News

One of Australia’s most insightful political, economic and social commentators George Megalogenis, used his keynote address at the National Housing Conference to deliver a stimulating exploration of how community attitudes to housing affordability have been turned on their head, and flagged warnings of the social disruption that could be caused by high house prices should there be a downturn in the economy.

To effectively deliver affordable housing, Governments need to develop housing strategies that are resilient to, and adapt with, evolving political circumstances, create opportunities in times of economic change and that inspire strong leadership, new research finds.

A recent cluster of polls from different polling companies shows that the issue of housing and housing affordability is of rising concern for Australian households. This is happening against a backdrop of house price increases, rising housing need and the falling proportion of households able to find a home in social housing.

The number of households in the not-for-profit community housing sector over the last 10 years has more than doubled (35,667 in 2008 to 74,220 in 2016, a 108% increase). With such rapid growth the sector is becoming an even more important part of providing housing for households on low incomes.

Social Impact Investments (SII), which fund solutions to complex social problems including housing and homelessness policy, were worth an estimated A$2 billion in 2013 and could grow to as much as A$32 billion in the 2020s.