The Grattan Institute is proposing a $20 billion fund managed by the Future Fund Board of Guardians which, if matched by the states, would fund 6,000 new places per year.
The government has long promoted the idea that we can build our way out of the housing crisis. Startling numbers of empty homes suggest the problem isn’t one of scarcity but affordability
One quarter of monitored social housing properties recorded winter temperatures below World Health Organisation standards for more than 80% of winter, new research shows.
The recently announced $250 million NSW budget boost for housing for Aboriginal people, is much-needed. It’s critical this well-intentioned investment does not repeat the mistakes of the past.
JobKeeper, the COVID boost to JobSeeker, and moratoriums on rent increases and evictions all ended this month. Only smarter policies will prevent homelessness, as a landmark Victorian report explains.
More people than expected needed help, and the states have found stable housing for less than a third of rough sleepers who were put up in hotels. A hands-off federal government simply isn’t helping.
In both London and Liverpool – two extremes of Britain’s polarised housing market – activists have been busy re-imagining the future of public housing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The spread of the virus through households creates costs higher than for isolation in hotels when families are large and living at close quarters as in Melbourne’s public housing towers.
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%.
Mismanaged and in disrepair, many low-income housing complexes are nonetheless seen as important avatars of modern architecture. But are calls for their preservation forgetting those who matter most?
Public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne have been placed under ‘hard lockdown’, with 3,000 residents confined to home for at least five days, after 23 COVID-19 cases in 12 homes.
Of 2,646 hectares of public land being prepared for sale in Victoria, 24 sites are suitable for building high-quality public housing in places of high need. Why isn’t the land being used for this?
The pandemic has brought to a head deep-rooted problems with how housing is provided in Australia. Fortunately, the solutions can play a central role in the national recovery process.
PhD Candidate, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, and Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney