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
Have you found mould in your rental? Here's what to do next
Amy Sheehan ABC (No paywall)Mould issues are one of the most common disputes in rental tenancies, according to real estate experts and tenancy advocates. Tenants Queensland receives an average of one complaint a day from tenants reporting mould issues in their homes. "It's anything from a long-time mould occurrence that they thought had been rectified to a tenant moving into a property that was previously flooded and wasn't remediated properly," says Julie Bartlett, principal solicitor at Tenants Queensland, Brisbane/Meanjin. "With the recent rains, it might be an issue at properties that haven't had the opportunity to dry out, and there's not enough ventilation." But how do you deal with a mould issue in a rental? And legally, whose responsibility is it to clean it or get rid of it?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-09/your-rights-and-options-m…
# Australia, Rent, Repairs.Australia still needs a real national housing strategy
Hal Pawson, Chris Martin Pearls and Irritations (No paywall)Labor’s capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms are a major step forward, but Australia still lacks the long-term national housing strategy needed to address social housing, rental security, energy efficiency and supply failures. The most remarkable aspect of the post-budget ruckus over the government’s proposed Capital Gains Tax reforms is surely the way that the housing dimension of the changes has – at least thus far – sailed forward with relatively little contention.
https://pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/06/labor-delivers-str…
# Hot topic Australia, .Young Australians taking desperate measures to secure rental homes in housing crisis
Madeline Grace and Nykayla Dux ABC (No paywall)These days secure employment, glowing references, and presenting well just isn't enough to guarantee a roof over your head. And in a deteriorating housing market, it's young Australians who are missing out. Young people like Madison Andersen feel forced to get creative in their search for a property to call home. The 24-year-old Queenslander said she and her partner Joshua Mackechnie, 28, "come with glowing references" and solid rental histories. Despite that, they have had more than 15 rental applications rejected in two months.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-15/young-australians-going-t…
# Australia, .Housing is health infrastructure – it’s time we started talking about it that way
Mark Chenery Croakey Media (No paywall)When the latest housing price data was released recently, much of the media coverage followed the same script. Media outlets from the AFR to the ABC splashed headlines warning of a “slump”, “values flatlining”, “shaky ground” and “sinking”. Journalists wrote lengthy articles about “headwinds”, “lost momentum”, “weakness” and “losing steam”. Through all the mixed metaphors, one thing was clear: this was bad news. But for many Australians, housing affordability is one of the biggest issues facing the country. If that is true, then surely a slowing of house price growth, or even falling prices, should be reported as good news. So what’s going on? How is it possible for journalists and editors across the country to be so completely tone-deaf to the national mood on housing? The answer lies in framing.
https://www.croakey.org/housing-is-health-infrastructure-its-tim…
# Australia, .Major reforms to WA's social housing waitlist to prioritise need over wait time
Lauren Smith and Kate Christian ABC (No paywall)Women fleeing domestic violence, rough sleepers and people facing severe hardship will no longer have to simply wait their turn for social housing under the first major overhaul of Western Australia's housing waitlist in 70 years. Housing Minister John Carey said the changes were aimed at prioritising people with "urgent and complex needs" in an effort to bump them to the top of the state's long public housing waiting list.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-16/major-reforms-to-wa-socia…
# Hot topic Australia, Domestic violence, Public and community housing, Rent.Social housing lists grow as stock fails to keep up with population growth
Lauren Pezet ABC (No paywall)Aged 71, Lynette Poole is very grateful to be living with her granddaughter. It means the disability pensioner has a roof over her head for now, but she worries the arrangement is stopping the 28-year-old from getting on with her life. "My granddaughter wants to go and have a baby with her partner, and live together and stuff like that," she said. Ms Poole is one of 69,000 people in NSW and 185,000 nationally who are on a waiting list for social housing. She has been waiting for 11 years. It has been nearly 18 months since her doctor wrote a letter urging that she be placed on a priority list due to her complex medical needs, including a chronic heart condition and diabetes.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-17/social-housing-lists-grow…
# Australia, Rent.Building more apartments won’t ease housing crisis: new research
Samantha Dunn UNSW (No paywall)Building more apartments will not solve Australia’s housing affordability crisis unless policymakers address rising house prices and investor activity, new research shows. Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being driven less by a shortage of apartments than by system-wide price pressures originating in the market for freestanding homes, according to new research. The study, published in Cities, challenges a key assumption underpinning current housing policy: that increasing apartment supply will substantially improve affordability.
https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2026/06/building-more-apar…
# Hot topic Australia, .Eviction notice for elderly Melbourne renter who disputed rent increase struck out
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)An eviction notice given to an elderly social housing tenant who disputed the validity of a rent increase has been struck out. The renter was among a group of elderly residents facing extra out-of-pocket costs after HousingFirst took carriage of several inner-east Melbourne properties, which had previously operated under a private trust called Glenloch, in 2023. The organisation said the rent increases it later issued to the portfolios' residents were necessary to maintain the properties after years of low and inconsistent rents, and it sought to handle them in a way that would minimise any impact.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-18/eviction-notice-for-elder…
# Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing.