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
Rental Pain still Acute in Lismore
Samantha Ellen Northern Rivers Times (No paywall)Lismore has made it into the top 5 of the Rental Pain index for September 2024 in New South Wales. And Mark Ezzat, his wife, Caroline, and their little boy, Andy, who is 2.5 years old, are the faces of the pain many renters who are moving to Lismore, are feeling when it comes to finding accomodation. “I am facing a big problem,” said Mark. “Before moving to Lismore, we were living in Tamworth and now we are currently living in a motel while we look for somewhere to live.”
https://thenorthernriverstimes.com.au/rental-pain-still-acute-in…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.Dutton throws stones, but he and Albo both live in multimillion-dollar glass houses
Sean Johnson and Anton Nilsson Crikey (No paywall)Is Peter Dutton in any position to have a dig at the prime minister for his new $4.3 million clifftop house given the opposition leader’s extensive property investments over the years? After Anthony Albanese drew a sketch of Dutton on Nova 93.7 last year that looked a lot like a potato, the opposition leader returned fire when he appeared on the station this week and drew a picture of a clifftop house, with a message beside it wishing Albo a happy (and imminent?) retirement. The prime minister’s decision last October to buy a beach house in Copacabana with his fiancé Jodie was tin-eared given the housing crisis, but it was probably impolitic of Dutton to join the pile-on given how many properties he’s owned and profited from in the past.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/01/31/peter-dutton-anthony-albane…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, .Australia is in a youth homelessness 'crisis'. These are the most affected areas
SBS (No paywall)Tyrah Chan-Hampton experienced housing insecurity throughout her youth, but it took her a long time to identify with the word 'homeless'. She entered the care sector when she was 11 and was placed in kinship care with her aunt. They experienced homelessness, lived in a refuge, and then with extended family, where she shared a bed with her sister and cousin. She said she had often felt embarrassed due to the stigma attached to homelessness and housing insecurity. "I struggled a lot with shame for a long time ... it still sometimes stings just to say it," she said.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australias-youth-homelessnes…
# Hot topic Australia, .Tenancy rights tested in Tasmania after social housing provider changes locks with cat inside
Adam Holmes ABC (No paywall)Lorraine Jordan had lived in a social housing property with her son for seven years, but when he moved out, everything quickly changed. She had turned the three-bedroom house in Launceston into a comfortable home, keeping it well-maintained and adorning it with sentimental items, family heirlooms and photos of her children. Her son was the original tenant, but Ms Jordan's disability support pension (DSP) had been factored into the overall rent payment, she had been listed as an "approved occupant" in 2017, and she did not want to move out.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-02/social-housing-tasmania-d…
# Must read Australia, Eviction, Public and community housing, Rent.VIDEO: Tasmanian social housing tenant scores Supreme Court win
ABC (No paywall)The court case came down to the definition of 'tenant', and could grant greater rights for thousands of people living in social housing across Tasmania.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-02/tasmanian-social-housing-…
# Video Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.Struggling to pay your rent? The government has just announced new financial support
Beat ()The Victorian government has announced a $15 million expansion of financial counselling services, aimed at supporting residents experiencing mortgage and rental stress across the state. The funding, to be distributed over three years among 16 organizations, will create 37 frontline service support positions. The expansion includes specialized services for First Nations communities through Aboriginal Community Controlled Organizations, as well as targeted support for primary producers and small businesses in Western and Northern Victoria.
https://beat.com.au/struggling-to-pay-your-rent-the-government-h…
# Australia, Rent.Facing the demolition of her Melbourne home, Ella gets a new flat – in another tower slated for destruction
Benita Kolovos The Guardian (No paywall)When Ella* was told that the Melbourne public housing tower she lived in was being demolished, she didn’t imagine she’d have to move into another one facing the same fate. But about a year after the Victorian government announced that her building would be among the first to be torn down as part of a plan to rebuild the state’s 44 public housing towers, she received a letter asking her to do just that. “It was a big shock,” says the single mother of two, speaking through a translator to Guardian Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/16/facing-th…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Middle-income Australians experiencing rental stress with a third of pay spent on housing, report shows
Cait Kelly The Guardian (No paywall)Even Australians on median incomes are in rental stress, a new report has found, with households on middle incomes spending 33% of their wages on housing. Last year saw the smallest annual rental increase since 2021, going up 4.8% over the year – down from 8.1% in 2023, CoreLogic’s report found. But since the onset of Covid, rents have increased by 36.1% nationally, equivalent to a rise of $171 a week, or $8,884 a year at the median level. Housing advocates say out-of-reach house prices and growing rents mean the system is in crisis. With 10,000 new people accessing homelessness services each month, they are calling for governments to introduce a cap on rent increases.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/15/australia…
# Hot topic Australia, .