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.
Our main email newsletter, Tenant News is sent once every two months. You can subscribe or update your subscription preferences for any of our email newsletters here.
See notes about the Digest and a list of other contributors here. Many thanks to those contributors for sharing links with us.
We love sharing the news and hope you find it informative! We're very happy to deliver it for free, but if you find it valuable, can you help cover the extra costs incurred by making a donation?
Archive
Advocates call for better measure of poverty, saying Australia's approach falls short
Daniel Ziffer ABC (No paywall)Tamara Rhodes knows from her daily experience that she is poor — making tough choices about what food to buy, and putting off health treatment and buying medicines because she cannot afford them. But the way we measure poverty in Australia means the government probably doesn't know how much she's struggling. "When I do a grocery shop, I put everything that I need into the trolley in hopes that when I get to the register, I'm able to afford it," the mother of two says, describing watching the total cost "rack up" as the trolley empties.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-14/calls-to-measure-how-many…
# Hot topic Australia, .The Sydney street fighting to keep affordable homes – for 50 years
Sue Williams The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)A former boarding house set to be developed into a single luxury home. An old-style block of 45 studios to be demolished and replaced by 25 luxury units. A massive new building of 250–300 apartments, with only 5 per cent allocated for affordable housing. Locals in Kings Cross and Potts Point are alarmed by the erosion of cheaper housing in an area where battles for affordable homes started in the 1970s and led to the death of activist Juanita Nielsen.
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-sydney-street-fighting-…
# History NSW, .Jindabyne residents priced out as short-term accommodation booms
Isla Evans and Floss Adams ABC (No paywall)Charlie Steinbacher knows how his town changes in winter, when crowds of avid snow goers flock to the ski slopes. "Winter versus summer is like chalk and cheese," the born-and-raised Jindabyne resident said. "Our population grows almost tenfold." Jindabyne is the base town of the New South Wales ski resorts. It has a population of about 4,000 people but explodes with tourists during winter. More than 380,000 people travelled to the Snowy Mountains region between July and September in 2024 alone, according to Destination NSW.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-28/jindabyne-short-term-rent…
# Hot topic NSW, .Inner West Council narrowly approves plan to build 31,000 apartments
Ursula Malone ABC (No paywall)Labor councillors have used their numbers to push through a controversial plan to rezone swathes of residential land in Sydney's inner west to build more than 30,000 high-density apartments over the next 15 years. The Our Fairer Future Plan was passed by a single vote by the Inner West Council, with all eight Labour councillors supporting the motion and the remaining seven councillors voting against.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-01/inner-west-fairer-future-…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Leaked council email angers Clarence Valley caravan owners facing eviction
David Kirkpatrick and Bridie Tanner ABC (No paywall)A leaked email from a northern New South Wales council has caused outrage among a group of caravan owners facing eviction from four council-run parks. The Clarence Valley Council internal email included an AI-generated illustration of a series of wrecking balls being ridden by smiling and cheering workers in hard hats smashing caravans. The email was leaked amid a battle between long-term tenants of council-run caravan parks in Brooms Head, Iluka, Minnie Water and Wooli.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-30/council-email-featuring-w…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Land lease communities.As Melbourne’s public housing towers await demolition, some residents prepare to leave while others hold out
Adeshola Ore and Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)Nafisa Ali is preparing to leave behind the flat she has called home for almost 20 years. She and her husband, Mohamed, settled in one of Melbourne’s high-rise public housing towers when they arrived in Australia as refugees from Sudan. Now, the Flemington tower is one of the first five to be demolished under the Andrews-era plan to redevelop all 44 high-rises by 2051. The couple are planning to accept an offer next week to move into a nearby tower, knowing it, too, is marked for demolition in the coming years. “Then we have to start again. We have to fight again,” Ali says. “That’s what worries me. But I love this area. “We make a lot of relationships with all the people here. We celebrate together.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/29/as-melbou…
# Australia, Public and community housing.Sydney council narrowly backs controversial plan to build up to 31,000 new homes at fiery meeting
Penry Buckley The Guardian (No paywall)An inner Sydney council has voted to go ahead with a controversial plan to build thousands of high-rise dwellings during a heated meeting which saw frequent interruptions and threats to clear the public gallery. At a special meeting in Ashfield on Tuesday night, Inner West council voted to fast-track its Our Fairer Future plan, which will see as many as 31,000 homes built in the LGA over the next 15 years, for approval by the New South Wales government. Labor councillors, led by the mayor, Darcy Byrne, used their majority to endorse the plan 8-7, despite opposition from Greens, Liberal and independent councillors.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/30/sydney-co…
# Hot topic NSW, .Rental rights are gaining ground, but some parts of Australia are being left behind
Andy Kollmorgen CHOICE (No paywall)Tenancy protections have been strengthened in some states and territories in recent years, but renting remains an iffy prospect for many. Despite the gains in some jurisdictions, unfair rent hikes, arbitrary evictions and unsafe conditions are common issues affecting millions of people. Two years ago the National Cabinet – an inter-governmental group made up of the prime minister, state and territory premiers and other officials – committed to a program called 'A Better Deal for Renters'. It was a response to the increasingly precarious state of the rental market around the country, where housing shortages and high rents had become the norm.
https://www.choice.com.au/money/property/renting/articles/some-s…
# Must read, Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, .