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
Bulldozing older units to build fewer homes makes no sense for Sydney
Megan Gorrey The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The residents of 80 small flats in a modest apartment block known as the Chimes, in the inner Sydney suburb of Potts Point, have long been as eclectic as the streets that surround them. But the 1960s building is not long for this world, and the people who call it home face an uncertain fate. Shortly before Christmas, the NSW government approved a $91 million proposal from Melbourne developer Time & Place – which is backed by billionaire James Packer – to bulldoze the ageing 10-storey building and replace it with roughly 34 apartments in a luxury development up to 13 storeys.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bulldozing-older-units-to-bu…
# NSW, .ShareSorted properties still up for rent despite being deemed 'not habitable' by NSW tribunal
Miriah Davis ABC (No paywall)With a collapsing roof, a mould infestation and holes in the ground, a tribunal overseeing Koen Schrier's rental dispute was in disbelief over how the sharehouse he lived in was considered habitable. In July, after spending weeks in a hotel, the 28-year-old from the Netherlands was relieved to find an agent who had an affordable room in Glebe available for $275 per week. But months later, he would find himself in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to challenge more than $1,600 worth of fees levelled against him for ending his contract to escape a desperate situation.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-26/sharesorted-homes-up-for-…
# NSW, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.‘Bad news for renters’: prices rise as shortage deepens
Michael West Media (No paywall)Renters received no relief in 2025 as tightening vacancy rates drove prices ever higher. Rents rose 5.2 per cent over the year, pushing the national median to $681 a week, property data firm Cotality revealed in its latest Quarterly Rental Review on Wednesday. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, renters have experienced a dramatic deterioration in affordability. The rental index has surged by 42.9 per cent over the past five years, amounting to an extra $204 per week to the median rental value, Cotality data shows. The five years prior, rents increased by just 7.5 per cent or $33 per week. After rising by 0.9 per cent in the three months to September, rents climbed 1.3 per cent over the December quarter. The re-acceleration is bad news for renters, inflation and the outlook for interest rates, said Cotality research director Tim Lawless.
https://michaelwest.com.au/bad-news-for-renters-prices-rise-as-s…
# NSW, Rent.Large-scale seniors housing plan at Tumbi Umbi amended
Coast Community News (No paywall)The Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure is now considering amended plans for a $188M multi-storey retirement village at Tumbi Umbi, proposed by Mingara Recreation Club in partnership with Pariter. Classified as a State Significant Development, the large-scale development drew substantial community debate over: the impact on the adjacent athletics facility, particularly concerning the loss of 150 car parking spaces; concerns that the multi-storey buildings would be too large and disruptive; and concerns over increased traffic and prolonged construction noise.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2026/01/lar…
# NSW, .Why We All Got Stuck In Big Cities
ABC News In-depthABC News In-depth
ABC News In-Depth ABC (No paywall)
In the 1950s three quarters of Australians were homeowners, most lived on a quarter-acre block, with a mortgage that could be covered with one income while someone stayed at home to look after the children. Nowadays, house prices have sky rocketed and younger generations largely feel locked out. So where did it all go wrong?
# History, Video Australia, .Alice Springs residents waiting 10 years for public housing while homes sit vacant
Elsie Lange ABC (No paywall)This week, Julie Coulthard was told she would have to wait 10 years for a public housing home in Alice Springs. The Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte woman said she had been on the public housing waitlist in Central Australia since 2022, when she requested a transfer from Darwin. She first requested a home in Alice Springs, before changing her application to her home community of Hermannsburg to increase her chances — a move she did not think would impact her claim.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/nt-public-housing-waitlis…
# Australia, Aboriginal renters, Rent.As Melissa’s rental swelters in Adelaide’s heatwave, she is confined to her bedroom – the only bearable part of the house
Tory Shepherd The Guardian (No paywall)When temperatures are this extreme, Melissa Fisher is trapped in her bedroom – the only bearable spot in her home in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth Vale. Fisher sweltered through South Australia’s hottest 26 January on record, with an overnight minimum of 31C. Now she faces a top of 43C on Tuesday as severe heatwaves continue across the nation. Victorians are preparing for top temperatures to break records – as high as 49C in Ouyen and Mildura. And there is an extreme heatwave warning in place for New South Wales, with some areas expected to see temperatures in the high 40s.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/27/housing-s…
# Australia, Public and community housing, Rent, Repairs, Utilities water energy internet.Improving temporary accommodation after a natural disasters
Richelle Hunt ABC (No paywall)In this edition of The Conversation Hour we explore how much prefab housing could be used as a form of temporary housing particularly in the wake of catastrophic bushfires. Also, in this program, do we need better support for renters after bushfires, do they slip between the cracks?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/theconversationhour/the-c…
# Audio Australia, .