The government-backed body set up to help finance social housing providers is providing longer-term, cheaper loans. What’s still missing in Australia is direct public investment in new housing.
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The Australian government has at last taken the lead in affordable housing policy with a package of measures that should attract institutional investors hungry for low-risk returns.
A modest rebalancing of federal tax policy toward build-to-rent housing could fill affordable housing funding gaps. Australian funds are already investing in such a scheme in the US.
The federal government keeps coming up with new ways to finance infrastructure, but it isn’t clear they will shift the cost or risk away from government.
The bond aggregator by itself cannot create a housing development pipeline. It needs co-investment from government to make it feasible.
In the second part of our review of what The Conversation experts have to say about housing, we focus on affordability, social housing and what government can do about a growing crisis.
The housing supply solution our leaders are advocating will only work if affordability is simply a problem of supply. In fact, Australia is almost a world leader in rates of new housing production.
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.
Scott Morrison has been exploring a UK model for channelling investment via a specialist financial intermediary into new affordable housing provided by landlords with a social purpose. It makes sense.
Top contributors
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Adjunct Professor, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University
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Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Sydney
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Professor of Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne
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Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney
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Honorary Professor – Housing Policy and Practice, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute
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Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University
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Senior Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Emeritus Professor, RMIT University
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Research Coordinator, University of Toronto
