A socially sustainable housing system (Investigative Panel)
Summary
This Investigative Panel explored the question of how to achieve a more socially sustainable housing system. The panel mirrored a Taskforce coordinated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (UK) on the same issues.
Project Number: 30637
Research Theme: Home_ownership, Private_rental, Public_and_Community_housing, Economics_Modelling
Project Leader: Berry, Mike
Funding Year: 2010
Research Centre: RMIT
Description
The project drew together a panel of experts from Australia and the UK to consider how a more socially sustainable housing system could be achieved in Australia. The panel observed that the current Australian housing system was poorly placed to deal with immediate and longer-term challenges. They noted that affordability was declining and housing supply was constrained. Meanwhile, the traditional public housing model and the private rental sector were failing to deliver adequate low-rent housing.
The panel concluded that there are real constraints to creating a sustainable and desirable housing system due to current market failures and policy fragmentation. The current urban form remained problematic and further impacts from the global financial crisis (GFC) can be anticipated. There are also embedded inequalities in income and wealth which impact perversely upon housing outcomes.
The panel agreed that:
- finding new sources of finance was important, particularly with regard to institutional/private sector finance for social housing,
- if it was underpinned by a safety net, the home-ownership market would ensure greater stability and security, and
- reviewing housing taxation and transfers could provide a way of securing a more efficient and effective housing system.
More Information
Final Report: No. 169: Investigative Panel on a socially sustainable housing system for Australia
424 KB PDF Document
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