Housing

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Towards One in Ten - Reimagining Housing blog.

In the 1980s, one in every ten new Australian homes was public housing—not a last resort, but a self-funding, mainstream option for working families. Today, that ratio has collapsed to one in fifty. Our briefing paper, Towards One in Ten: Reimagining Australian Public and Social Housing, argues this collapse was caused by deliberate policy choices—and that policy can fix it. 

NSW Unions Position on Housing

Fire Fighters Union (FBEU / UFUA NSW)

Actively maintains an operational policy position on housing affordability across several key areas:

  1. Essential Worker Relocation and Station Staffing
  2. Peak Council Campaign Alignment (Unions NSW)
  3. Dedicated Operational "Position Statements" (Fire Safety Focus)

Health Services Union - formed an unlikely alliance...

Co-authored Housing NOW! platform & Parliamentary Inquiry submissions

This framework formally commits the union to 12 policy demands, including mandatory essential worker housing embedded in major infrastructure precincts, rezoning for gentle density near hospitals, and legalizing prefabricated/modular construction.

Maritime Union of Australia (NSW)

At the broader state level, they act through Unions NSW and the ACTU to support wider housing policy reforms:

  • Expanding state public and social housing targets to at least 10% of total housing stock.
  • Strengthening tenant protections, including ending no-cause evictions and capping annual rent increases.
  • Tax reform on property speculation, including curbing capital gains tax concessions and negative gearing.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA)

It is the position of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association that: 1. access to adequate housing is a human right3 4 5 2. public policy and planning must address the need for affordable housing for essential workers. 3. increasing housing supply, including public housing and essential worker housing, must be a public policy priority in NSW 4. Access to affordable housing for nurses and midwives is a precondition for safe, high quality healthcare service delivery.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) (NSW)

Does not maintain a dedicated, standalone housing policy document. Instead, its position on housing affordability for university staff is tied directly to its industrial bargaining strategy, campaigns against precarious employment, and broader peak-union (ACTU) housing policy frameworks.

  • Raising social and public housing targets to at least 10% of total national housing stock.
  • Capping unfair rental increases and ending no-cause evictions.
  • Expanding government-backed, income-linked key-worker housing frameworks near major education and employment hubs.

Police Association of New South Wales (PANSW)

Their position is detailed across official PANSW policy statements (Housing For Police), media campaigns, and their formal submission to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Options for Essential Worker Housing. They made 3 recommendations in the submission:

  1.  Ensure that police officers are included in any definitions of ‘essential worker’ for housing purposes, with that status overriding eligibility criteria where income caps would preclude emergency service workers.
  2. A central, state-wide strategy to set the baseline level of required essential workers in communities, including what level of housing and access to services is required to accommodate them.
  3. Assistance to be scaled up for shared equity schemes that allow for all essential workers to own their own home.

PSA / CPSU NSW

Surveyed 5,172 members in 2026. Calls on governments to expand public housing, cap rent increases, extend longer-term leases and create essential worker housing initiatives. Its 2024 submission argued that relying on the private sector for essential worker housing has failed. The national CPSU has also opposed moving social housing management to the community sector. (See indepth report below.)

Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW (RTBU NSW)

Addresses worker housing through three primary avenues: transport-oriented development policies, essential worker housing campaigns, and peak-body advocacy.

  1. Housing Near Public Transport & Infrastructure
  2. Operational Impact on Transport Shift Workers
  3. Essential Worker Housing Campaigns (Unions NSW)

Transport Workers’ Union of NSW (TWU NSW)

formally codified its stance through its detailed policy submission to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Options for Essential Worker Housing.

Here is a summary of the key recommendations from the Transport Workers’ Union of NSW (TWU) submission:

  • Official Classification: Establish and enforce a clear, legitimate definition of "essential worker" that formally includes vital supply chain and transport roles like general freight truck drivers and waste management crews.

  • Proactive Location Planning: Ensure essential worker housing is developed near key transport and logistics industries, assessing the link between jobs and geography proactively rather than after the fact.

  • Collaborative Frameworks: Co-design location criteria and tenancy priority rules in partnership with industry stakeholders and unions.

  • Regional Incentives: Continue incentivizing and investing in regional housing, noting that regional areas already possess the necessary foundational infrastructure and land for transport work.

  • Construction Standards & Procurement: Award government housing construction contracts exclusively to operators with proven track records of quality work and high labour standards.

  • Tenderer Oversight: Utilize the Building Commission as an active instrument to vet and assess prospective tenderers for government housing projects.

 

Housing Reports of Note

Public Service Association of NSW Submission to the Economics References Committee 2026

This indepth report by the Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) shows how the housing crisis is hurting everyday public service workers—like school staff, child protection workers, and prison officers. Based on a survey of over 5,000 members, it highlights how high housing costs are forcing workers to skip meals, delay medical care, and commute for hours, making it increasingly hard for the state to recruit and keep essential staff.

The PSA's policy platform focuses on five key priority areas:

  1. Expand Public Housing Stock.
  2. Accelerate Housing Delivery via Modern Methods
  3. Broaden Key Worker Housing & Protect Renters
  4. Streamline Planning Rules
  5. Strengthen Support for High-Risk Cohort

Per Capita: Submission to Social Housing Inquiry

Social housing is the only housing that guarantees affordability by capping rent at 25–30% of household income. However, Australia's supply has steadily shrunk relative to population growth—falling from 5.8% of all housing in 2000 to just 4.0% today, far below the 16% building rate seen from 1945 to 1970.

While countries like the Netherlands (37.7%), Denmark (21.2%), and the UK (16.9%) maintain large social housing sectors, Australia sits near the bottom of OECD rankings alongside the US (3.3%). Decades of funding cuts, government infighting, and stock loss through sales and demolitions have created a massive shortfall—expected to hit 942,000 homes by 2041. Per Capita's submission highlights these failures and presents alternative housing models to tackle the growing crisis.

Recommended Reading

Our Place: How to Solve the Housing Crisis and Rebuild the Australian Dream

Matt Lloyd-Cape's evidence-based guide to solving Australia's housing crisis from a leading policy expert. Australia has faced a housing crisis before – and solved it. We can do it again.