pregnant and desperate, refused to leave her local MP’s office without keys to a government-owned house. That act of defiance granted my family 17 years in stable, affordable housing. This was part of a postwar commitment to providing homes for working-class Australians – in an era when public housing was considered an essential service.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/27/older-wome…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, Rent.