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
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, .How bad is Sydney’s housing crisis? It’s an early sign of economic decline
Robert Pradolin The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The housing affordability issue isn’t just about intergenerational inequity: it is a warning sign of a brewing economic and social catastrophe. If we don’t fix the current crisis, it will affect us all. Research by University of Washington associate professor Gregg Colburn has demonstrated that housing market conditions – not individual circumstances, drug use, or mental illness – are the primary drivers of homelessness rates. Colburn, the author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem, has shown that the very conditions that plague Sydney – expensive housing markets and low vacancy rates – are the predictors of future homelessness crises.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/how-bad-is-sydney-s-…
# Hot topic NSW, .The renters caught in Byron Bay region’s housing crisis: ‘I feel like there’s a fire under my arse’
Royce Kurmelovs The Guardian (No paywall)Bessminda Groves is moving soon. Ever since she learned six months ago that she was likely to have to leave her current place, she has spent every day searching for somewhere new to live in Byron shire’s competitive rental market. “This is just part of what you have to do,” Groves says. “I know how long it takes to get into another space. When having to look, I really feel like there’s a fire under my arse.” According to the 2024 rental affordability index produced by National Shelter and SGS Economics and Planning, Byron Bay is one of the least affordable places to rent in the country, and surrounding towns across the shire on the New South Wales north coast are not much better.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/21/byron-bay…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Fifty rental homes to be built by 2026 for flood-affected residents
Mitchell Craig Ballina Times (No paywall)Plans for 50 build-to-rent apartments near Southern Cross University in East Lismore have been approved by the Northern Regional Planning Panel, marking progress on the Minns Government’s $30 million election commitment to address the Northern Rivers housing crisis. Lismore MP Janelle Saffin welcomed the project as a step towards filling gaps in the local housing market.“ The build-to-rent project at East Lismore is a welcome investment by the NSW Government to provide secure and affordable rental options for the Lismore community,” she said.“ Landcom’s build-to-rent project will help to fill gaps in the housing market, where there is a need for a greater mix of housing, with more smaller homes and housing suited to smaller households.“
https://timesnewsgroup.com.au/ballinatimes/news/fifty-rental-hom…
# Hot topic NSW, .