Robert Pradolin, Founder of Housing All Australians, challenges the status quo in this powerful opinion piece

Calling out political cowardice and market failures while urging real action to solve the housing crisis with long-term, inclusive solutions.

As political promises about housing affordability dominate pre-election headlines, we witness a familiar dance: politicians offering quick fixes while fundamental causes of our housing crisis remain unaddressed.

The reality, as economist Peter Tulip from the Centre of Independent Studies consistently highlights, is stark: Australia's housing crisis is primarily a supply problem. While negative gearing and tax concessions make convenient targets, they account for at most 4 percent of housing prices. The true culprits are restrictive planning regulations, NIMBYism, and bureaucratic delays choking our housing market.

KPMG's "Keeping Us Up at Night" report found 48 percent of business leaders identify housing affordability as their top social concern. Yet political discourse circulates around demand-side tinkering – 5 percent deposit schemes or mortgage interest tax breaks – that may help individuals jump the queue but ultimately fuel price inflation.

Housing All Australians has long advocated for housing to be reclassified as fundamental economic infrastructure – as essential as roads, schools, and hospitals. Without decent shelter, we face significant economic and social costs.

We must stop pretending there's a quick fix. Building our way out of this crisis will take decades. The Leptos review of NHFIC (now Housing Australia) in 2021, undertaken during the Morrison government, estimated the investment required to address just social and affordable housing shortfalls at $290 billion over 20 years – that's 44,500 homes annually. The Housing Australia Future Fund aims to build only 11,000 homes per year for five years. Where will the other 33,500 homes come from?

Government alone cannot bridge this gap. We must leverage private capital through innovative partnerships that respect both market economics and social needs. This is where compassionate capitalism enters the equation. Unlike American values that increasingly pit business interests against social responsibility, Australian values embrace the idea that profit and purpose can coexist.

Housing All Australians believes "compassionate capitalism" represents the true values of most Australian businesses. As our national anthem speaks of "wealth for toil" and "Advance Australia Fair," we understand that true advancement requires shared prosperity. Compassionate capitalism embodies this distinctly Australian ideal: Advancing Australia Fairly, ensuring economic growth and social wellbeing develop hand in hand.

This approach is already visible across Australia. The Ascott Group, through Housing All Australians, donated $500,000 in furniture to repurpose Hobart's Amelie House for vulnerable women. Companies like Metricon, Mirvac, Dulux, Interface, and CSR are similarly partnering with Housing All Australians to repurpose vacant buildings as transitional shelter. But this type of corporate philanthropy alone won't solve the problem – it's a short-term response to a country in a housing crisis. It needs systemic reform.

The deeply ingrained nature of compassionate capitalism in the Australian psyche became strikingly evident in September last year, when nearly 1,000 business leaders attended Associate Professor Gregg Colburn's presentation on his book, Homelessness is a Housing Problem. Their attendance wasn't merely professional interest—it reflected an instinctive Australian value response that many mightn't consciously recognise. When confronted with Colburn's findings that tight housing markets and high prices—not individual circumstances like mental health, addiction or poverty—drive homelessness rates, these business leaders responded to a call that resonates with our collective identity: that fair access to life's necessities aligns with both good business and our cultural values.

Australia's 2021 Census counted 122,000 people experiencing homelessness (including those couch surfing), comparable to New York City's 98,000 (which doesn't count couch surfing). Our nation has effectively the same level of homelessness as a single American city. Australia can still end homelessness. Our increasing level of homelessness is the canary in the coal mine, warning of deeper failures across Australia's entire housing continuum. Our workers struggle to find accommodation near where businesses need them, making this housing crisis a business issue too.

An overlooked barrier to delivery of affordable medium and high-density housing is the differential construction costs between "domestic residential" (which builds housing using traditional subcontractors) versus "commercial residential" (which involves multi storey apartments and designates a unionised workforce). 

The significant additional cost in delivering under “commercial residential” conditions means government policies relying on densification of middle-ring suburbs into mid-rise or high rise apartments are unaffordable for average families needing a family sized home. The theory of stopping urban sprawl sounds great, but a family seeking an affordable home cannot live in a 60sq metre apartment.

Creating housing supply that suits diverse societal needs is more complicated than commonly understood. Without deep knowledge of how property and construction industries actually function, idealistic policies are a waste time and resources. Its time we do not have!

Our politicians must level with the Australian public: there is no painless solution. Creating sufficient supply requires challenging entrenched interests, reforming planning laws, increasing density in established suburbs, boosting TAFE output, addressing industrial relations, and understanding how government infrastructure projects impact available resources. The fix to Australia’s housing crisis will take decades and requires considering multiple interconnected elements as part of a comprehensive strategy.

Australia needs, in the national interest, a housing accord that transcends politics – a bipartisan commitment to supply-side reforms that will outlast multiple electoral cycles and embrace private sector involvement. This isn't about the next election; It's about the next generation and the one after that. Our grandchildren's prosperity depends on decisions we make today.

Without addressing our housing crisis, Australia's grandest ambitions will remain just ambitions. It's time to stop political posturing and commit to the difficult, long-term work of building more homes where Australians need them. This requires political courage, planning reform, and honest conversations with communities about the true costs of maintaining the status quo. Anything less is just another empty promise.

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