Skip to content
Inside Story
About
Sign up
Search
Search
Menu
About
Donate
Sign up
Search
Search
housing
Correspondents
Not enough houses?
Peter Mares
22 January 2023
Britain’s housing crisis has lessons for Australia
Books & Arts
Building nothing is not an option
Peter Mares
28 November 2022
An urban sociologist probes the strengths and weaknesses of the “yes in my backyard” movement
National Affairs
A new era for housing?
Peter Mares
28 September 2022
The biggest investment in social housing since Kevin Rudd was prime minister won’t be enough to stop life getting tougher for low-income tenants
National Affairs
Time for a knock-down-rebuild of housing policy
Adam Triggs
7 December 2021
Governments around the world are using innovative policies to solve housing affordability challenges. Why not Australia?
National Affairs
Asking the wrong questions about housing
Peter Mares
24 September 2021
It might be ill-conceived, but at least the latest inquiry into housing affordability is generating high-quality evidence
National Affairs
Good ideas going nowhere
Peter Mares
27 August 2021
Timid governments need shaking up — but the pressure won’t come from the top
National Affairs
Tribal gridlock
John Daley
27 July 2021
A hardening of shibboleths is eating away at good government
National Affairs
Rising prices, plummeting rents
Peter Mares
15 February 2021
Australia’s housing market goes crazy — again
National Affairs
A free lunch for low-income renters?
Peter Mares
2 November 2020
Researchers have identified how to help struggling households more equitably
Essays & Reportage
What would it really take to supercharge social housing?
Peter Mares
29 September 2020
With governments unwilling to fix taxes or borrow, perhaps even Ronald Reagan has something to teach us
Essays & Reportage
Beyond shelter
Peter Mares
4 August 2020
“Housing first” has emerged as the most effective way of tackling homelessness. But Finland, Denmark and Ireland show that government resolve is crucial too
Books & Arts
When the market is the policy, housing fails
Peter Mares
25 May 2020
Books
| Three housing researchers plot the way out of Australia’s affordability crisis
National Affairs
Gap year
Lesley Russell
13 February 2020
The latest Closing the Gap report brings cause both for scepticism and for guarded optimism
Essays & Reportage
“Density has to be likeable”
Leanne Hodyl
1 November 2019
High-rise housing has many benefits and quite a few shortcomings. The challenge is to shift the balance towards likeability
National Affairs
Plenty of ideas, not much money
Peter Mares
2 September 2019
The federal government made it clear at the National Housing Conference that significant new spending isn’t likely
National Affairs
If we won’t fix negative gearing, then what?
Peter Mares
7 June 2019
Part of Labor’s housing strategy could be adapted to lift affordability, and might just appeal to the government
National Affairs
Housing boom, housing bust. What comes next?
Tim Colebatch
24 May 2019
The government must make clear that it doesn’t want any more booms
National Affairs
Helping first homebuyers, and other misdirected pledges
Tim Colebatch
14 May 2019
Election 2019
| Two parties, three promises, three problems
Podcasts
Time to rethink the Great Australian Dream
Peter Clarke, Wendy Stone and Peter Mares
30 April 2019
Election 2019
| The central goals of housing policy have been lost in debates about tax breaks for landlords
National Affairs
How to make Australia fairer
Carmela Chivers
20 March 2019
We’re doing better than many comparable countries, but that’s not enough
Books & Arts
Why houses cost too much
Brendan Coates
11 February 2019
Books
| A blind spot among economists has helped price housing out of reach
From the archive
Buyer’s luck
Peter Mares
18 September 2018
Peter purchased, Carolyn rented, and then the market (and bad policies) took over
National Affairs
“You don’t see people sleeping on the streets”
Peter Mares
7 September 2018
Finland’s Housing First strategy has all but eradicated homelessness. Could the same approach work in Australia?
National Affairs
Good advice, and puzzling blind spots, in the IMF’s latest report on Australia
Tim Colebatch
23 February 2018
The International Monetary Fund gets some things right and some things wrong — but you wouldn’t necessarily know which from the coverage it’s had
National Affairs
The conventional wisdom is wrong: building more housing does help low-income earners
Brendan Coates & Trent Wiltshire
22 February 2018
Flawed research has fuelled a mistaken view of the best way to assist less well-off households
Essays & Reportage
“Okay. Let’s make some music”
Peter Mares
22 January 2018
Youth homelessness is more than a question of affordable accommodation. A new project shows how music can play an unexpected role
National Affairs
Tactics versus strategy in Indigenous housing
Michael Dillon
18 January 2018
The federal government’s bargaining position will worsen the shortage of homes in remote communities
National Affairs
There’s no silver bullet when it comes to housing affordability
Brendan Coates
12 January 2018
Treasury’s advice on negative gearing shows why tax reforms alone won’t solve the housing affordability crisis
National Affairs
In search of a national housing strategy
Peter Mares
6 December 2017
Canada is showing the way, but the funds need to start flowing — and that means biting the bullet on tax
National Affairs
Housing taxes: getting from here to there
Peter Mares
4 December 2017
A shift to a property tax will make the housing market fairer and more efficient, and researchers have come up with a practical way to do it
Older posts