The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) has released a new policy platform to address Australia’s housing crisis.
Chair of ASBEC’s Housing Policy Working Group and the manager of housing and planning at the Property Council of Australia, Rebecca Douthwaite, said Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis.
"A growing population and skyrocketing house prices mean living affordability and housing security is being stretched to the limit," she said.
“But there’s no one single solution to housing affordability.”
ASBEC’s members from across the built environment have nominated a package of policy fixes needed to resolve housing affordability issues and deliver high quality, well designed homes to meet Australia’s diverse needs.
“First, we need to work to a plan. Future infrastructure needs to be scoped and delivered in the right place," Douthwaite said.
"Diverse medium and high density urban housing should be built along transport corridors and near amenities. Incentives to build the right type of homes are needed, while planning assessment for higher density developments must also be simplified."
While the sticker price of homes is important, the costs of heating, cooling and lighting our houses are also crucial, along with the costs of travel to work and services.
ASBEC’s executive director, Suzanne Toumbourou said the key to cheaper running costs is improved energy efficiency.
"Not only are more energy efficient buildings more comfortable and healthy, but they have the added bonus of being a fast and cost effective way to reduce emissions as well," she said.
“Public understanding of the benefits of energy efficient housing is limited, so education is required. Governments also need act to improve conformance and compliance with the energy performance standards for buildings in the National Construction Code. If not, people won’t get the homes they’re paying for.”
Toumbourou said facilitating density is also vital, so that people can be connected to employment and amenity, whilst accommodating growing populations.
"However, introducing high density housing to existing communities is a fraught process. It is critical to engage locally from the start," she said.