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
Ombudsman weighs in on Kariong development controversy
Coast Community News (No paywall)The NSW Ombudsman is investigating claims that the Department of Housing and Industry (DPHI) published misinformation on its website regarding a controversial development at Kariong. Community group Coast Environmental Alliance (CEA) and Traditional Custodians have been campaigning to stop a housing development planned by Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC) on the site due to the ecological and cultural values of the area. The group recently took aim at the Department, claiming that information on the public planning website was “dishonest, deliberately misleading and blatantly supporting the developer”. Indigenous spokesperson for CEA, Jasmin Ertl, said the fact that the department was now under investigation was very much welcomed by the group.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/02/omb…
# Hot topic NSW, .Free Sydney support program for hoarding braces for end of funding
Myles Houlbrook-Walk ABC (No paywall)Shane Wilson knows the visceral feeling of being in a home beset by squalor. His apartment in inner-city Sydney had become overrun and close to unliveable, to the point where property managers were warning he could face eviction. "It was embarrassing, to be honest, yeah, and I was a bit depressed about it. I felt sick over it," he said. "Food scraps and that, and cockroaches, spiders." But recently they are all largely gone, and he's looking forward to doing something he hasn't been able to do for some time. "Friends are asking me, nagging me, 'Can we come over to your place?' [I said], 'Yeah, but don't [get] rowdy'," he said. Mr Wilson found that the turning point for him was a referral to a program called Making Space, which is provided by Mission Australia.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-26/sydney-support-program-ho…
# Must read NSW, Rent.‘It’s disgusting that they can get away with this’: here’s how eviction can affect tenants’ lives
Alan Morris, Joelle Moore, Thi Thanh Mai Giang and Yiran Li The Conversation (No paywall)For people relying on rental properties to keep a roof over their heads, there are few things more scary than the possibility of being evicted from their home. The paucity of official statistics makes it difficult to know exactly how common evictions are. In 2019–20, 13.8% of private renters moved due to their lease being terminated or not renewed. Besides a report or two, we know little about what happens when households face the possibility of being evicted, or are actually evicted. Our research examines these consequences. Through in-depth interviews with 53 private tenants in New South Wales and Queensland, we found these experiences negatively shaped people’s lives well into the future. Here are four themes we identified.
https://theconversation.com/its-disgusting-that-they-can-get-awa…
# Must read, TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction, Rent.Inconsistent and outdated: We must revamp rent assistance, not just raise it
Rachel Lane The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)A report released last week by the Grattan Institute has recommended a 50 per cent increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance to “lift retirees out of poverty”. The report, Renting in retirement: Why Rent Assistance needs to rise, recommends increasing the maximum rent assistance payment by $53 a week for singles and $40 for couples, and indexing the rate in line with rent for the cheapest 25 per cent of homes in capital cities. The recommendations would cost about $2 billion a year, with about $500 million going to retirees.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/inconsistent-a…
# Australia, .Quick fixes and long-term solutions to Australia's sky-rocketing rental prices
Hannah Murphy ABC (No paywall)Some of Australia’s leading minds on housing affordability say there are practical solutions within reach to rein in sky-rocketing rent prices and record-low vacancy rates. The 10th annual SGS Economics Rental Affordability Index found last year tenants in Sydney and Perth were paying more than one-third of their income towards their rent, and affordability had continued to deteriorate in other parts of the country. Housing affordability is also shaping up as a key issue in the upcoming federal election, with each major party offering their policies in recent weeks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-24/solutions-to-rental-affor…
# Hot topic Australia, .Aussies delivered brutal reality check as RBA drops interest rate for first time in four years: 'New norm'
Tom Flanagan and Belinda Grant-Geary Yahoo News (No paywall)Yahoo Finance's live coverage on a day Michele Bullock delivered her first ever rate cut as RBA governor has concluded. Australians have finally been dealt relief as the RBA dropped the interest rate to 4.1 per cent. The rate had been at 4.35 per cent for over a year. But Bullock has delivered a brutal reality check to homeowners hoping for further rate cuts – although not everyone believes she means what she says. Economists believe a mortgage war between the banks will now reignite. Westpac was swift off the mark to be the first bank to confirm it will pass on the cut, with ANZ, NAB and Commonwealth following suit.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/live-rba-interest-rate-decisio…
# Hot topic Australia, .Housing crisis top of mind for regional voters ahead of WA election
Bridget McArthur, Rosanne Maloney and Anthony Pancia ABC (No paywall)From the top to the bottom of Western Australia, housing shortages are hurting individuals and communities. Many people are saying they feel uninspired about state election promises that do nothing to change things. In the tourist town of Margaret River, 270 kilometres south of Perth, Serena Leotta cleans empty holiday homes while she struggles to find a house for her own family. "Cottages are empty for 10 days and I sit there and I think, 'Oh my god, I would love it if I could just stay here for 10 days,'" she said. The mother-of-two has been applying for rentals non-stop since her last lease was put up for sale, about 18 months ago.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-16/housing-crisis-weighs-hea…
# Hot topic Australia, .City of Moreton Bay changes definition of homelessness in local law
Kenji Sato ABC (No paywall)Maree Baumann spends her nights huddling in the back of her car with her tiny dog, but according to the City of Moreton Bay she is not a homeless camper. The Queensland council has changed its local law definitions meaning people experiencing homelessness sleeping in vans or with pets are no longer "persons experiencing homelessness camping". The council has vowed to end its "lenient" approach to homelessness and has spent the past few months evicting campers and threatening up to $8,000 in fines. However, the council insists that these are technically not evictions, they are technically not council fines and many of these people are technically not homeless campers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-21/moreton-bay-council-chang…
# Hot topic Australia, .