Housing Policy in Australia: A Case for System Reform

This book, the first comprehensive overview of housing policy in Australia in 25 years, investigates the many dimensions of housing affordability and government actions that affect affordability outcomes. It analyses the causes and implications of declining home ownership, rising rates of rental stress and the neglect of social housing, as well as the housing situation of Indigenous Australians. The book covers a period where housing policy primarily operated under a neo-liberal paradigm dominated by financial de-regulation and fiscal austerity. It critiques the broad and fragmented range of government measures that have influenced housing outcomes over this period. These include regulation, planning and tax policies as well as explicit housing programs. The book also identifies current and future housing challenges for Australian governments, recognizing these as a complex set of inter-connected problems. Drawing on its coverage of the economics, politics and administrationof housing provision, the book sets out priorities for the transformational national strategy needed for a fairer and more productive housing system, and to improve affordability outcomes for the most vulnerable Australians.