Abstract: Although the 1944 report of the Commonwealth Housing Commission (CHC) earned the admiration of historians and political philosophers, of practical housing administrators and of urban academics and planners it cannot be described as a ‘seminal document’. Most of its 95 recommendations were either rejected or never implemented. The report, nonetheless, was important because it was the foundation of the Commonwealth’s 1945 initiative in framing the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement (CSHA) , the first of nine Agreements with the States under which public housing was initially built, largely for rental accommodation for low income households . The CHC was also important because it was indirectly influential in the creation of State planning authorities. This paper revisits the work of the CHC and the connection between the provision of housing and good urban planning that it identified. Such a visit is relevant in current discussions of housing and planning issues.