The Don Dunstan Foundation held its second annual housing symposium at the end of June, with the state of renting under the microscope.
We brought together leaders from community and public housing organisations and the construction industry, researchers, architects, public servants and advocates to explore the current state of renting and how we can fix what is universally regarded as a crisis – if not worse.
The day-long event at the Flinders University city campus included a keynote speech from the CEO of Housing Australia, Scott Langford, as well as panels on issues like the lived experience of SA’s rental system; how we build and shape what’s required; and what sorts of communities can we hope to create.
There was plenty of data – and deep concern – about the depth of the affordability crisis and the huge holes in the available housing stock.
There was also a sense of hope that if the community, business and government work together, we can make a difference.
Here are our takeaways: both the sobering realities and the reasons for hope.
You can also choose to watch all of the key parts of the summit in the videos included below.
FOUR BLEAK REALITIES
It’s a disaster, not just a crisis
Or if it is a crisis, we’re not behaving like we’re in one.
A crisis implies something short-term – but what’s happening with housing in Australia is a long-term disaster, said Alice Clark, CEO of Shelter SA.
Years in the making, the rental disaster is accelerating – and rapidly.
Researcher Dr Kate Raynor, head of think tank Per Capita’s Centre for Equitable Housing, showed two graphics of South Australia – only a few years apart – showing that affordable rentals have all but disappeared.
The green areas in the SGS Economics and Planning graphics (below) are where very affordable, affordable and acceptable rental prices exist – those green areas have been all but wiped out in Adelaide over the past four years.
In fact, in the past five years, house prices had increased by a huge 85 per cent in South Australia, while rents had gone up by more than 50 per cent.
Kate said it wasn’t just an affordability crisis – it was a systems failure.
“Over the past five years, SA has seen extraordinary shifts in both house prices and rents — and it’s pushing new cohorts into housing stress,” she said.
We’re seeing:
- A new wave of homelessness from people who have never accessed services before.
- Middle-income earners being priced out of rental markets.
- Private renters, single parents, the unemployed and First Nations communities disproportionately impacted
- Pressure from higher income households further displacing vulnerable or lower income households
- Pressure in the private rental sector causing bottlenecks in social and crisis accommodation
- A rapidly changing affordability pattern across the state
Or as one frontline worker said: ‘I’ve worked in homelessness for 23 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.’
All hole, no doughnut
The missing middle – the lack of affordable rentals for people who don’t qualify for public housing, but can’t afford the private rental market – is very real.
However, given the collapse in affordability, there are gaps all over the market.
One of the biggest gaps in the system identified by Julie Nemet from RentRight SA is young people (aged 17 to 25).
The reality is that young people have been pushed out of the market – there are full-time workers earning median income who are not eligible for support services.
RentRight is an independent, government-funded service, that provides advice to tenants across the system.
“One of the biggest issues we have seen is the impact the crisis is having on our youth,” Julie says. “It is our biggest cohort of SA that is now completely out of reach of gaining independent living. The options are extremely limited due to affordability and even more so, when you add in to the mix complexities.”
Wraparound supports are lacking
Mental health is suffering as people struggle to find hope amidst the rental crisis, feeling isolated and overwhelmed by small tasks like filling out paperwork and getting to places.
How do we support those people who are in public housing to keep their leases?
How do we support people to move from renting to buying?
People need more than just a roof over their head – they need holistic, wraparound social support.
Lived experience advocate and founder of organisation Safe Pets Safe Families, Jennifer Howard, said that everybody needs a village (listen to more of her perspectives in the panel one video above).
Red tape
The costs of jumping through compliance hoops are large and delays are common.
We are losing productivity because of compliance – the system will not let us act like we’re in a crisis, said Mario Palumbo, CEO of Junction Australia.
Productivity delays are also driven by the community when calls to action and developer plans are met with ‘not near me’ or ‘not in my backyard’.
four REASONs FOR OPTIMISM
After all of that bad news, many participants wanted to highlight some reasons for optimism – but the general consensus was that business-as-usual wouldn’t work.
There’s serious money on the table
Now is the time for every sector to work together to address the housing crisis – this was the general consensus.
In particular, the combination of political will and public support has led to big funding opportunities.
CEO of Housing Australia, Scott Langford, spoke about Housing Australia’s role in funding businesses to bring about the change.
There are two main schemes on offer for increasing social and affordable housing across Australia: The Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF).
There are billions of dollars available for building new housing in Australia, with Scott emphasising that there’s political will and public support to address the crisis.
And doing that will require new thinking, particularly about purpose.
“To solve this problem, we are all going to have to take some risks,” he said.
Watch his full address below.
Cooperation is the future
There is energy and momentum in Adelaide – the private, public and community sectors are ready to work together in partnership to come at the missing middle from multiple angles.
It’s about reducing the fierce competition for quality capability and instead pooling resources together to be more efficient, said Maria Palumbo, CEO of Junction Australia.
Scott Langford (CEO Housing Australia) encouraged the different sectors to be open to collaboration, and willing to find common ground and a shared purpose.
He said that the scale of the crisis had led to a shift in the national conversation from apportioning responsibility, to cooperation between the public, private and community sectors.
Build it and they will come
What kinds of housing do we need?
Christie Bailey from Brown Falconer spoke on the need for courage to build new kinds of housing.
Part of the mentality shift to make medium density homes appealing is to design housing to encourage place-making and belonging, with features like co-working spaces.
Sometimes a little risk is necessary for the greater good – build places that allow for positive experiences, knowing that people will eventually get on board.
Innovation is essential – and possible
There is enormous opportunity to innovate and find different solutions.
Shelter SA’s “modern village” concept introduces a new market – an affordable form of modular housing where people have a permanent dwelling in a residential park.
South Australian company 5North has embraced the future of housing production by using technology and advanced manufacturing to build modular homes, sidestepping the labour shortage and providing more climate change-resilient homes.
The City of Adelaide’s Adaptive Reuse City Housing Initiative has made use of what we already have – underutilised buildings across the CBD are being re-purposed into homes.
You can watch all of the videos from our rental summit on the Don Dunstan Foundation YouTube channel.
