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
Inside the Pingers campaign
Red Flag (No paywall)If you’re as old as me (soon to be 45), you’ll remember setting up your first Hotmail account and choosing a super cool email address. Using lyrics from my favourite song (“32 flavors” by Ani DiFranco) seemed like a great idea at the time. The same goes for purplepingers, as I found out when I first met Jordan van den Lamb in a bar in Brunswick to suss out whether I wanted to lead his campaign team. He was gracious in answering the question that he’s been asked hundreds of times. It turns out that “purplepingers” was a high school gaming handle that stuck. As Karl Marx (roughly) said, the political challenge we faced was set by the circumstances we found ourselves in. As a founding member of the Victorian Socialists, I have been part of the party’s development.
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Report finds Victoria needs 80,000 new homes in next decade to start fixing social housing crisis
Harrison Tippet ABC (No paywall)Victoria must build 80,000 new social housing homes over the next decade just to catch up to the national average, according to new data released by housing advocates. The Victorian Housing Peaks Alliance today released the Growing Social Housing report, modelling the state's social housing demand and calling on the government to act. The report found Victoria needs an extra 377,000 social housing dwellings by 2051 to meet the expected total demand for social housing — the term used to describe both public and community housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-12/social-housing-crisis-vic…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Gold Coast City Council endorses fining people sleeping rough
Mark Rigby ABC (No paywall)Rough sleepers in south-east Queensland have been dealt another blow with a third local government adopting a hardline stance on homelessness. Gold Coast City Council on Tuesday voted to abandon its welfare-first approach towards people sleeping rough in public places, instead adopting a compliance-led strategy. It means people who have set up tents in parks and other council-run areas could be fined, and their belongings confiscated if they refuse to pack up and leave within a given time. Brisbane City Council and Moreton Bay Regional Council have recently adopted similar strategies.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-13/gold-coast-city-council-e…
# Australia, .Year of investor sell-off benefits homebuyers but shrinks Victorian rental stock by 24,000
Geraden Cann ABC (No paywall)Victoria lost over 24,000 rentals during 2024 — or 3.6 per cent of the state's entire rental stock — as an investor sell-off gained pace. The number of active rental bonds (a proxy for the number of rental properties in a market) fell from 674,462 in December 2023 to 649,978 in December 2024. While investors put the sell-off down to unfriendly policy and tax settings from the Victorian government, the market shift has proven a boon for homebuyers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-13/rental-bonds-victoria-inv…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Why this grand building on Sydney’s busiest street is derelict
Christopher Harris The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)It was a cheerful day in 1967 at Sydney University’s newly opened International House when the Herald visited. In its enormous atrium, students milled around under a dramatic chandelier. A lift servicing eight floors provided access to students’ rooms, which were “compact, comfortable and bright”. Almost 60 years later, the building on the corner of City Road and Cleveland Street, Chippendale, is abandoned, water pools on the floor and mould is growing on the walls, recent visitors escorted onto the property say. Chain wire fencing surrounds the perimeter.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-this-grand-building-on-s…
# NSW, .NT public housing changes "disproportionately and overwhelmingly” target Aboriginal people
Dechlan Brennan National Indigenous Times (No paywall)The NT's peak Aboriginal housing body and the opposition have criticised planned public housing reforms by the CLP government, arguing they will "disproportionately and overwhelmingly" target Aboriginal people. This week the government announced its plan to recoup $39 million in rent arrears from public housing tenants as well as fast-track evictions for people who engage in antisocial behaviour. In Parliament on Thursday, Housing Minister Steve Edgington said the CLP government would introduce several reforms to make tenants accountable. "Antisocial behaviour and unpaid rent won't be tolerated," he said. "The time for excuses and rolling out the red carpet for repeat offenders is over." The government says there are 1,422 tenancies across the full urban NT public housing portfolio, which have accumulated debts of over $10,000; the highest debt is $40,000.
https://nit.com.au/21-03-2025/16938/nt-public-housing-changes-di…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Aboriginal renters, Discrimination, Public and community housing, Rent.Crunch time for Airbnb, short-term rentals
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)A two-year ban policed by the tax office is set to hit Airbnb and the short-term rental market hard, an industry operator warns. The ban which began on April 1 this year and runs through to March 31, 2027 is overseen partly by the Australian Taxation Office, with all foreign property buyers now unable to buy established dwellings in Australia “with limited exceptions”. The ATO said “this includes temporary residents purchasing an established dwelling for use as a principal place of residence” which covers the likes of international students and contract workers, but operators fear the fallout will hit the holiday market hardest.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/crunch-time-for-airbnb-shortt…
# Hot topic Australia, .Renting has never been harder in Australia, especially in this state
Veronica Lenard SBS (No paywall)Chantel Le Cross lives alone, earns $116,230 a year before tax, and doesn’t think their income affords them a lot of choice in today's rental market. "Living alone has always been more expensive and it's always been kind of a privilege that I could even afford it," they said. "But doing it now is so much harder in terms of both financially affording it, but even just actually finding places." Research suggests they are not alone.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/renting-has-never-been-harde…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.