Despite a common belief that councils won’t approve tiny houses and modular and container homes, early findings from a national survey suggest planners are increasingly open to these housing options.
A new act in Canada bans non-citizens, non-permanent residents and foreign commercial enterprises from buying Canadian residential properties.
(Shutterstock)
Since foreign owners only represent a tiny segment of the housing market, it’s unlikely that Canada’s new ban on foreign homebuyers will make homes more affordable for Canadians.
Build-to-rent developments have been touted as a way to deliver affordable housing on a large scale. But, to date, the sector has not been focused on housing for people on lower incomes.
The main driver of homelessness in Australia is housing costs – post-COVID rents, house prices and interest rates are all much higher. To house everyone, the housing system needs a major overhaul.
It’s often claimed that reforming tenancy laws to better protect tenants will drive landlords out of the market, leading to fewer rental properties. A new study finds no evidence to support the claim.
In Canada, just over 10 per cent of households live in housing that is unaffordable, unsuitable or inadequate, and they cannot afford alternative housing in their community.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Halfway through its 10-year mandate to address issues like affordability and homelessness, the National Housing Strategy is providing little benefit for the vast majority of vulnerable households.
Targets of 50,000 new homes for rent at below-market rates and 1 million homes to improve affordability in general are positive steps, but the budget neglects the need to reform an ailing system.
Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology; Andrew Peters, Swinburne University of Technology; Piret Veeroja, Swinburne University of Technology, and Zoe Goodall, Swinburne University of Technology
New research shows discrimination against Aboriginal Victorians in the private rental housing market is systemic, but there are solutions.
Floodwaters wrecked Lismore resident Robert Bialowas’s house.
Jason O'Brien/AAP
The long delays in housing displaced flood victims point to the need to develop a permanent reserve of temporary housing to be available wherever and whenever disaster strikes.
The housing crisis facing Australians has been brewing for a long time. A national housing strategy guided by expert, independent and transparent advice is long overdue.
A for sale sign outside a home indicates that it has sold for over the asking price, in Ottawa, in March 2021. House prices and rents have become increasingly more unaffordable in Ontario over the past few years.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Canada’s current economic growth model is currently dependent on the conversion of housing from a human right into a financial investment tool, leading to an ever-worsening housing crisis.
In Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, housing co-operatives help both renters and those wanting to own a secure, high-quality home. Better housing options for Australia are waiting in plain sight.
Housing affordability remains a challenge in Toronto and surrounding areas, despite an increasing number of developments.
(Shutterstock)
The Ontario government has, under Doug Ford, revised policies and approaches in favour of developers. Policy reform is essential to address the growing problem of unaffordable housing.
In raising rents from social to affordable for council tenants, the cost burden for tackling the housing crisis effectively falls on those most in need.
Goldstamp | Shutterstock
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
Aboriginal housing policies should be developed and implemented in close consultation with individual Aboriginal communities.
Getty Images
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.
The pledge to build 30,000 homes over the next five years exposes the government’s inaction, but it’s still only a fraction of the number Australians need.
JobKeeper and the COVID Supplement to JobSeeker benefits will be gone in a week. The combined effect will be to halve some recipients’ incomes and the rent they can afford.
The rise of build-to-rent development will affect a lot of Australians. Despite the rosy promises, tax, design, planning and tenancy reforms will be needed to avoid the potential pitfalls.
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University
Professor of Social Epidemiology, Principal Research Fellow in Social Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Housing in Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne