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
A billion-dollar dirty secret: Homes hide ‘worst conditions you can imagine’
Carrie Fellner The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)For young Australians in the prime of their lives, it’s a cherished rite of passage delivering them their first taste of freedom and independence. But when Sydneysider Ella* moved into shared accommodation in 2023, she was catapulted into a powderkeg from which there is no escape. Superficially, her home – in one of the legions of new builds that have sprung up across western Sydney – appears pristine. But behind closed doors, there are the nauseating smells; shrieks and screams; smashed walls and, sometimes, extreme violence, which have become Ella’s harsh new reality.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-billion-dollar-dirty-secre…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Norrie wanted this unit to be her ‘forever home’. Now, she has to move
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)More than 100 tenants have been handed eviction notices warning they must move within months to make way for the first stage of the $4 billion overhaul of the Waterloo public housing estate. Vulnerable residents have since 2015 battled the state government’s plans to tear down about 750 public housing properties on the sprawling estate in Sydney’s inner south, and replace them with 3000 new homes, about half of which will be private apartments, near the new metro rail station.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/norrie-wanted-this-unit-to-b…
# Must read NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent.Sydney renters at risk of eviction
7 News (No paywall)Sorely needed rental reforms giving tenants stronger protections are now just weeks away. But for some, it's too little, too late. 7NEWS has obtained troubling new data, revealing just how much tenants are being exploited by dodgy behaviour.
# TUNSW in the media, Video NSW, Eviction, Rent.My ex-landlord was dodgy, so I went the extra yard to warn the next tenant
Belinda Lopez The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)A few weeks after I vacated my mouldy, poorly constructed, roach-infested rental in Sydney’s inner west, I drove back to the house with a letter addressed to the new tenant. I’d been keeping an eye on a real estate website to see when it was rented again (and enjoyed gleeful schadenfreude when the house took a number of weeks to lease after the landlord tried to hike up the rent). “Dear new tenant,” I wrote. “As a former tenant at this address, I wanted you to be aware of the building’s history to help you better advocate for yourself. I’ll list these briefly in bullet points. Quotes in italics were sent to us by the landlord’s real estate representative”.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/my-ex-landlord-was-dodgy-so-…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Cost of living and housing: key voting issues for NSW in upcoming election
Fiona Willan, Ruby Ritchie, Charles Rushforth, Eddie Williams, Adriane Reardon, Madeline Lewis & Andrew Mangelsdorf ABC (No paywall)As a parent watching his adult children struggle to enter the property market — Sydneysider Eric Betts hopes whichever party wins the upcoming federal election will focus on fixing the problem. "A key issue is housing prices and housing affordability … it's tough. Even to rent, it's hard." Mr Betts is a home owner but feels concerned for younger generations. "It doesn't bring me any joy … my kids and my friends' kids are having trouble finding housing in Sydney where they want to live." Voters from across New South Wales are being encouraged to voice their concerns leading up to the latest federal election in the ABC's Your Say campaign.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-28/abc-your-say-campaign-fed…
# Hot topic NSW, .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.