Australians have always loved talking about housing; from how much our house is worth to doing a renovation and even investment properties. But the housing conversation has changed recently.
Housing is now often spoken about through the prism of crisis. Conversations centre on how unaffordable housing is, for both buyers and renters. Even the lucky ones who own their homes are worried about how their children or loved ones will ever afford to enter the market.
Once, when people could not afford housing, we often (even if implicitly) thought about them as poor or disadvantaged. But now we are confronted with the alarming reality that housing is far too unaffordable for far too many people – even those we refer to as essential workers.
Housing unaffordability is no longer an individual problem for the poor or disadvantaged. We now have a housing problem.
Life Course Centre researchers Professor Cameron Parsell and Dr Ella Kuskoff recently examined Australia’s housing crisis – including how did we get here and where to now – for UQ’s Contact magazine.