News

First home owner grants and long periods of low interest rates have actually made it more difficult for aspiring first home buyers, finds new AHURI research. However, there are smart policy options governments can adopt that would support more aspiring first home buyers to achieve home ownership. 

On Tuesday, 12 September, AHURI was delighted to host a morning tea to honour the late Judy Yates’s memory with the establishment of the Judy Yates collection to be housed in AHURI’s library. We were delighted to welcome Judy’s widower, Warren Yates, and son, Mark, along with AHURI friends and alumni.

Each year more than 160,000 people experiencing or at risk of homelessness seek crisis accommodation from SHS. Not all can be accommodated, and many are turned away. For those who do access crisis accommodation, experiences vary significantly. New research, ‘Crisis accommodation in Australia: now and for the future’, undertaken for AHURI by researchers from Swinburne University, Launch Housing, University of South Australia and  Flinders University, explores the different crisis accommodation models operating in Australia to find out what works and what doesn’t. It highlights a range of gaps in the availability and quality of crisis accommodation that people receive, as well as the urgent need to improve exit options to longer term accommodation. It also steps out what’s needed to fix crisis accommodation.

The National Cabinet meeting of the Federal, State and Territory Governments in Brisbane on 16 August agreed on a number of ways to further improve Australia’s housing supply and to support renters. These measures are well targeted to improve Australia's housing outcomes.

Over the last 20 years, housing options for older Australians on lower incomes have been getting worse with home ownership rates falling, more people carrying their mortgage debt into retirement and reduced access to social housing.