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
‘No brainer’: The new plan to help tenants with a common rental headache
Benn Dorrington realestate.com.au (No paywall)
Renters need to hand over their driver's licence, passport and other ID when they apply for a new home, but a new national trial wants to make this tiresome process easier and safer. Proving your identity can be a nightmare for renters, who often have to share some of their most sensitive information with property managers and real estate agencies every time they apply for a new home. But the federal government has launched a new pilot program with accredited digital ID providers, real estate groups and renters to make it easier to prove who you are when applying for rentals.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/no-brainer-the-new-plan-to-he…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media Australia, Rent, Starting a tenancy.Survey finds majority of Victorian renters face problems — but not nearly as many lodge a complaint
Leanne Wong ABC (No paywall)A new report has found the vast majority of Victorian renters surveyed faced a tenancy issue over a 12-month period. But only half of the affected households escalated the issue by lodging a complaint, the survey of 1,000 renters by the Consumer Policy Research Centre found. The independent think tank is launching a Renter Confidence Index in the hope that regular feedback from renters will show whether regulations are working as they should.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-22/victorian-renter-confiden…
# Hot topic Australia, Eviction, Rent.Greens plot govt home builder rebirth – Libs plan more cops on beat
David Simmons InDaily (No paywall)A multibillion-dollar spend to re-establish the SA Housing Trust as a publicly owned builder and fix a maintenance backlog that has “skyrocketed out of control”, top the SA Greens newest policy launch. While the Liberals target gaps in police frontline. The South Australian Greens would push to build 20,000 public homes over the next four years, clear out a public housing maintenance backlog, and introduce a new Commissioner to protect tenant rights, under new pre-election policy announced today.
https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in/2025/10/21/greens-plot…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.Housing in Tassie, a right or a privilege?
Airlie Ward ABC (No paywall)Adequate housing is supposed to be a basic human right - but around 18,000 Tasmanians don't have a secure home. A bit over half a million people call Tassie home, around a quarter of us rent that home. Despite government promises to boost affordable housing options and incentives to help buy, experts fear home ownership is now nothing more than a dream for many as house prices continue to rise. That's putting downward pressure on an already tight rental market and growing public housing wait list. So what can be done?
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-tassiecast/abc-tassie…
# Hot topic, Audio Australia, .Fixing housing’s a vote winner. But which fix and which voter?
Matt Wade The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)We hear a lot about Australia’s housing problems from politicians, developers, economists, NIMBYS and YIMBYS. But what about voters? What do they make of our housing affordability challenges? And which policies to fix the problem have popular support? A new deep-dive into what Australians think about housing has helped answer those questions. The study by Macquarie University’s Housing and Urban Research Centre draws on the 2025 Australian Cooperative Election Survey which interviewed about 4000 voters on a range of issues during this year’s federal election campaign.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/there-s-a-lot-of-tal…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Auditor to probe social housing fund's value for money
Zac de Silva AAP (No paywall)One of the federal government's signature housing policies is being audited amid concerns the $10 billion scheme may not be producing value for money. The Housing Australia Future Fund was set up in 2023 to help tackle a national shortage of dwellings, and aimed to build 40,000 social and affordable homes by 2028. But slow progress on the construction of new properties, along with reports that the average cost of a home under the scheme was more than $750,000, prompted the Opposition's housing spokesman Andrew Bragg to request an investigation from the Australian National Audit Office.
https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/auditor-to-probe-social-housing-…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.With Rental Registries, Cities Seek to Close Data Gap With Landlords
Patrick Sisson Bloomberg (No paywall)For 17 years, a back-and-forth battle has rippled through Pittsburgh City Hall, marked by accusations of constitutional overreach, threats to public health, and a parade of legal actions that have gone all the way to the state supreme court. The issue at hand is no hot-button culture war concern like abortion rights or gun control: It’s a rental registry, which would allow the city to keep tabs on who owns rental properties and enact regular inspections of the city’s housing stock in a bid to improve apartment quality and protect tenants.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-02/for-cities-re…
# International, .Raytown apartment complex launches rent strike, demands better living conditions
Isabella Ledonne Kansas City (No paywall)The union tenants at Bowen Tower apartment in Raytown, Missouri, have officially gone on a rent strike, withholding their payments until further notice. "Not one cent for the slumlords!" tenants chanted on Wednesday afternoon. This is the third rent strike that has happened in the Kansas City metro, demanding better living conditions and formal meetings with landlords. Elijah Brink has dealt with issues for months. Brink says he has reported consistent problems with plumbing, air conditioning and bed bugs to management, but there has been no resolution.
https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/raytown-apartment-complex-l…
# International, .