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
Developers being forced to build affordable housing could ease rental market
Sarah Gerathy ABC (No paywall)Carrie-Ann Huddleston cried tears of joy when she showed her family through her new affordable housing unit. "The relief has been amazing," she said. "I do feel like I've won the lotto, that's how I feel." Like plenty of single women in their 50s, life's twists and turns had seen Ms Huddleston priced out of the skyrocketing Sydney rental market. She found herself bouncing between the homes of family and friends. "It has been so hard, and confronting and it's just the reality," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-09/mandatory-housing-contrib…
# NSW, .‘Poor doors’: affordable housing tenants have to use back entrance to access Barangaroo apartments
Anne Davies The Guardian (No paywall)Affordable housing tenants on discounted rent in the Watermans Residences at Barangaroo are not permitted to use the swimming pool or the gym and are required to use a separate entrance from other residents, who pass through a grand glass foyer with a concierge desk. Although they live in an enviable location just steps from the harbour and Crown casino, the restrictions are a daily reminder that the occupants of the 50 apartments designated affordable are not the same as those that occupy the other 162 units in the building known as One Sydney Harbour.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/06/poor-door…
# Must read, Hot topic NSW, .‘I am never moving out’: Why Jo’s rental could be the new Australian dream
Julie Power The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)Jo Williams always felt like she was on the receiving end of “shit landlords”. Moving into the Sydney CBD’s first build-to-rent apartment block, Indi Sydney, with her two dogs in December changed that: “It is giving you the power back as a renter, and they treat you with respect.” In contrast to short-term leases that come with insecurity of tenure, she could negotiate a lease of up to five years. Williams was among the first to move into one of the 234 apartments in 30 storeys, starting in December with a shorter lease to see if she liked it. And she does.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-am-never-moving-out-why-jo…
# NSW, .Worst Sydney suburbs to be tenant exposed
Aidan Devine realestate.com.au (No paywall)NSW’s renters are at breaking point — and the government has been accused of misplaced priorities with its expansion of first-home buyer schemes that critics say could worsen the plight of some tenants. A shock report has revealed four in five renting households across the state are now in “rental stress”, spending an unsustainable amount of their monthly income to keep a roof over their heads. This amounted to nearly 850,000 renting households across the state, according to the data from financial research group Digital Finance Analytics. Rental stress levels were particularly alarming in Sydney’s outer suburbs.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/worst-sydney-suburbs-to-be-te…
# NSW, Rent.Welcome to Barangaroo! We graciously provide affordable housing but you’re not allowed to enjoy it
First Dog on the Moon The Guardian (No paywall)Welcome to Barangaroo! We graciously provide affordable housing but you're not allowed to enjoy it. And please don't speak to any of the wealthy people. No sooking! If you wanted an apartment with a pool(s) you should have been a banking executive or some such.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/nov/10/we…
# Hot topic, Satire NSW, .The fiasco of public housing evictions
Tina Peinotto and Bevin Liu The Fifth Estate (No paywall)The fightback against the demolition and eviction of public housing tenants continues in Melbourne with a new film that chronicles the eviction of public tenants from Barak Beacon, a development with “sweeping bay views” just three kilometres from the CBD. The removal of tenants for new housing echoes a bitter fight to protect tenants at Sydney’s Millers Point nearly a decade ago, where homes were privatised. And it is now being replayed in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west.
https://thefifthestate.com.au/housing-2/new-film-chronicles-the-…
# NSW, Eviction, Public and community housing.A rusty stove sees Corrimal renter win appeal over eviction from home of 11 years
Glen Humphries Illawarra Mercury (Paywall)In May this year the Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled that tenant Ronald Archibald had to vacate the apartment owned by Cherry Agustin, where he had lived for 11 years. The ruling stated Mr Archibald's tenancy was terminated immediately and a daily rate of $48.57 be paid until the day vacant possession was given. Mr Archibald looked to challenge the eviction at the tribunal on the basis that it was retaliatory, alleging it was "as a consequence of the stance the tenant had taken in October 2024 about a rusty stove".
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/9108794/corrimal-tenan…
# NSW, Eviction, Repairs, Tribunal NCAT.Boiling every drop: families in the Kimberley still fighting for healthy homes
Natasha Clark National Indigenous Times (No paywall)In a remote Kimberley community, a mother describes how she must boil water before her children can drink it. "Good water, only for adults, not for babies. You have to boil it for babies and kids. And we have this problem, those drains, some are open," she says. Her voice is one of more than 200 heard in new research revealing how Aboriginal families across WA's Kimberley region still battle unsafe drinking water, broken plumbing and overcrowded homes - conditions which fuel preventable skin infections, respiratory illness and poor mental health.
https://nit.com.au/05-11-2025/21111/boiling-every-drop-families-…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Rent.