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Long-term housing futures for Australia - using 'foresight' to explore alternative visions and choices

Summary

Project Number: 50225
Research Theme: Economics_Modelling
Project Leader: Burke, Terry
Funding Year: 2003
Research Centre: Swinburne-Monash

Research & Policy Bulletin

Issue 076: Long-term housing futures for Australia: using 'foresight' to explore alternative visions and choices

Policy choices now: Exploring the range of future scenarios for housing in Australia

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108 KB PDF Document

Description

This 'futures study' identifies a small number of scenarios about the Australian housing system in 2025. The project is not one which presents evidence-based research in the conventional sense, but is designed to encourage us to think outside the square. The research process comprised three integrated workshops with a range of research, policy and practice experts. The workshop facilitator felt the capacity of the amassed experts to think laterally was quite limited - raising general capacity building issues for research, policy and practice.

The key findings of the research are:

• Political leadership, co-ordinated across all levels of government, will be needed to build new institutional arrangements and policy settings to help deliver the best and avoid the worst case scenarios for Australia's housing system in 2025.
• The background status of housing policy means a 'housing crisis' is likely before such political leadership will be apparent (e.g. social unrest in areas of disadvantage).
• A hallmark of the new institutional arrangements and policy settings is that they will connect to rather than substitute for the housing market.
• Economic growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition of the best case scenario in 2025. Explicit housing and urban policy goals will be needed to ensure positive housing and urban outcomes, despite strong economic growth.
  

More Information

Research and Policy Bulletin: Issue 076: Long-term housing futures for Australia: using 'foresight' to explore alternative visions and choices
108 KB PDF Document

Final Report: No. 077: Long-term housing futures for Australia: using 'foresight' to explore alternative visions and choices
1.63 MB PDF Document

Positioning Paper: No. 073: Long-term housing futures for Australia: using 'foresight' to explore alternative visions and choices
2.3 MB PDF Document