Mutual Appreciation: A Social Innovation Thinkpiece

Global trends and domestic policy have challenged Australia’s traditional owner-occupier housing model and undermined the assumption of zero housing costs in retirement that underpins both our retirement income and aged care systems. Housing has become a commodity, a place where investors grow wealth to hand down inter-generationally while others become increasingly vulnerable to housing stress. At the same time as the commodification of housing has bloomed, Australia has seen the scaling back of direct public provision. Government resources have instead encouraged a deficit-focused housing system, one aiming to mitigate the many market failures which cascade from the investor paradigm: homelessness, high costs, and accommodation unable to adapt and meet changing needs in older age.