The new housing tax reforms are starting to bed in. But will they be enough to help Australians priced out of the market? Or should we be looking to builders rather than budgets? We asked four Griffith University experts how they'd make housing affordable again.
Make the state take responsibility
Dr Heather Shearer (M Environmental Management ’07; PhD ’12), Lecturer in Geographic Information Systems and Urban Planning
We have tended to assume the market will provide, but the market is there to make a profit. There is not necessarily a lot of profit in social and affordable housing, so it doesn’t get built at the scale we need. State and federal governments need to build affordable housing themselves.
But this shouldn't just mean high-rise towers along transport corridors or endless greenfield estates pushing further out. I would much rather see our cities become more medium density, or "gentle density": townhouses, villas, duplexes, terrace houses and small apartment blocks in existing suburbs.
That gives people better proximity to work, education, medical services and community, instead of forcing them further out into car-dependent sprawl.
Tiny houses can help a small number of people, but they are not the answer to the housing crisis. What we really need is governments taking responsibility for building affordable homes, rather than relying on private developers to provide housing that is not designed to maximise profit.
Expand shared equity for lower-income buyers
Dr Di Johnson (PhD ’18), Senior Lecturer in Finance, Business and Economics
Shared equity is where a buyer co-owns a property with another party, such as the government. The government contributes part of the purchase price in exchange for a proportional ownership stake, acting as a silent equity partner. That means the buyer only needs to service a mortgage on part of the property, rather than the whole amount.
This matters because a lot of housing policies just push up prices or place people into riskier debt. A shared equity scheme can lower the deposit needed, avoid mortgage lenders insurance and reduce risk over the life of the loan. It gives people more room to build a savings buffer and recover from short-term shocks.
It can also help essential workers live closer to where they work, whether that is a hospital, school or other service. But it needs to be properly targeted. If the thresholds are too broad, lower-income people can still be crowded out. Done well, shared equity can help level the playing field for people without family wealth behind them.
Increase social and affordable housing supply
Dr Shane Warren (PhD ’18), Senior Lecturer in Social Work
Specialist homelessness services are already swamped. People are experiencing homelessness for the first time because of the cost of living, rising rents and the shortage of secure housing. Additionally, more people are experiencing homelessness for longer periods. We need a whole-of-government national housing and homelessness policy, not piecemeal responses.
There remains unprecedented demand for social and affordable housing across Australia, with waiting lists growing exponentially. Social housing includes public housing and community housing, generally for people with the highest housing need. Affordable housing is often aimed at people who are working but on lower incomes, and whose wages are not enough to meet market rents without falling into housing stress.
But we also need to recognise that housing and social policy are connected. Housing First models, where people experiencing chronic homelessness are housed with flexible support and case management, can reduce pressure on hospitals, police, courts and other services. This is not only better for people with regard to housing and non-housing outcomes—including health, education, employment and social cohesion—but it can also avoid costs elsewhere in the system.
The recent measures announced in the Federal Budget around negative gearing and capital gains tax discount are an important step forward to make the Australian housing system fairer, especially for people seeking opportunities to obtain their first home. But much more needs to be done in housing supply, rental reform and positioning housing as a human right. We need much more social and affordable housing, and we need governments to designate it as urgent national infrastructure.
Treat housing as a public benefit
Emeritus Professor Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning
There is no one silver bullet. We probably need to do about 15 things at once. But for too long, social and community housing has been treated as a tenure of last resort, only for people with serious problems who need temporary help before returning to the private market. Those people still need support, of course. But increasingly, social and community housing will be needed by people without those problems: key workers, younger people and families who simply cannot afford secure housing where they live and work.
The private market will not cater well for the needs of an increasingly significant proportion of the population. That now includes people who have degrees, jobs and reasonable incomes but are still going backwards when it comes to saving a deposit or affording rent.
Providing secure, reasonably affordable housing is a public benefit. If it requires direct public investment, then that is what a decent society should choose to do.
Image captions (top to bottom):
- Dr Heather Shearer.
- Dr Di Johnson.
- Dr Shane Warren.
- Emeritus Professor Paul Burton.
Published 30 July 2026
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