News

The Productivity Commission’s newly released review on the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) has found the Agreement to be ‘ineffective’ and that there should be focus on ‘improving the affordability of the private rental market and the targeting of housing assistance’. As such, the Commission considers that the NHHA ‘should be expanded to include all government-provided housing assistance including Commonwealth Rent Assistance and first home buyer assistance.’ This finding, together with many of the recommendations in the report, is consistent with AHURI’s submission and advice to the review. 

Filtering is a process whereby the building of new, higher quality dwellings for higher- and middle income households may result in additional supply of dwellings for lower-income households. Theoretically, as properties age and their perceived quality drops, over time they trickle down through successively lower market segments, ultimately becoming a supply of ‘naturally occurring affordable housing’.

People living in regional cities enjoy lower housing costs compared with capital cities but have lower incomes and reduced career prospects, according to new AHURI research.

In order to sustainably stimulate housing supply government needs to understand how the development industry works according to new AHURI research. Private sector housing supply is driven by profit and factors that increase or decrease revenue and costs determine levels of new supply. The current combination of falling dwelling prices (in much of the country) and rising construction costs is the worst possible outcome for new housing supply.

The biennial 2022 National Homelessness Conference, convened by AHURI In partnership with Homelessness Australia, has wrapped up in Canberra, with 1050 delegates and 85 presenters across 22 sessions focussing on developing and shaping solutions for the terrible problems of homelessness in Australia.