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
Homelessness: Working in a Broken System
Charlie About Time (No paywall)I support a number of clients – individuals, couples and families – who are experiencing homelessness. Like so many others in this field, I entered this work because I care deeply about people and community. I recognise that many of those I support have been dealt difficult cards, through circumstances entirely beyond their control, that make it far harder to “succeed” in modern society. While the core objective of my role is to help people secure housing, the reality is far more complex. I’m also managing risk, safeguarding and, at times, talking people off the ledge. It’s gut-wrenching to witness people you’ve come to care about, people you’ve built trust and connection with, in profound distress… grappling with suicide, violence, grief and loss.
https://www.abouttime.org.au/experiences/homelessness-working-in…
# Must read Australia, .Couple on $200k living in social housing
Blair Jackson Yahoo News (No paywall)The Queensland government is cracking down on the income of social housing tenants, as figures reveal people earning far above income thresholds are benefiting from subsidised housing. “Labor turned a blind eye for years,” Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said on Monday. “They stopped checking if people still qualified for social housing, and they let rent reviews fall by the wayside. “It’s unbelievable they let people on six-figure incomes stay in social homes for years while others in urgent need were left on the social housing waitlist.” Information released by the state government on Monday showed a small number of notable rorts were being carried out by social housing tenants.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/unbelievable-crackdown-housing…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.Alan Kohler on making housing a bad investment
ABC (No paywall)Interest rates might be coming down, but house prices are heading in the other direction, once again. Given there is a major problem with housing affordability and there are so many people who can’t even afford to enter the market, who keeps pushing up prices? Today, the ABC’s finance expert Alan Kohler on why history is repeating and conditions are ripe for a housing price surge like that in the early 2000s. He explains why housing really needs to become a bad investment.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/alan-kohle…
# Audio Australia, .No ‘Suitable’ Housing For Parole
Zachary About Time (No paywall)I’ve now spent 4 years in prison for petty drug and property crimes. Completely my fault. But I am trying to make true change and stop this prison cycle. I do not have any family or friends in the Brisbane area, so I’ve decided to return to Far North Queensland, where I have family around the Cairns and Cooktown areas. Unfortunately, the parole board have deemed my father’s address as unsuitable without explanation. This was my only address option, and I am at risk of spending the remaining 2 years of my sentence in custody instead of on parole where I should be just because of an address technicality. It feels really unfair, especially as I have a son outside of prison who will have to undergo intensive brain cancer treatment without my support as long as I’m here.
https://www.abouttime.org.au/letters/no-suitable-housing-for-par…
# Must read Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Tenancy laws are changing – a spotlight on pets
Marrickville Legal Centre (No paywall)On 19 May 2025, new pet laws came into effect for residential tenancies. Tenants now have the right to request permission to keep pets in their tenancy premises. Can the landlord advertise that a pet will not be permitted in a tenancy? No, a landlord must not do this. Does a tenant have to ask for consent to keep a pet? Yes, unless you have an ‘assistance animal’. Consent is not required for an assistance animal. Assistance animals are specially trained to assist a person with a disability. It is important to seek legal advice to see if your animal is an ‘assistance animal’ in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).
https://www.mlc.org.au/www-mlc-org-au-tenancy-laws-are-changing-…
# Must read NSW, Pets.The NSW floods were bad enough. But then came the mould, and getting rid of it in winter is ‘almost impossible’
Kate Lyons The Guardian (No paywall)Nadia Zarb can already see, and smell, the mould in her art gallery in Taree. The building on Victoria Street was inundated during flooding that hit the Hunter and mid-north coast of New South Wales at the end of May. Water filled the storage space below ground, the art supply store on the ground floor, and the loft exhibition space, reaching to just below Zarb’s home on the top level. Water and mud still lies thick on the lower levels while her property is now filled with spores.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/08/the-nsw-f…
# Must read NSW, Disasters, Rent.Woman who lost money to real estate agent Sarah Dougan welcomes fraud sentencing order
Elloise Farrow-Smith and Cathy Adams ABC (No paywall)A woman who lost money in a Byron Bay real estate fraud case has vowed to be in court when the real estate agent responsible is sentenced. Now living in the United States, former Belle Property Byron Bay director Sarah Dougan lost her appeal to be sentenced remotely after pleading guilty to charges of fraud. The Supreme Court has ordered Dougan to return to Australia. "I am a firm believer that if you commit a crime, then you should pay for it," Robyn Quickenden, a former nurse, said. "I want to look her in the eye."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-07/former-byron-bay-real-est…
# Hot topic NSW, .Community gathers to protest wetlands development
Coast Community News (No paywall)Around 100 concerned residents gathered outside Woolworths in Gosford on Saturday, June 7, to protest a proposed development at Kincumber. The development site, on the Kincumber Wetlands, is owned by Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC), which is investigating leasing the land to Woolworths as a site for a new supermarket and car park. Founder of the Save Kincumber Wetlands Facebook page, Sue Chidgey, said despite strong winds and cold winter air, community members turned up with signs, banners, and a clear message: development should not come at the cost of nature. Among the participants were ecologists, conservationists, local business owners, and residents from aged care homes – all of whom say the wetlands are a very special and much-needed sanctuary in an already heavily built-up area.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/06/com…
# Hot topic NSW, .