2022 National Housing Conference shines post-COVID

The 2022 National Housing Conference (NHC), delayed by six months and moved 1600 kilometres from its planned location in Brisbane due to the COVID-19 pandemic, made a triumphant return in Melbourne last week. 

From Wednesday 2 to Friday 4 March, close to 1300 delegates (over 800 in the room and almost 500 online) from a broad range of sectors came together to learn the lessons for the housing sector from the pandemic and other external challenges, and importantly, to re-connect with friends and colleagues, old and new.

The 2022 NHC was convened by AHURI together with its Conference host partner, Homes Victoria, as a hybrid event, where people could participate either in person at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, or online, from anywhere across Australia. Such a staging environment was a first for AHURI, enabling access to many who have never been able to attend the conference before, and attracting high-profile international guests to participate virtually.

Importantly, the conference continued to grow the participation of individuals with lived experience of housing insecurity. Across the program, speakers shared first-hand experiences of homelessness, the challenges of accessing and sustaining housing, and they provided advice to delegates of how to better engage with the communities they work to support.

Delegates were welcomed to the Conference by The Hon. Richard Wynne, Minister for Housing (Victoria) who reiterated that for housing targeted to lower income households, Australia ‘can’t rely on the market’ but instead needs systemic reforms. He also outlined the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build, which, at $5.3 Billion, is the biggest single commitment ever of any Australian state or territory government to social housing. The Build will focus on increasing supply, with all homes having a 7-star energy efficiency rating and will include $1.25B allocated to increase the supply of social housing in regional and rural Victoria.

The Conference was energized into action through the opening keynote address delivered by Ms Jane Caro AM. Ms Caro explored the issues that lead to housing insecurity and homelessness, and questioned society’s promotion of personal resilience as an ongoing necessity for people on low incomes. She described resilience as a response from people when they or the environment they live in is in crisis, noting that it should not be a permanent state of affairs, and that when it is, it shows there is a systemic problem.

Ms Caro also highlighted the inequities experienced by women, particularly older women, where 75 per cent of older single women are in financial distress and women aged 55 and over are the fastest growing group of people who are experiencing homelessness (even though this generation is the 1st time in history where most women have worked for income for most of their life). To confront such inequalities, Ms Caro urged Australians to build connections, where ‘we can make the stories of others real and accessible, and where we can show our common humanity.’

The Conference plenary sessions presented a wide scope of topics, ranging from a big picture view of Australian housing as it emerges from the pandemic from some of Australia’s leading economists  (‘Emerging from the Pandemic: housing and the economy’), the State of the Nation panel session which saw leaders from different parts of Australia’s housing system discussing  policy priorities and responses to the pandemic, to a Virtual International Study Tour, which looked at social housing solutions and concerns in Japan, the Netherlands and in Austria.

The final plenary of the Conference featured two very impressive speakers from the United States: Ms Adrianne Todman, Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ms Crystal Bergemann, Senior Advisor Climate, who presented key initiatives HUD is making in relation to the impacts of climate change and the COVID pandemic. Through programs such its Green better building challenge, HUD is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its properties by 50 per cent over the next 10 years. In addition, HUD is actively supporting the Biden Administration’s ‘American Rescue Plan’ that will provide a US $1.9 trillion stimulus for measures such as emergency rental assistance and homeless relief. Currently 18 million households—around one household in seven—spend more than 50 per cent of their income on rent.

Of course, the plenaries are just part of the Conference, and around 30 concurrent sessions and Think Tank events featured topics such as Build-to-Rent; insecure housing for older women; housing needs for Indigenous Australians; supporting young adults leaving state care; and improving health outcomes through housing across the three days.

‘While the covid pandemic may have delayed the National Housing Conference it certainly hasn’t diminished it,’ says Dr Michael Fotheringham, Managing Director of AHURI.  ‘The energy, the commitment, the passion shown by so many who are engaged in the housing sector, whether that’s in business, academia or as practitioners, really shows in the ongoing importance of this conference.’

‘We saw during Covid lockdowns people in different states and territories perhaps retreat a little from engaging with long term issues and solutions. The Conference gave so many a chance to learn what is happening in housing around the country and the world and to rebuild their professional relationships and commitment to delivering solutions through collaboration.’

For those who attended the Conference, videos and presentations from recorded sessions and plenaries of the Conference will be available in the coming days. For non-attendees, selected resources will be available on the AHURI website later this year. 

Watch the 2022 National Housing Conference highlights