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
North coast caravan park residents face homelessness amid crackdown on leases
Charles Rushforth and Cathy Adams ABC (No paywall)In 2016 military veteran Roger House used his life savings to purchase a holiday van at Minnie Water Holiday Park. On March 15 his lease was terminated by the Clarence Valley Council, giving him 120 days to vacate. He is now facing the prospect of having nowhere to live. "The prices of rentals these days … you can't get a decent place to live on your superannuation and your pension," Mr House said. "I'll be homeless. I've got no family close by where I can go and live. "What am I going to do, pitch a tent?"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/clarence-valley-council-h…
# Hot topic NSW, Eviction, Land lease communities, Rent.Former WestConnex sites spark debate over inner city Sydney's affordable housing
Ursula Malone ABC (No paywall)The NSW government has ruled out setting aside three former WestConnex tunnelling sites in inner-city Sydney for social housing. The prize parcels of government-owned land are at the centre of a political tug-of-war, with the Greens arguing they present a "golden opportunity" to provide much-needed housing close to the city for those on low incomes. Inner West Greens councillor Izabella Antoniou lives in Ashfield and passes two of the vacant sites every day on her way to the bus stop. "It feels like such a waste to have them sitting there," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/westconnex-sites-debate-i…
# Must read NSW, .The NSW university that wants to halve students’ rent
Christopher Harris The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)The head of the University of NSW has vowed to double its student housing and offer it at half the cost of some private providers in a bid to make the institution accessible to poorer students. UNSW vice chancellor Attila Brungs has unveiled a 10-year strategy titled “Progress for All”, containing principles to guide the university’s teaching and research focus and a new campus infrastructure masterplan, which includes doubling the number of university colleges.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-nsw-university-that-want…
# Hot topic NSW, Rent.The NSW housing shake-up that will change nearly 3 million lives
Frances Howe The Sydney Morning Herald (No paywall)The NSW government has announced that from May 19, its reforms including an end to no-grounds evictions and more rights for tenants with pets will come into force. The reforms, announced in October, are the result of long-awaited promises by successive Labor leaders. Following caps on the frequency of rental increases which came into effect last year, Premier Chris Minns said the changes will cater to more than 2.2 million renters in NSW. The state also has at least 600,000 landlords. “Today we are letting renters and owners know these major changes will begin in under two months’ time,” he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-nsw-housing-shake-up-tha…
# Legal significance, New policy announcement NSW, Eviction, Rent.Big changes for renters in NSW to come into effect in May
7 News (No paywall)A raft of changes will soon come into effect for renters in NSW, which will ban no grounds evictions and allow tenants to apply to keep pets regardless of lease conditions.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&ur…
# Legal significance, Video NSW, Eviction, Rent.Experts on how tidy your rental property's garden needs to be at the end of a lease
Amy Sheehan ABC (No paywall)Every week, Melbourne/Naarm-based handyman Brent Aitken tidies up about half a dozen rental gardens and lawns as tenants prepare to vacate. He's been doing this sort of work for two decades and says he often gets calls from tenants or property managers to attend to specific things. "They don't want to see a weed in the garden beds, in pathways," he says. "Generally, on a house block, they want to see the lawns edged and mowed, all the pruning up to date." Mr Aitken says people are spending hundreds of dollars on professionals to tidy rental gardens, worried they're not going to get their bond back.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-20/rental-gardens-end-of-lea…
# Must read Australia, Bond, Rent, You want to leave.The push for more co-operative housing
Bronwen O'Shea ABC (No paywall)Housing co-operatives are a community-led form of social housing run by the people who live in them. Residents can be renters or they can have a stake in the co-operative's equity, and advocates say they could be part of the solution to Australia's rental crisis.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/cooperative-h…
# Audio Australia, Rent.Land Council calls for federal intervention on proposed NT social housing reforms
Dechlan Brennan National Indigenous Times (No paywall)Proposed social housing reforms in the Northern Territory have continued to be criticised, with one of the country's largest land councils calling on the federal government to get involved. This week, the CLP government announced plans to recoup $39 million in rent arrears from public housing tenants as well as fast-track evictions for people who engage in antisocial behaviour. It comes after they introduced the NT Government's Remote Rent Framework earlier this year, which sees the public housing model shift from an income-based arrangement to a $70 per-bedroom model —the only jurisdiction in the country with this arrangement. The NT currently has a public housing waitlist of almost 6,000 people, with a homelessness rate 12 times the national average.
https://nit.com.au/21-03-2025/16943/land-council-calls-for-feder…
# Hot topic Australia, Public and community housing, Rent.