Housing standards in Australia have slipped behind the rest of the world. But momentum is growing to revive past ambitions to build the best homes we can.
Will Gwynne walks through one of the nine Melbourne estates that is being sold in the public housing ‘renewal’ program.
David Kelly
The problem with most public housing ‘renewal’ programs is that the residents have the least say in what happens to the places they call home. The evidence of housing research is also being ignored.
New South Wales is the state that has suffered the biggest fall in available public housing stock since 2009. This has led to protests.
Teresa Parker/AAP
Although the federal-state agreement does it inadequately and lacks transparency, an enduring program of federal funding for operational expenses is essential to sustain the social housing system.
Any attempt to improve security for tenants should not deprive them, or their landlords, of the flexibility that many also want.
David Crosling/AAP
Any attempt to improve security for tenants should not deprive them, or their landlords, of the flexibility that many also want. The key problem is landlords’ ability to give notice without a reason.
The homeless people evicted from Flinders Street in Melbourne’s CBD are only the tip of the iceberg of the housing crisis in Victoria.
Joe Castro/AAP
Weak state policies, which lack clear targets and mechanisms for providing more and better affordable housing, are part of the problem. Victoria still doesn’t have an affordable housing strategy.
On current trends, renters will eventually outnumber home buyers, representing a fundamental shift in how the economy and wealth generation work.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Generation Rent may force a complete rethinking of home ownership as a basis of our housing systems. Rather than representing security, these housing markets make us vulnerable.
To understand how households cope, we may need to look beneath broad patterns of affordability to the interplay of housing costs with other problems.
IDuke/Wikimedia Commons
Housing affordability is often not the only problem households face. More often the compounding effects of multiple problems leave people unable to cope, which is why one solution won’t work for all.
There has been a continuous wave of planning reform over the last ten years in Australia, and dwelling approvals in some cities are at long-term highs.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
To tout new housing production as the only solution to rising house prices, without examining the question of demand, is an ineffective policy position.
Without substantial financial assistance many NDIS participants would struggle to find affordable housing to move into.
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Shared ownership schemes can unlock access to suitable housing, although these are less common in Australia than overseas. And most are not specifically tailored for people with disability.