In both London and Liverpool – two extremes of Britain’s polarised housing market – activists have been busy re-imagining the future of public housing.
Analysis of online listings on common online platforms shows even modest reductions in Airbnb listings increased supply of longer-term rentals. The result was lower local rents.
The shortfall of social housing has built up over decades. Even after the building program is complete, the gap between housing supply and the numbers on waiting lists will still be huge.
Current housing stimulus measures aim to boost buyer demand and are too small to sustain a recovery. A second round of stimulus is likely to be needed, and it should go into social housing supply.
Donald Trump has accused the Democrats of wanting to “abolish” and “destroy” the suburbs through a regulation aimed at diversifying housing, a claim unsupported by the facts.
The fallout from COVID-19 for housing and homelessness just adds to the urgency of fixing the long-standing ills of the housing market. The well-being of Australia’s economy and people depends on it.
The redevelopment of public housing and the introduction of private accommodation can leave the original tenants feeling worried they’ll be living in a neighbourhood they hardly recognise.
Ghettos of crime, drugs and vice? Full of people bludging off the state? That’s typical of the unfair stigma attached to public housing, and it distracts us from more fundamental issues.
Older women have been the fastest-growing group of homeless people in recent years. New research shows about 240,000 women aged 55 or older and another 165,000 women aged 45-54 are at risk.
If more people work from home and shop online, many commercial buildings won’t be needed any longer. What will be needed is affordable housing, and these buildings can be converted to meet this need.
Voters who own housing are strongly invested in increasing the value of their wealth-generating assets. And they strongly favour the Coalition, which knows to protect their interests.
The hard lockdowns of whole blocks have been challenging for many residents due to their histories of trauma, their housing conditions and a lack of communication and understanding from authorities.
Much of our public housing stock is ageing and substandard. But we can learn from outstanding examples of retrofit projects that have transformed existing blocks into high-quality housing.
Public housing renewal often aims for a 70:30 private-public mix of dwellings. Modelling shows applying this mix to Waterloo housing estate would cut the suburb’s social housing share from 30% to 17%.
Most local councils, developers and nonprofit providers want mandatory affordable housing requirements applied to all development. The current system of voluntary negotiations just isn’t working well.
Australia has managed to house the homeless in hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic. We now have an opportunity to be thinking about longer-term solutions.
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University