Rent strikers from Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood and fellow protesters gather outside Social Justices Tribunal Ontario in February, 2018. The group refused to pay rent after the landlord applied for an increase in rents.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Mass unemployment will make it a lot harder for tens of millions of Americans already struggling to pay for housing to keep their roof over their heads.
Platforms like Airbnb have been blamed for reducing the rental housing supply and pushing up rents. But investors seeking more security might now want to offer their properties to long-term renters.
A home, a springboard, or a safety net? New research finds a surprisingly large number of Australians have lived in social housing since 2000, using it in several very different ways.
Long before a fire season that destroyed 3,500 homes, more than 100,000 Australians were homeless. If only we showed the same urgency and innovation in housing them as we did for bushfire victims.
People in Atlantic Canada cities, including Charlottetown, are nervous about rising house prices as young people return and immigration fuels economic growth.
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In Atlantic Canada, leaders must avoid the mistakes made in the country’s largest cities where people are being pushed out due to high housing prices.
An aerial view of houses in Oshawa, Ont. is shown in November 2017. Canada’s minority government could result in progress on affordable housing.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
There are many winners in a scenario in which Canada’s minority government enacts stronger supports for non-profit housing. The biggest are those who would get secure and affordable homes.
The key to arresting galloping inequality in Australia comes down to housing policy and reversing spiralling housing costs.
With more than 80% of Singaporeans living in state-provided housing, the city rates well for affordability compared to Sydney, where the figure is just 5.5%.
Bill Roque/Shutterstock
A coordinated mix of policies does more to keep housing affordable for a significant proportion of a city’s residents than the unbalanced approach we see in Sydney.
Australians want greater housing choice, including affordable compact homes that are neither large detached houses nor multistorey apartments.
Markus J/Shutterstock
Australians’ need for smaller and more diverse dwellings is growing. The planning system is not providing enough of this housing, and self-serving opposition to it should be resisted.
Labor’s so-called Rental Affordability Scheme did little to make those who most needed it, but it helped landlords.
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The Earned Income Tax Credit was established in 1975 to reduce payroll taxes and help with rising prices for low-income families. Today, it could help poor families with housing.
Examples from Leeds of 1920s spacious semi-detatched homes built after the Addison Act to replace crowded slum housing.
Chemical Engineer
While governments focus on how to ease congestion and make affordable housing more accessible for workers in our biggest cities, fast rail could be a mixed blessing for regional cities.
Without off-street space, vehicle residents crowd available public parking in Seattle. May 8, 2016.
Graham Pruss
Many cities have no standard method for counting the number of people who live in their cars. This means that their issues are often overlooked in policies designed to help the homeless.
Mirvac Pavilions Olympic Park under construction. Build to rent won’t be a simple solution to fix housing affordability, but it can fulfil many other public policy objectives.
From Berlin to New York, citizens from around the world have shown that it is possible to get governments to make affordable housing a priority.
Many places overseas require developers to build a certain proportion of affordable housing, but Victoria has opted for a voluntary negotiated approach.
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People on the minimum wage can afford only 2% of private rentals and only 1% if on the pension. Affordable housing requirements are often mandatory overseas, but Victoria is relying on negotiation.
Too many Australians struggle to get their housing maintained and problems fixed.
Trevor Charles Graham/Shutterstock
Having quality housing matters. What’s standing in the way of ensuring every Australian has housing that meets basic comfort and health standards? And how can we overcome these problems?
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University