It sought to construct more effective, progressive policy narratives robust enough to thrive within the tough competitive environments that prevail within public policymaking and budgetary processes. Each of the three Shaping Futures nations faces unique housing challenges but also share common problems:
- Volatile housing markets where long-run price inflation has contributed to unusually high levels of private debt.
- Falling home ownership rates among younger adult cohorts.
- Rising rates of homelessness and housing stress exacerbated by inadequate public investment in affordable housing.
The report contains ten principles for housing policy and tax reform intended to provide a coherent framework for reforming housing policies.
The policy proposals reflect the need for an enduring framework of consensual approaches that form a path towards better performing housing systems in all three countries. Ignoring this progressive path would risk unacceptable costs in lost productivity, increased inequality and environmental degradation.
Key messages
- Despite visible and worsening housing problems apparent in all three countries – Australia, Britain and Canada – housing
policy has been downgraded and housing policymaking capacity badly eroded. - There is increasing recognition that post-1980s housing policy orthodoxies and their underlying narratives are no longer fit for purpose.
- System-wide analysis of complex housing markets is essential in formulating evidence-informed policy solutions.
- We need to construct a new story that places economic productivity and the effective management of pressured metropolitan markets at the heart of a re-energised housing policy.
Read the report, summary and chapters on the Shaping Futures website