‘Disastrous’: low-income tenants priced out of newly renovated boarding houses

Elaine Macnish of the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre says boarding houses are closing for renovations and raising rents ‘significantly’ upon reopening. Photograph: Roberto Rizzi/Getty Images/iStockphoto

When a boarding house in Sydney’s inner-west was razed by arson last year, taking with it the lives of three residents and leaving eight without homes, the hope was that it would be replaced with a newer, safer version of the same low-cost community housing.

But 12 months is a long time in Sydney’s rampant rental market.