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
‘Can’t afford Sydney’: The uni with a problem (and a plan that might fix it)
Christopher Harris The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The University of Sydney has pledged to increase its student housing offering by a third to improve access for financially disadvantaged school leavers. Its students face astronomical prices for privately run student accommodation, with market leader Scape charging $819 per week for an 18-square-metre studio in nearby Redfern. Deputy vice chancellor Annamarie Jagose said plans were underway for an additional “2000+ affordable student beds within the next five years, supporting access and equity for future cohorts” in response to budget estimates questions last week.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/can-t-afford-sydney-the-uni-…
# NSW, Rent.NSW flood victims' personal details loaded to ChatGPT in major data breach
Cathy Adams and Emma Rennie ABC (No paywall)A major data breach has exposed the private information of up to 3,000 northern NSW residents affected by the 2022 floods. The NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) said in a statement the breach occurred in March and involved more than 12,000 rows of data in a spreadsheet from the Northern Rivers Resilient Homes Program. "Personal information was uploaded by a former contractor of the RA to the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT," an RA spokesperson said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-06/data-breach-northern-rive…
# NSW, Disasters.Sydney suburbs where rents rose most over the past year
Sue Williams The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Rents have soared by 30 per cent in one Sydney suburb and by double digits in a string of others, as the cost to rent a typical property in the harbour city reaches record highs. Across Sydney, median asking rents for houses rose by 1.3 per cent over the year to September to reach a record $780 a week, the latest Domain Rent Report shows, but some prestige suburbs surged over the year.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/sydney-suburbs-where-rents-…
# NSW, Rent.Six months on NSW Rental Taskforce has recovered over $166,000 in illegal fees, issued nearly $240,000 in fines and unveils new automated compliance tool
NSW Government (No paywall)Since its establishment by the Minns Labor Government in February 2025, the NSW Rental Taskforce has recovered more than $166,000 in unlawful fees for more than 2,000 renters, issued more than 200 penalty notices totalling just shy of $240,000, and conducted 300 property inspections to check compliance with minimum standards. During that time, the Taskforce also commenced more than 300 investigations, with more than 80 currently ongoing and three court proceedings resulting in the successful prosecution of two people for rental bond fraud.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/six-months-on-nsw-re…
# NSW, .Council vote unanimously to support temporary accommodation building in Lismore
Simon Mumford The Lismore App (No paywall)There was a great deal covered during yesterday's Lismore City Council October meeting. Too much for one news story, so the Lismore App will be writing and publishing a number of stories in the coming days to give you more detail and perspective on each item. In a unanimous vote, councillors voted to approve the 58-bed temporary accommodation DA on McKenzie Street, Lismore, just east of the Lismore Square.
https://lismoreapp.com.au/NewsStory/council-vote-unanimously-to-…
# NSW, Rent.Will Labor’s housing fund recover from its rocky start and fix decades of decline?
Tom Crowley ABC (No paywall)It sounded easy enough. Labor would set up a $10 billion fund to build homes for people in need — people like a young Anthony Albanese, whose own story began in public housing. “The home I grew up in gave me and my mum so much more than somewhere to sleep. It gave us pride, dignity and security, and gave me a future,” he said when he proposed the scheme from opposition in 2021. It was personal, but also practical — Albanese and his colleagues were persuaded that the only way out of the housing crisis was to build more homes, and the Housing Australia Future Fund was the federal government’s way to play its part.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-05/labor-housing-affordabili…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.NIMBYs, YIMBYs — and BIMBYs: The new group in Australia's housing stoush
Elfy Scott SBS (No paywall)Emily Lockwood, a member of Sydney YIMBY — a group that advocates for higher-density housing under the 'Yes In My Backyard' banner — said the atmosphere at the Inner West Council chambers in Sydney on Tuesday evening was "tense". Lockwood, who sat in the front row with her children by her side, told SBS News the energy in the room was "full-on" as the council voted on a controversial housing plan that would result in up to 30,000 new homes added to the inner-west area. The council covers 25 suburbs and about 186,000 residents. Before the vote, some irate residents rallied outside council chambers, confronting the councillors who they said were preparing to "sell out" their community.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/yimbys-nimbys-and-bimbys-in-…
# Australia, .Hundreds of thousands of tenants set to benefit as long-awaited rental reforms introduced to Victorian parliament
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)Landlords and real estate agents will have to provide renters with proof to back up a bond claim and will be banned from charging fees to process rent, under long-awaited legislation to be introduced to Victorian parliament. The premier, Jacinta Allan, and minister for consumer affairs, Nick Staikos, on Wednesday announced the introduction of Labor’s latest rental reforms to parliament, which if passed would also establish a portable bond scheme the government said would benefit about 736,000 households.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/15/victoria-…
# Legal significance Australia, Bond.