A shovel-ready guide for the next government to fix the housing crisis. The paper calls on the federal government to re-engage in land use regulation. Its signature ask is for a National Townhouse Accord – a National Cabinet brought together to liberalise planning restrictions and make townhouses legal to build everywhere in Australia. 

This policy is designed to replicate the success of Auckland’s bipartisan housing and planning policies over the last decade – which have delivered a huge growth in private, public and community housing completions – while scaling up some of the best local innovations like Victoria’s new Townhouse and Midrise Code and Western Australia’s Targeted Apartment Rebate.

Recommendations

1. Introduce a National Townhouse Accord for Auckland-style upzoning for all of Australia.
2. Fix the National Housing Accord incentives by paying the states to fix planning bottlenecks.
3. Create a federal Targeted Infrastructure Feasibility Fund to unlock homes in high-productivity areas.
4. Introduce a national occupational licencing regime to empower tradespeople to build where they are needed most.
5. Boost Commonwealth Rent Assistance to make sure payments stay at levels that keep up with capital city rents.
6. Rework tax and payment incentives for public, community, and youth housing tenants to end the youth housing penalty and make sure homes go to those who need them most.