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
The Guardian view on the planning bill: new towns must be for people who need them
The Guardian (No paywall)The planning and infrastructure bill published on Tuesday is both a declaration of intent and a show of strength by the government. Rightly recognising how much is at stake politically, particularly with regard to younger voters frustrated by high housing costs, ministers have made up their minds to help them. Decision-making will be streamlined and development corporations empowered. Once the law is changed, councils and landowners will find it harder to stand in the way of what ministers regard as progress.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/11/the-guardi…
# International, .Robots build full-scale 3D-printed homes in 24 hours
CBS News (No paywall)California company "Azure Printed Homes" wants its 3D printing technology to help speed up the wildfire recovery efforts in the Los Angeles area. Its robots can print full-scale homes in 24 hours. Danya Bacchus reports.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/robots-build-full-scale-3d-printed…
# Video International, Disasters.‘A huge win’: Victoria passes ban on no-grounds evictions for renters
Orana Durney-Benson Domain (No paywall)Landlords in Victoria will no longer be able to evict tenants without good cause, after state parliament passed new rental reforms. The raft of changes passed in Victoria’s Upper House today, spelling the end of no-grounds evictions and rental bidding in the state. Under the new legislation, landlords in Victoria cannot end a fixed-term or periodic lease without sufficient grounds. Landlords are also banned from soliciting or accepting higher rents than the amount publicly listed – a practice known as rental bidding.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/a-huge-win-victoria-passes-ban-on…
# Must read, Legal significance, New policy announcement Australia, Eviction, Rent.Harvey has serious health conditions and needs surgery. His landlord has served him a 'no-grounds' eviction
Rudi Maxwell SBS (No paywall)When Noongar man Harvey Coyne, 66, finally found a home after years of experiencing homelessness he was overjoyed. Harvey, who has a range of serious health issues including heart problems, emphysema and vision impairment, was given a placement with social housing provider Housing Choices Australia in Perth, where he has lived for the past four years. However, Housing Choices now wants Harvey to vacate the premises - and have served him with a 'no-grounds' eviction notice, which the not-for-profit is prepared to contest in court. Denise Belotti said her friend Harvey is vulnerable. "He's frail, he takes daily medication, maybe about 15 tablets daily," she said. "He's got a broken hip at the moment and he's coming up for a triple [heart] bypass.
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/harvey-has-a-serious-heart-c…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Eviction, Rent.‘Vulture’: Property investor eyeing cyclone Alfred hit zone trolled
Sophie Foster realestate.com.au (No paywall)Cyclone Alfred hasn’t made landfall on the Aussie coast yet but that hasn’t stopped property investors asking where they can cash in – and getting trolled for it. It’s no secret that despite record prices since the pandemic and a history-making once-in-a-generation cyclone set to hit South East Queensland, investors continue to see the entire region as one of the hottest prospects to get the best return on their dollar. But even investors, it seems, have limits on what they will tolerate when communities are in trouble.
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/vulture-property-investor-eye…
# Hot topic Australia, Disasters.Changing Australia: Dr Michael Fotheringham on finding ways to fix Australia's housing crisis
ABC (No paywall)When Dr Michael Fotheringham was a renter, he was evicted because the owner wanted to sell. Another house nearly put him in hospital with repeated mould induced chest infections. Michael originally worked in health promotion and as he shifted to non-profit organisations and working with vulnerable communities, he soon realised the critical role poor housing was playing on health and wellbeing. His experiences led him to a career running one of Australia's key housing research institutes and advising politicians and governments in Australia and overseas on the realities.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/c…
# Audio Australia, Rent.How Australia’s housing market spun out of control — and what we can do to fix it
Michael Janda ABC (No paywall)Margaret Lomas’s property odyssey began with a small step — a first unit in Sydney’s Cabramatta. “I can’t say there was anything I loved about that unit,” she recalls of the two-bedroom flat in an outer-suburban brick walk-up block. “I didn’t buy it because I loved it, I bought it because at the time it was in my price range. We paid $28,000 for that unit.” That was back in 1980, when Lomas was 20. Now in her 60s, Lomas and her husband at one point owned more than 40 investment properties.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-09/property-prices-investors…
# Must read Australia, .Share housing can be great for the budget, you just need to find the right match
Anna Chisholm ABC (No paywall)Brody Thiele is a social person who's "never really wanted to live alone". The 31-year-old social media producer says share housing also has the obvious benefit of cheaper rent. "Solo living in Sydney? I don't know how people could do that." It's long been a rite of passage for young Australians looking to fly the nest, but amid worsening rental affordability, share houses look to be further in demand. According to CoreLogic's more recent rental review, rents have increased by 36.1 per cent in Australia since the start of COVID-19.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-08/share-house-living-tips-f…
# Hot topic Australia, Share houses.