City Futures Blog

News and research in housing and urban policy, from Australia’s leading urban policy research centre.

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The post-COVID crisis hit Queensland hardest. With 100,000 households needing low-cost housing, here’s how it can recover

April 6th, 2023 · No Comments · Housing

By Hal Pawson. A version of this story was first published in The Conversation. Read the original article here. While the COVID emergency has waned over the past year, pandemic-generated pressures have left our rental housing market reeling. Australia-wide, vacancy rates remain close to rock bottom levels, while rental prices have been soared at record […]

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Commonwealth housing legislation 2023: CFRC Senate Inquiry testimony

March 16th, 2023 · No Comments · Uncategorized

On 15 March Prof Hal Pawson appeared at the Senate Economics Committee Inquiry on the Albanese Government’s package of housing legislation, entered into Parliament in February 2023. Reproduced below is his opening statement to the hearing. This draws on the Centre’s submission to the Australian Government on the draft bills as published in December 2022. […]

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Albanese government tackles housing crisis on 3 fronts, but there’s still more to do

February 9th, 2023 · No Comments · Housing

By Hal Pawson First published in The Conversation – read the original story here The Albanese government’s housing package moved a step closer to delivery with the recent release of draft legislation and bills tabled in parliament. After a decade of general federal disengagement from housing policy (first home ownership being the main exception), this […]

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Homeless numbers have jumped since COVID housing efforts ended – and the problem is spreading beyond the big cities

December 5th, 2022 · No Comments · Housing

By Hal Pawson (CFRC) and Cameron Parsell (University of Queensland). This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Homeless numbers have risen sharply across Australia, with soaring housing costs emerging as the biggest driver of the increase. The Australian Homelessness Monitor 2022, released today, reports that the […]

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1 million homes target makes headlines, but can’t mask modest ambition of budget’s housing plans

October 27th, 2022 · No Comments · Government, Housing

By Hal Pawson, UNSW Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Housing took centre stage in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s first budget this week. Relatively modest but positive steps were made towards tackling Australia’s worsening shortage of affordable social housing, as well as the broader challenge […]

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The market has failed to give Australians affordable housing, so don’t expect it to solve the crisis

October 14th, 2022 · No Comments · Government, Guest appearance, Housing

By Hal Pawson, UNSW Sydney; Bill Randolph, UNSW Sydney; Chris Leishman, University of South Australia; Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney; Peter Mares, Monash University; Peter Phibbs, University of Sydney, and Vivienne Milligan, UNSW Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The federal Labor government has […]

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Unravelling the paradox of social housing demand

May 26th, 2022 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Prof Hal Pawson. A version of this story was originally published in The Conversation. Read the original version here. Despite its prominence in the election, housing affordability campaign debate remained largely one-sided. Plenty was said about the very real challenges faced by first home buyers and by homeowners already mortgaged to the hilt. But […]

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Priority actions for the next federal housing minister

May 3rd, 2022 · No Comments · Housing

By Hal Pawson, CFRC Housing is yet again up there as a major concern in this year’s federal election debate. Given the rising cost of putting a roof over your head in today’s Australia, that’s hardly surprising. Buying a home will now set you back 30% more than at the start of the Morrison government’s […]

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Housing affordability takes a global hit from COVID-19

March 25th, 2022 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Hal Pawson; CFRC With newly released evidence of slowing house price inflation in early 2022, it may be that Australia’s latest property boom is subsiding. Especially with higher interest rates expected within months that seems highly likely. But any plateau or even gentle decline will be starting from property values dramatically higher than before […]

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Housing in the coming federal election

March 10th, 2022 · No Comments · Government, Housing

By Prof Hal Pawson, City Futures Research Centre. Originally published at John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations. Very largely thanks to economic stimulus pumped into the economy to ward off COVID recession, Australia’s housing is now 30% more expensive than in 2019. Add to that, the recent spike in rent inflation greater than at any time since 2008, and […]

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