Housing Affordability
North Sydney is advocating for stronger leadership from Federal Government to create incentives, economic and social drivers that will help address Australia's housing crisis.
North Sydney Community Housing Forum
The North Sydney Community Housing Forum brought 30 ordinary citizens together to determine the most effective way for the Federal Government to improve Housing Affordability.
The full-day forum was held on 29 October. It was our community’s first major exercise in Deliberative Democracy — where relatively small but representative groups of people engage in well-informed and robust discussion to make judgements on specific issues.
Housing Forum participants spent the day reviewing ideas from over 60 public submissions from local organisations and residents, and speaking with experts from Link Wentworth, the Community Housing Industry Association, Sydney YIMBY, the Centre for Independent Studies, and the UNSW City Futures Research Centre.
Ideas ranged from urban planning and infrastructure to finance, tax reform, social security, immigration and foreign ownership.
Ultimately, participants decided that Commonwealth infrastructure funding be used to incentivise the development of higher density housing around public transport hubs, particularly for lower income households and essential workers.
A detailed report on the Forum and its findings is now available for download. Kylea will be working with policy experts on further development on this proposal, as well as looking to hold future deliberative democracy exercises on topics such as intergenerational equity and climate action in the months ahead.
Watch the video Download the reportWhat else is Kylea doing about Housing Affordability?
Many aspects of housing policy are decided at state and local levels - from renters' rights to residential construction zoning. But the recent stoush about the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) Bill shows that Federal Government can provide more leadership.
North Sydney has among the highest proportion of renters in the country. Kylea has surveyed residents on renters' and landlords' perspectives on the housing crisis, and provided views to Parliament. She has made a formal submission to the current Senate Inquiry into the Worsening Rental Crisis, and spoken in Parliament about older womens' homelessness, and the need to pass the HAFF legislation which would provide Federal Government funding over time to build more social and public housing.
Kylea is also is meeting with state and local officials responsible for housing to understand how the Federal Government can support state and local government organisations in improving tenants' rights and building more affordable housing.
Based on her discussions with experts and the community to date, Kylea is advocating for:
- Using Federal infrastructure funding as a lever to promote the development of more medium-density, diverse and affordable housing around public transport hubs.
- Federal leadership on ways to make renting a home safe and secure.
- Enforceable building and maintenance standards for high quality and energy efficient apartments and rentals.
- Federal Government to look at planning and zoning rules in areas where housing is in most demand, particularly for critical workers.
- Government to consider tax changes that will provide incentives for a sustainable housing environment for renters and home-owners.
LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS
Can Australia end homelessness?
The Conversation, 6 August 2024
Kylea and ACT Senator David Pocock's Private Members Bill is an historic opportunity for the government to turn around the problem of homelessness. But it will be a challenge, according to an analysis in The Conversation.
Housing Bill Inquiry Submission
The Private Members Bill Senator Pocock and introduced to parliament has now been referred to an Economics Legislation Committee Inquiry. This process enables others from across our community to have their say on this important piece of legislation as, as it currently stands, the government is resisting legislating it. Given this, if you would like to offer your expertise or opinion in this area, I would encourage you to make a submission.
A new bill is proposing a human right to housing. How would this work?
The Conversation, 5 July 2024
The Conversation's explainer article dives into the fundamentals of Kylea and David Pocock's bill to make housing a human right, and how this would work to help mitigate the housing crisis and homelessness.
‘A diabolical mess’: How did we get into this housing crisis, and how do we get out?
The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 June 2024
As the Australian housing crisis continues, this feature article dives into how we got to this point, and how Kylea and David Pocock's joint Housing Bill is seeking to establish housing as a human right, and start a conversation on what housing actually is - a human right, or a profit centre?
Housing Question To Prime Minister
House of Representatives, 24 June 2024
Housing Private Members Bill
House of Representatives, 24 June 2024