We call on the parliament to urgently implement Dr Murray's HouseMate proposal nationally such that first home buyer demand is met by a prioritised supply of free residential land and affordable developments through HouseMate ASAP.
Why is this important?
Housing affordability is a major economic and public policy challenge for advanced economies (The Economist, 2019) and a source of stress for many Australians. A substantial body of research literature by economists and housing market experts calls out the negative effects of expensive housing, and reforms that should be pursued by state and federal governments. It is clear that the status quo for-profit housing market cannot deliver affordable housing. This is driving serious social harm and inequality which undermines the maintenance of a cohesive society. Government housing grants have been ineffective as they line the pockets of asset owners standing to benefit from rising prices rather than lifting up the disadvantaged. Governments across Australia appear more interested in apportioning blame rather than constructive effort to fund reforms as evidenced by recent state and federal exchanges over supply vs federal tax incentives. Dr Cameron Murray has studied how Singapore has achieved a 90% home ownership rate through the provision of affordable housing supply for just 2.5% of budget expenditure. New 3-bedroom apartments in Singapore today sell for between $200-300K. HouseMate can reduce the up front housing costs for first home buyers by between 50-70%. Dr Murray explains how we could implement such an approach in Australia in his proposal HouseMate here: https://osf.io/nxq2u
How it will be delivered
