Housing preferences and options in Australian society are dominated for better or worse by private markets. Public and social housing, with some variation between Australian states, plays a marginal role. In 2011, the housing tenure split comprised, in percentage terms, 67/25/5 between home ownership, private rental housing and public/social housing respectively, with 3% in other tenures. Home ownership was itself split 32/35 between outright and mortgaged ownership in 2011, a significant change from 2001 when it was 40/27. Significantly, the foundations of the Australian housing system are increasingly shaky across all housing tenures – ownership and rental, private and public. The character of the housing policy debate – always conflicted and unsettled – is turbulent given ongoing economic, social and environmental change and uncertainties. The moorings of the housing system and the policies and programmes shaping it continue to be in flux, with the existing framework unable to deal adequately with maintaining good equitable access to housing for all.

Different and complex elements and perspectives are evident in any policy field and this is so in housing policy. This chapter is premised on the view that it is important to reflect on first principles entailed in that complexity while recognising that we do not start from a blank sheet. Key themes in current debates about Australian housing policy are examined against the backdrop of recent history and the ideas and debates that have shaped housing policy. The chapter argues that while neoliberal ideas and frameworks are increasingly influential, the debate about progressive responses to contemporary housing problems reflects an uneasy reconciliation of libertarian, communitarian and social democratic values. An assessment of progressive agendas concludes the chapter.

Thought and practice in Australian housing policy: a brief History

The establishment of public housing agencies at state government level in the 1920s and 1930s registered the public priority of housing issues in both low income home ownership and public rental housing even if the effort took a little while to gain momentum and impact. That impact was augmented by work of the Commonwealth Housing Commission (CHC) in the 1940s, undertaken as part of the postwar reconstruction effort.