Advocacy

It is essential to improve the coordination of policies, regulation, and funding between all levels of government to resolve the current disconnect between the responsibilities of the Federal, State and Local Governments. This disconnect is directly impacting the delivery and quality of new communities, and can be resolved by all levels of government working together in genuine collaboration to deliver a cohesive approach to planning, funding, and delivering housing and infrastructure to new communities.

National settlement forecasting should be used to inform the new housing targets for each state and territory as part of the National Housing Accord. In our view, this is crucial to enable appropriate forward planning for new housing in the preferred settlement locations to meet future demand, and the corresponding funding required to deliver the associated infrastructure. This information can also be used to better understand the future community to enable the planning and delivery of culturally appropriate health, education and community services.

A coherent, systematic and targeted growth areas infrastructure fund that specifically addresses the urgent needs of fast-growing outer suburbs is key to supporting the fastest growing suburbs in Australia. The infrastructure fund is required to rectify the chronic lag of infrastructure and services in growth areas which is a common problem across Australian cities and is recognised as a long-standing urban policy challenge. Looking forward, the infrastructure fund must be aligned with settlement forecasting so that infrastructure is delivered alongside new housing in preferred settlement locations to meet demand.

We recommend the Federal Government build on the National Housing Accord and develop a National Housing Strategy informed by, and aligned with, the proposed overall national settlement forecasting. A National Housing Strategy would sit alongside the National Housing and Homelessness Plan and provide the overarching strategic direction for the location, density, and diversity of new housing across Australia. This will ensure housing is prioritised and directed to locations where there is the highest forecast population growth, and it is aligned with appropriate infrastructure funding and delivery.

National policy leadership is required to shift the focus from delivering affordable housing to supporting affordable living. This must be supported by long-term funding commitments to deliver the infrastructure and services required to support affordable living and create communities that are resilient, liveable, and thriving. Creating resilient communities requires a comprehensive national approach, with all levels of government working together to address the distribution of people, jobs, houses, essential services and infrastructure around Australia.