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
Most retirees who rent live in poverty. Here’s how boosting rent assistance could help lift them out of i
Brendan Coates, Joey Moloney & Matthew Bowes The Conversation (No paywall)Most Australians can look forward to a comfortable retirement. More than three in four retirees own their own home, most report feeling comfortable financially, and few suffer financial stress. But our new Grattan Institute report paints a sobering picture for one group: retirees who rent in the private market. Two-thirds of this group live in poverty, including more than three in four single women who live alone.
https://theconversation.com/most-retirees-who-rent-live-in-pover…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Australia's housing crisis is driven by lip-service, hypocrisy and an investment culture
Alan Kohler ABC (No paywall)House prices never fall very much in Australia. Even in the recessions of 1982 and 1991 they only fell 6.2 per cent, and in the past 50 years the national median price has only fallen more than 10 per cent once — 10.2 per cent after the APRA crackdown on lending to property investors in 2017, which says a lot. In total, there have been eight housing downturns since 1980 averaging 6.7 per cent, including the current one. Housing is the market that never crashes, it only gently subsides. No wonder it's beloved as an investment asset.
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/art…
# Video Australia, .NSW Government’s new Rental Taskforce to crack down on bad landlords, real estate agents
Elizabeth Pike Daily Telegraph (Soft Paywall)Renters still face being evicted for no reason, strict limits on pets, and huge upfront bond payments, with the Minns government yet to bring “long overdue” changes into effect. While rental reforms which passed parliament last year are still not in place, the Minns government has now established an $8.4 million taskforce to crack down on dodgy real estate agents and landlords. Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said inspection, audit and compliance blitzes will be carried out across the state in the coming months to hold rogue industry actors accountable.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-governments-new-r…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media, Legal significance Australia, .Politicians scramble to fix WA housing crisis ahead of state election
Courtney Withers ABC (No paywall)Three parents and seven kids crammed into a four-bedroom house with bunk beds stacked on top of each other like Tetris. This is the living situation faced by Perth mother Rebecca Nickels and her four children, who are sharing a home with her sister, brother-in-law and their three kids. While Ms Nickels waits to get into social housing, the 10 people are squashed into the small Maddington home trying to make the best of what they've got.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-07/wa-election-politicians-s…
# Must read Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.From the sublime to the cringeworthy: Tim Ross on Australia’s housing dream (and nightmare)
Kelly Burke The Guardian (No paywall)Australia’s state libraries have opened their archives to writer, TV presenter and half of the Merrick and Rosso comedy duo, Tim Ross, to feed his passion for post-second world war suburban architecture and an ongoing exploration of Australia’s obsession with home ownership. The trove of photographs the institutions unearthed became Ross’s inspiration for a series of live shows touring the country’s state libraries from next week. The Australian Dream? tour to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra trawls through four decades of homebuilding and homemaking in Australia, from the sublime to the cringeworthy.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/feb/08/from-the-sublime…
# Hot topic Australia, .Clock ticking for vulnerable inner Sydney boarding house residents facing eviction
Holly Tregenza ABC (No paywall)The clock is ticking for Richard Anderson. In the 83-year-old's room where he has spent the last decade, the fireplace mantle is still covered in Christmas cards, wedged between a collection of small toy cars and a multitude of medications. There's neatly stacked piles of loose change on his bedside table, a couch with a blanket, a couple of chairs, and not much else. It's modest, but it's home, and it is where Mr Anderson thought he would spend the rest of his life. The 28 men he shares the boarding house with on Selwyn Street in Paddington in inner Sydney chat to one another in the hallway; shoes stand ready at the door; the hills hoist out the back still has laundry on it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-31/nsw-boarding-house-reside…
# Must read NSW, Boarders and lodgers, Rent.$700 a week to share an apartment: Sydney’s student housing crisis laid bare
Nicholas Osiowy The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Sydney’s university students are facing skyrocketing accommodation costs as weekly rent at some buildings passes $700 for a room in a small shared apartment. A Herald analysis which included university-owned and privately operated accommodation found many student room rents increased by more than 35 per cent since 2019, the median rent increase for a one-bedroom apartment in Greater Sydney over the same time period. Spikes were highest among new buildings owned by private providers. A student in an apartment share at Scape Redfern pays 48 per cent more than in 2022 ($739, up from $499), while Castle One in Camperdown increased its twin room rate by 44.6 per cent to $559.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/700-a-week-to-share-an-apart…
# NSW, Share houses.Construction commences to bring vacant public homes back into use to house people in need
NSW Government (No paywall)Work has started on the refurbishing and repairing ‘The Three Sisters’ also known as the Wade Street Towers in Telopea. This will breathe new life into nearly 150 vacant public housing units that were originally set for demolition under the former Government. This comes as the Minns Labor Government ended its ‘dud-deal’ partnership with Frasers in October 2024 that would have seen the privatisation, demolition of the towers and with skyrocketing costs and lengthy delays. The refurbishment of 148 units in the Wade Street Towers is the first important step to help people in need get a safe roof over their head. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Once complete, the Wade Street Towers will provide around 240 residents a safe place to call home for the next 5-10 years while longer term renewal plans for Telopea are developed.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/construction-commenc…
# NSW, .