Briefs

There are costs to the general economy when there is a mismatch between the location of jobs, affordable housing opportunities and inadequate public transport. This Brief demonstrates that when good transport and other infrastructure connects householders to a wide range of employment opportunities, urban productivity can be enhanced.

New York city (USA) initiated a 10-year plan to build and preserve 200,000 affordable housing units so as to support households with a range of incomes, from the very lowest to those in the middle class, to create a diverse workforce that drives economic growth. Australian cities can learn from this case study as they are losing their geographically diverse, affordable housing, which may reduce productivity into the future.

Over recent decades Australia’s housing system has shown reductions in rates of affordable housing, stable tenure housing and affordable locations close to employment, all of which weaken urban productivity growth. This Brief presents policy options that can improve the qualities of Australia’s housing market, so as to improve urban productivity growth.  

This Brief introduces and summarises the concept that housing characteristics — such as a dwelling’s qualities, location, neighbourhood and price — can influence wider urban productivity growth. 

Very low supplies of rental housing in some parts of Australia have raised concerns about significant numbers of unoccupied housing as revealed by the 2021 Census, and have some local governments asking whether unoccupied housing can be redirected to the private rental market.