From the precarity of low income renters to fears of property market collapse, COVID19 has exposed the cracked foundations of Australia’s broken housing system. But why has this situation come about?
What: The Henry George Commemorative Address
When: 6:30PM Wednesday September 3rd via Zoom link
Cost: Non-members $10 / Members free
Presenting the 129th Henry George Commemorative Address is Nicole Gurran, distinguished Professor and Chair of Urbanism at the University of Sydney. In her address to Prosper’s touchstone annual members event, Professor Gurran will unpick the ‘politics of housing policy’ and examine how Australian governments have ‘performed’ concern about affordability for two decades without achieving real change.
Key episodes in national and state level housing policy illustrate how concerns around housing supply and affordability have coalesced around anti-planning narratives and deregulatory reform.
Recounting reform efforts and housing affordability outcomes in NSW, the talk highlights how policy has been reform theatre – serving political goals while failing to address fundamental barriers to diverse and affordable housing production.
With the Covid-19 pandemic creating both an urgency for change and great uncertainty about future urban and economic conditions, Professor Gurran’s talk concludes with proposals for genuine and transformative housing policy and planning action.
Professor Gurran is an urban planner and policy analyst whose research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability. She is the author of numerous publications and books including Politics, Planning and Housing Supply in Australia, England and Hong Kong and Urban Planning and the housing market. Her TEDxSydney talk has had over 10k views.
A zoom link will be provided shortly before the event via your registration email.
