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
What Australians now expect from landlords
Amy Hall SBS (No paywall)The high cost of keeping their homes at a comfortable temperature is, according to new research from Energy Consumers Australia (ECA), driving millions of renters to avoid it altogether. ECA's latest Consumer Energy Report Card, released on Thursday, found that 70 per cent of a poll of 1,428 renters nationwide were avoiding heating or cooling their homes to save money. At the same time, two in five (40 per cent) of those polled said they couldn't afford to keep their home at a comfortable temperature on hot days without using a lot of energy. For cold days, the national figure was 32 per cent.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/what-australians-now-expect-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Is unaffordable and poor quality housing the new norm?
Grace Pashley ABC (No paywall)If you're over 50, new research shows that unaffordable and poor quality housing is getting in the way of living a dignified second act. And whether you make payments to the bank or another home owner it doesn't really matter, houses that are affordable and in good condition are in the minority.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/is-unaffordab…
# Audio Australia, .Community housing provider HousingFirst defends dual rent rises on newly acquired properties
Andi Yu ABC (No paywall)David Phillips used to run general stores in remote Northern Territory communities and spend his spare time sailing a yacht off the Arnhem Land coast. The 78-year-old's adventurous life seems a world away from his tiny community housing studio in Melbourne's south-east. He chose to live at Glenloch Homes about nine years ago because the cost was manageable on his aged pension and allowed him to live independently, despite a chronic back injury. He liked that Glenloch was a private trust with charity status where residents were invited to annual general meetings and rent only increased a little with inflation each year.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-05/housing-first-defends-dua…
# Australia, Rent.Housing crisis taking a toll on caravan park owners in WA's South West
Madigan Landry ABC (No paywall)Caravan park owners say they are copping the brunt of the housing crisis, as those on the brink of homelessness turn to these facilities as a last resort. Owners have spoken to the ABC about the emotional toll of turning desperate people away and dealing with anti-social behaviour from some long-term residents. Greg Homer has run the Waterloo Village Caravan Park on the outskirts of Bunbury, 160km south of Perth, with his family since 2011. Mr Homer said, while he found running the park fulfilling, the demand for accommodation he faced on a daily basis was overwhelming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-05/housing-crisis-has-impact…
# Australia, Land lease communities.Woolworths and Coles to energy, rent and housing: The 5 years that changed Australia
Tarric Brooker Yahoo News (No paywall)Since the Covid pandemic first arrived in Australia more than half a decade ago, the nation’s cost of living has at times seen the largest and swiftest rise in over 30 years. Prior to the pandemic the RBA dropped interest rates again and again for over eight years, as they tried to bring the rate of inflation up to sustainably sit within it’s 2 per cent to 3 per cent target range.
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/woolworths-and-coles-to-energy…
# Australia, Rent.'Somebody needs to explain': Border braces for waves in its rental market
Hana Humboldt The Border Mail (Paywall)Border estate agents have been told the NSW rental sector is facing changes predicated on addressing "a crisis in deterioration". Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin used the description during training sessions held at Albury's Commercial Club. The conference, run on the mornings of Monday, December 8, and Tuesday, December 9, were to provide essential updates on "quite wide-reaching changes" for Border real estate professionals, including sales agents and property managers. A key feature of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Regulation 2025, which came into effect on May 19, 2025, includes the outlawing of no-grounds evictions, bringing it in line with similar legislation south of the border.
https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/9129658/nsw-gov-reforms-for-…
# NSW, .Aussie renter calls for major landlord change amid national shift: 'Doesn't make sense'
Joe Attanasio Yahoo News (No paywall)As renting becomes the norm for more Australians than ever, tenants are calling for stronger, more empathetic relationships with their landlords. Nikki, 27, a long-term renter in Southern River, Western Australia, said responsiveness and understanding matter just as much as affordability. She is one of a growing number of Australians struggling with soaring rental prices, a problem she said hits single parents hardest. "I know not all people are big fans of it, but I’d like to see more rent freezes or caps," she said in an interview with Yahoo News.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-renter-calls-for-major-landlord…
# Australia, Rent.The kindness of strangers: I couldn’t afford a pricey hotel, then a student let me sleep on her dormitory floor
YiZhong Zhuang as told to Katie Cunningham The Guardian (No paywall)ack in 2006, I went to Canberra for a medical school interview. I figured I would book accommodation when I arrived but when I arrived, there was a big convention in town and all the backpacker hostels and budget accommodation were fully booked. Coming from Singapore, I thought perhaps I could just sleep at the airport – but quickly found Canberra airport, unlike Singapore’s, was not open 24 hours. Not knowing quite what to do and getting a bit desperate, I caught a bus into town, then started wandering towards the casino, thinking I might spend the night in a place that was open all night.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/08/kindness-of…
# Australia, .