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
Reality of renting in Australia: Roaches, mould, fear of eviction and rent hikes
Blair Jackson The Australian (No paywall)Twenty per cent of Australian rentals have mouldy bathrooms, a new survey has found. Research from the Australian Council of Social Service and the University of NSW has found on top of the mouldy bathrooms, some 70 per cent of tenants are too scared to ask for repair work for fear of copping a rent increase. “This report validates what renters across Australia already know. Despite extensive rental laws on paper, this report exposes the stark gap between legislation and reality for Australian renters,” National Association of Renters’ Organisations spokesman Leo Patterson Ross said. “Weak oversight of rental costs, property standards and industry practices have denied renters the benefits of a safe, stable and healthy home.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/reality-of-rentin…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, Eviction.This $1 billion housing guarantee plan is being touted as 'world-leading'. How does it work?
Yashee Sharma 9 News (No paywall)A $1 billion "world-leading" and "Australian first" pre-sale finance guarantee policy is hoped to streamline more housing in New South Wales, but how exactly does it work? Treasurer Daniel Mookhey unveiled the scheme in his third budget this week, targeting the private sector to deliver more housing. The state will guarantee the pre-sale of up to 5000 apartments or units over five years for residential developments that require a certain number of dwellings to be sold before construction can begin.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-budget-2025-housing-guaran…
# TUNSW in the media Australia, .Ten-year waits and run-down motel rooms: Inside Australia's 'neglected' housing crisis
Emma Brancatisano SBS (No paywall)Australians with disability are facing a "severe" lack of affordable and accessible housing, forcing them into "precarious" living situations, advocates say. Many on fixed incomes are also being excluded from the private rental market, with waiting lists reaching up to a decade for social housing, according to a new report from the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA). "It has been neglected — the housing needs of people with disability — and it is causing enormous amounts of harm and distress," DANA's chief executive officer El Gibbs told SBS News. "People are not being able to find somewhere to live, but also being forced into houses where they may not be able to leave, move around or access a bathroom.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/ten-year-waits-and-run-down-…
# Must read Australia, Discrimination.How the housing crisis is fuelling a mental health catastrophe
Dr Ehsan Noroozinejad The Sydney Morning Herald (Soft Paywall)Every day more Australians are forced to spend a huge share of income on rent or mortgages, putting them under intense stress. In 2024, all major cities hit record rental unaffordability: the National Shelter/SGS Rental Affordability Index reports that rents have surged so much that householders on JobSeeker or basic pensions now find every market “critically unaffordable”. In Sydney the median rent is $700+ a week (30 per cent of median income) and in Perth $600+ (31 per cent). Homeownership is ever more distant, vacancy rates have collapsed, and poorer renters in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane are facing similar gaps between incomes and costs.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-the-housing-crisis-is-fuelli…
# Australia, .New limits for short-stay accommodation proposed in Whitsunday region
Meghan Dansie ABC (No paywall)Tourists in some of Australia's favourite winter holiday destinations could soon face new limits on where they stay, as local governments crack down on short-term accommodation. Changes proposed by the Whitsunday Regional Council, which includes popular north Queensland tourist hub Airlie Beach, would zone accommodation rented through companies like Airbnb or Stayz away from residential suburbs. Tourists in some of Australia's favourite winter holiday destinations could soon face new limits on where they stay, as local governments crack down on short-term accommodation. Changes proposed by the Whitsunday Regional Council, which includes popular north Queensland tourist hub Airlie Beach, would zone accommodation rented through companies like Airbnb or Stayz away from residential suburbs.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-29/short-stay-accommodation-…
# Australia, .WA's housing affordability crisis laid bare as report details pain for renters and would-be homeowners
Lily Kristanto ABC (No paywall)More than half of West Australian households consider their housing unaffordable, an increase of 91 per cent in just two years, according to a new report. This was true of both renters and those paying off a mortgage, the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) report found, with the housing market beset by multiple problems including rapid population growth, limited supply, escalating rents and construction delays. The report shows the median weekly rent in WA has increased by 76 per cent since 2020, and now sits at $740.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-12/wa-housing-and-rental-cri…
# Hot topic Australia, .'Unacceptable': The question nearly seven in 10 renters fear asking their landlord
SBS (No paywall)Almost seven in 10 private housing tenants worry about asking for repairs in case they face a rent increase. A survey of more than a thousand renters across Australia has also found a third would be unable to afford a 5 per cent increase on what they're currently paying. Half the respondents live in homes that need repairs, and one in 10 need them carried out urgently. Conducted by the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), University of NSW, Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, National Shelter and the National Association of Renter Organisations, the study is the 26th published by the advocacy network.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/renters-fear-asking-landlord…
# Research alert Australia, Repairs.‘Not the main problem’: Unexpected response to the ‘Robin Hood of renters’
Natalie Brown news.com.au (No paywall)Few figures are more synonymous with Australia’s ongoing housing crisis – or more polarising – than Jordan van der Lamb. A fierce critic of the real estate industry, the so-called “Robin Hood of renters” and socialist politician has attracted a hundreds-of-thousands-strong audience across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok under the moniker PurplePingers. Unlike the heroic outlaw after whom he’s been nicknamed, Mr van der Lamb does not advocate for anyone to steal from the rich. He does, however, encourage those in need of shelter to squat in their “vacant” properties. He has created an entire database of such homes across the country.
https://www.news.com.au/national/not-the-main-problem-unexpected…
# Hot topic Australia, .