2026-02-19
Housing Affordability Is a Political Choice, And We Can Choose Better
By Senator Barbara Pocock
Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis, decades in the making and brought to you by successive Labor and Liberal governments who have made deliberate choices about who should hold wealth and property in this country.
Across Australia, million dollar house prices are the norm, while wages lag behind inflation, making it almost impossible to save for a deposit. Rents are rising at record rates forcing people to spend more than 30% of their income just to keep a roof over their heads. First home buyers are being squeezed out by wealthy property hoarders and there’s still no homelessness plan across states to address the increasing wave of people being forced onto the streets. Secure housing, once considered a cornerstone of the great Australian dream, is now a luxury for the wealthy few.
This crisis isn’t an accident. It’s the predictable outcome from a series of political choices that have treated housing as an asset rather than a human right, making property investment the fastest way to make a dollar. For years, governments have chosen to fuel this path of wealth building, enacting policies that cater to the wealthy few while leaving most behind.
In the midst of a housing crisis, Labor’s policies are adding fuel to fire. Their 5% deposit scheme has seen house prices hurtle upwards as opportunistic investors saw their chance to grab another property. Massive investor tax breaks, like the capital gains tax discount, are greasing the way for property-fuelled asset growth for property hoarders. All while the major banks make colossal profits straight from the pockets of over stretched mortgagees and first home buyers, while Labor looks the other way.
The overcomplicated Housing Australia Future Fund scheme is just the latest alteration to the traditional course of government intervention in social and affordable housing. Instead of a direct solution, it is a stock market gamble that has seen Labor fall 98% short of its own housing target. Just 2% of the 40,000 homes have actually been built under what was meant to be a flagship housing affordability scheme.
These decisions might serve as an electoral sweetener in the short run, but Labor are doing long-term damage to the prospects of future home owners and further entrenching intergenerational housing inequity in Australia.
But it's not just what Labor is doing, but what Labor is choosing not to do.
Their paltry targets in public housing prove they aren't ambitious in housing reform, while neglect of renters and those experiencing homelessness show they have blinkers on when it comes to addressing the housing crisis.
But, if the crisis was started through government choices, it can be fixed through government choices as well.
The Greens know exactly where to start: increased direct government investment in social and affordable housing, the removal of the capital gains tax discount, and stronger rental protections.
Government investment in public and affordable housing would cut through the rental affordability and homelessness crises by providing long-term, secure housing for those who don’t have other pathways. We’ve done it before and we can do it again.
A Greens public housing developer could build hundreds of thousands of homes that could be rented and sold at below-market rates. Public housing increases supply and doesn’t rely on private developers whose incentives are tied only to their own profit. With waiting lists stretching into years and crisis accommodation at capacity, major investment in public and affordable housing is critical.
The current CGT discount encourages the kind of property speculation that sees wealthy property investors snatching up their sixth asset, while first home buyers struggle to afford their first. As it stands, property hoarders are being rewarded for being wealthy while those in need of a home are being told it’s their fault for not scrimping harder. Scrapping the tax perk would transform how wealth is accumulated in Australia and open the door to secure housing for many more.
The 31% of Australians who rent are crying out for stronger rental protections. A stop to unlimited rent increases, no cause evictions and enforceable minimum rental standards are critical to a fairer renting future. In a market where tenants often feel powerless in the face of sharp rent increases and insecure leases, these reforms would rebalance the power dynamic between landlords and renters – and ensure no one is forced into a lifetime of renting against their will.
The Australian housing crisis runs deep. But we have the tools to reverse decades of policy settings that created these conditions. Changing those settings, through public investment, greater rental protections, and tax reform, is a choice sitting right in front of us.
In the end, the question is simple. Do we continue to allow the basic need of housing to function primarily as an asset class that serves only the wealthy few, or do we reclaim housing as a human right and put a roof over everyone's head?