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Australian local governments and affordable housing: Challenges and possibilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Alan Morris ,
Andrew Beer ,
John Martin ,
Sandy Horne ,
Catherine Davis ,
Trevor Budge  and
Chris Paris
Alan Morris*
Affiliation:
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Andrew Beer
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, Australia
John Martin
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Australia
Sandy Horne
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, Australia
Catherine Davis
Affiliation:
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Trevor Budge
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Australia
Chris Paris
Affiliation:
Ulster University, UK
*
Alan Morris, Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Email: alan.morris@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

For an increasing proportion of Australian households, the Australian dream of home ownership is no longer an option. Neoliberal housing policy and the financialisation of housing has resulted in a housing affordability crisis. Historically, Australian housing policy has afforded only a limited role to local government. This article analyses the results of a nation-wide survey of Australian local governments’ perceptions of housing affordability in their local government area, the possibilities for their meaningful intervention, the challenges they face, the role of councillors and councils’ perceptions of what levels of government should take responsibility for housing. Almost all of the respondents from Sydney and Melbourne councils were clear that there is a housing affordability crisis in their local government area. We apply a framework analysing housing policy in the context of neoliberalism and the related financialisation of housing in order to analyse the housing affordability crisis in Sydney and Melbourne. We conclude that in order to begin resolving the housing crisis in Australia’s two largest cities there has to be an increasing role for local government, a substantial increase in the building of social and affordable housing and a rollback of policies that encourage residential property speculation.

Keywords

R31R21Australiafinancialisationhomelessnesshousinghousing affordabilityhousing stresslocal governmentpublic housingreal estate versus home ownership
Type
Original Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 31 , Issue 1: Affordable housing; Migrant labour; New precarity questions , March 2020 , pp. 14 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020

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