Fixing housing affordability crisis calls for a ‘nation first’ approach

Housing should be considered vital infrastructure for the nation.

Australia faces a severe housing crisis. Home ownership rates have plummeted, rental vacancies hit record lows, housing costs consume incomes, and homelessness has risen. The Australian dream erodes beneath partisan deadlock.

Politicians talk, posture, blame, but fail to act decisively. The absence of sustained bipartisan housing policy cripples an effective response, with brief moments of cross-party co-operation quickly dissolving into political advantage-seeking.

Fragmented and ineffective housing policies have failed Australians for too long.

In 1944, Australia confronted a housing crisis of different origins. World War II had halted construction, materials were scarce and returning servicemen needed homes. The nation’s housing deficit exceeded 300,000 dwellings – on a relative basis, worse than today’s shortfall.

As part of the Post-War Reconstruction Authority, the Curtin Labor government established the Commonwealth Housing Commission, whose recommendations received unequivocal bipartisan support. Labor initiated; the subsequent Menzies Liberal government implemented. Neither claimed partisan victory. Both prioritised national need over political advantage.

Housing should become a standing national priority with genuine bipartisan commitment.

This bipartisan approach built public housing at unprecedented scale, created accessible finance mechanisms, established housing research bodies, and co-ordinated federal and state actions effectively. The commission’s vision transcended electoral cycles and party politics.

Recent history provides fleeting echoes of this co-operation. The Liberal-National Coalition established the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) in 2018, providing low-cost loans to community housing providers and first-home buyer deposit guarantees. Labor supported this initiative, albeit with some reservations.

Five years later, the Albanese Labor government rebranded NHFIC as “Housing Australia” and expanded its remit with the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF). After initial opposition and six months stalled in the Senate, the HAFF eventually passed with the support of the Greens, but without the strong bipartisan mandate from the Liberal National Coalition necessary for transformative impact.

This pattern repeats endlessly. Labor governments emphasise ­social housing investment and rental regulation; Liberal-National coalitions focus on demand subsidies, supply deregulation and home ownership. These alternating approaches neutralise progress, while the housing crisis worsens with each policy reversal.

Housing investment decisions hinge on polling predictions, distorting the market.

Tax policies epitomise this dysfunction. Negative gearing faces perpetual political football status, capital gains concessions swing with electoral fortunes, and housing investment decisions hinge on polling predictions, distorting the market.

State-federal relations compound the paralysis. Planning controls rest with states, taxation powers concentrate federally, infrastructure funding splits unpredic­tably, and local councils face unfunded mandates. No level of government accepts ultimate responsibility for housing outcomes.

Australia operates without a unified national housing strategy, leaving each state to enforce conflicting policies. Planning laws, tenant protections and development incentives vary widely, alongside inconsistencies in construction standards, building trade employment laws, property taxes (stamp duty and land tax), land ­release policies, social housing eligibility, vacancy taxes and environmental compliance. We can’t even agree on a national definition of affordable housing or a single regulatory framework for community housing, with Western Australia and Victoria opting out entirely.

This patchwork system creates a regulatory maze that weakens national cohesion, hampers effective housing solutions and reduces productivity in the housing sector.

The 1944 Housing Commission created clear accountability structures, established explicit production targets, directed resources efficiently across government levels and ensured imple­men­tation regardless of electoral outcomes. It recognised housing as essential infrastructure deserving of political consensus – principles modern Australia has abandoned.

Australia can’t even agree on a national definition of affordable housing or a single regulatory framework for community housing development.

Economic consequences intensify. Productivity suffers as workers cannot afford housing near employment centres. Labour ­mobility decreases, household debt reaches dangerous historic highs, and housing stress undermines consumer spending.

Social impacts cut deeper. Inter-generational inequity grows as young people face housing barriers their parents never encountered. Class divides widen, social cohesion fractures along housing-wealth lines, and community bonds weaken, while housing stress creates health issues.

Regional disparities sharpen under inconsistent policy. Capital cities experience extreme unaffordability, mining regions undergo violent boom-bust cycles, and rural towns struggle with ageing housing stock. One-size partisan policies fail these diverse contexts.

Media coverage reinforces partisan frameworks, with housing analyses reflecting political allegiances rather than evidence. Complex policy proposals face reductive treatment, while nuanced bipartisan approaches generate less coverage than conflict narratives.

Public sentiment recognises this failure. Polling consistently shows housing affordability among top voter concerns across party affiliations. People across the political spectrum support substantive action.

Modern Australia must rediscover a collaborative spirit to solve the housing crisis.

The economic scale of the housing challenge dwarfs government capacity. The 2021 Leptos Review of NHFIC quantified this reality. Australia must spend $290bn over the next 20 years to address the shortfall in social and affordable housing. Government budgets cannot meet this requirement alone. Community housing providers and institutional capital must form essential partnerships with government, yet partisan approaches undermine the policy certainty these partnerships require to deploy capital towards ­social purpose.

The post-war Housing Commission succeeded because it placed national welfare above political advantage, created institutions that survived electoral cycles, established measurable targets with clear accountability, and recognised housing as fundamental to Australia’s social contract.

Adrian Harrington, chair of Housing All Australians.

Modern Australia must rediscover this collaborative spirit. Housing should become a standing national priority with genuine bipartisan commitment. Policy consistency should transcend electoral outcomes. Implementation should receive as much attention as announcement.

Australians deserve housing security regardless of which party holds power. National prosperity requires housing stability transcending electoral cycles. Social cohesion depends on housing ­equity that outlasts campaign seasons. Both major parties must acknowledge their respective blind spots and allow ideological preferences to yield to evidence-based pragmatism.

The path forward requires political courage from leaders willing to echo their post-war predecessors by placing nation above party. Both parties must support sensible housing policies and prioritise outcomes over point-scoring. Australia’s housing failure directly correlates with its partisan approach to what should be considered essential infrastructure.

With a federal election just around the corner, now is the time to act.

The alternative is continued failure. Australia cannot afford it. Our housing future depends on bipartisan commitment.

Adrian Harrington is the former chair of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation and is now the NSW chair of Housing All Australians.