Hidden Cities

This episode draws together themes from across the series, to explore how global trends in housing are being felt in Australia. Dallas Rogers describes the policy settings, national narratives and ongoing settler-colonial relationships that have enabled the Australian Dream of home ownership. 

In her role as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha explored the role of housing financialisation in the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. This episode investigates the link between housing rights and human rights, and the global financial instruments that threaten them. 

Inclusionary zoning is a land use planning intervention that creates incentives or mandates for developers to provide a certain percentage of affordable housing dwellings. Inclusionary zoning is often cited as a solution to improve access to housing, but how much impact can this planning policy have? This episode discusses the potentials and limitations of inclusionary zoning in both Melbourne (with Kate Raynor, University of Melbourne and New York (with Samuel Stein, CUNY).

Build to rent refers to apartment blocks or larger developments that are specifically designed for rental occupation, and held in single ownership as long-term revenue-generating assets. Hal Pawson describes how these development are increasing in use in the United States, but are less common in Australia. Build to rent is sometimes promoted as a strategy for improving housing affordability, but what would the impact of this strategy be?  

Since short stay accommodation arrived in Australia, there has been much speculation about the impact of Airbnb, Stayz and similar platforms on rental availabiltiy and housing affordability. Julia Verdouw and colleagues at the University of Tasmania have conducted research to provide some statistics and evidence to support these claims in Tasmania. 

In the lead up to the 2019 election, there was a lot of conflicting information about what changes to negative gearing would mean for the economy, and for housing affordability. The Grattan Institute released a report called Hot Property: negative gearing and capital gains tax, detailing what negative gearing costs the government, who benefits, and opportunities for how the policy might be adjusted into the future. Danielle Wood, (CEO), speaks to Hidden Cities to explain what is Negative Gearing? Who uses it? What does it cost the government? Why was it so controversial in the 2019 federal election? And mostly - what impact does it have on housing affordability?

The Public Housing Renewal Program is a strategy that targets inner urban low-rise medium density public housing in 11 key locations, and uses private capital to regenerate tired buildings. David Kelly and Libby Porter explain how these sites were identified, what happens to the residents during and after the renewal process, and what the loss of public housing means for Australian society.