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
Huge vet bills forcing cash-strapped pet owners to make an impossible choice
Alana Calvert ABC (No paywall)Michael Clayton shudders when he recalls the night he came within a whisker of losing his best friend. It was two days before Christmas and his eight-year-old cat Frankie was in a bad way. He had been attacked by another cat and needed his eye urgently removed or he would have to be euthanised. The vet fee was almost $2,000 and Mr Clayton had no way to pay. "I begged them and begged them to do a payment plan and they said 'no'," he recalled. "My heart dropped. I did actually cry."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-22/vet-bills-leaving-pet-own…
# Must read Australia, .Data suggests few tenants return to Victoria’s redeveloped social housing estates
Jesse Thompson ABC (No paywall)Jeannie Erceg spent a decade on the public housing waitlist before being handed the keys to a three-bedroom flat in Melbourne's inner south. Her 24-year tenancy in the low-rise housing complex, surrounded by homely possessions and the coming and going of her seven children, would come to seem like a lifetime compared to the upheaval that took place next. Ms Erceg had to relocate so the complex could be knocked down and rebuilt. She had lived at an estate in Port Melbourne for just two years when she learned that it too would face the same fate. By early 2027, she will have moved three times in a decade.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-19/social-housing-data-tenan…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing.“You go to the places you don’t want to go to”: inside the rental crisis facing older Australians
Grace Lagan Honi Soit (No paywall)Rob* calls me just after his latest rental inspection, which has thankfully gone well. “The [property manager] was actually decent, they didn’t pick on having some laundry on the couch or whatever.” He’s seen the full gamut of landlords and realtors over the years. Now in his late forties, Rob has been renting since he was 19. While he’s worked on and off, the disability pension has been his major source of income since he left home. Rob is currently living in a major regional centre in Victoria. He will be renting until he gets off a social housing waitlist, which, in his estimation, may take seven to ten years.
https://honisoit.com/2025/05/you-go-to-the-places-you-dont-want-…
# Must read Australia, Rent.Victorian worker makes plea to housing inquiry while living in tent
Eden Hynninen ABC (No paywall)Anthony Rowse loves the feeling of working with his hands. The 25-year-old spends his days making skip bins for trailers and harvesting equipment near Ballarat in Victoria's west. But that sense of achievement can quickly evaporate when he goes back to Lake Burumbeet and prepares for a cold night in his tent. "The other night I caught a rat making its way into the tent," Mr Rowse said. Mr Rowse said his best mate, Ghost, a three-year-old husky-ridgeback cross, was his only companion. "I caught it [the rat] but Ghost wanted to play with it and she let it go," he said. "I found it hiding in one of my cups trying to stay warm."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-10/homeless-youth-calls-for-…
# Must read Australia, .'You'll never get another chance like this': South Australia launches new rent-to-buy scheme
Gus Macdonald 9 News (No paywall)A new rent-to-buy scheme has been announced by the South Australian government in a push to help long-term renters enter the property market. The initiative, the first of the government's state budget announcements, aims to accelerate home ownership for eligible participants. The scheme centres on newly constructed, affordable homes, such as those being built in Woodville Park. Participants will sign an intent to buy, with the property price fixed at $517,000. Renters accepted into the program will pay 75 per cent of the prevailing market rental rate, with the expectation that the remaining 25 per cent will be saved towards a deposit.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/youll-never-get-another-chance…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent.Major rule changes for millions of Aussie renters just days away
Kamilia Palu Yahoo News (No paywall)For the millions of renters around the country, it’s no secret that the market is tough — forcing some Aussies to go to extreme lengths in order to have a roof over their heads. The stress of securing a home then turns into the stress of keeping it, with landlords in NSW allowed to evict a tenant for any reason, or no reason at all. But the good news is major changes are just around the corner, providing the two million renters in the state with some relief. From May 19, new tenancy laws around evictions, pets and payment options will become operational.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/major-rule-changes-for-millions-of-aus…
# Hot topic, TUNSW in the media, Legal significance Australia, .Sunshine Coast residents forced out as approval revoked for affordable housing
Lottie Twyford ABC (No paywall)For more than four decades, Narelle Lockett called the Sunshine Coast home. She grew up not far from the region's stunning beaches and enjoyed the simple life. Over the years, she anxiously watched as the area became increasingly popular with interstate residents and house prices skyrocketed. Despite the increasingly expensive housing market, Ms Lockett said she was prepared to make sacrifices so she could stay there, including at one point spending about 70 per cent of her income on rent. But when her landlord proposed hiking that rent even further, to $700 a week, the extra $80 a week was a bridge too far.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-11/affordable-housing-projec…
# Must read Australia, Rent.‘Prison cell’: Landlord leaves bizarre list of showering rules in Adelaide rental advertisement
Alexandra Feiam news.com.au (No paywall)A rental advertisement on a local Facebook page has raised eyebrows after leaving a bizarre list of rules stuck to the tenant’s shower. The advertisement was shared on an Adelaide rental Facebook page, offering a “full-furnished” bedroom to rent, complete with amenities such as hot water and in close vicinity to the Adelaide Airport and CBD. However, some of the images accompanying the rental listing had potential renters raising their eyebrows.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/prison-cell-…
# Hot topic Australia, Rent, Repairs, Security and safety.