Why has affordable housing suddenly become such a hot topic? Not so long ago most of the media stories were gleefully reporting how wonderful it was that investors and home owners were able to reap such massive rewards in such a short space of time. The cry for relief from the charity and welfare sectors on behalf of the poor, the vulnerable, the homeless, the disabled and many other needy groups was lost in a euphoria of madness as prices and rents rose endlessly while others were crunched at the bottom experiencing severe rental stress.Have we suddenly become concerned about the poor? Excuse my cynicism, but the answer is no. We have become concerned because we have finally realised that this is not just about the poor and the vulnerable, this is about you and me, the middle class! Our policies around housing and taxation have driven prices so high we are now pricing the middle class, or at least the children of the middle class, out of the market all together. What was once a cry for relief for the the sake of the poor has now become a daunting realisation that unless I, as a member of the middle class, six figure earner, am able to significantly assist my children financially or, alternatively, keel over and die leaving them an inheritance, they simply won’t afford to buy a home in Sydney.

The definition of “affordable housing” is also changing as we have this conversation. Affordable housing was once what someone on a low to moderate income could actually afford to pay in rent (mostly seen as a maximum 30% of income for the bottom 40% of earners). It then became, with the introduction of NRAS (National Rental Affordability Scheme), a discount to market rental of 20-25%, which is of course still unaffordable for many. Affordable housing in today’s conversations seems to be much more centred on affordable purchases, particularly for moderate income earners. It is probably true today that a young professional couple earning $150k between them will still struggle for many years to try and pay rent as well as save a 20% deposit.

Investors have finally overtaken homeowners as the primary purchasers of houses, a first in Australia’s history. This is a huge social shift. I don’t have the expertise to comment on the housing bubble, real or imagined, but I do know that there is a big difference between someone buying a house and someone buying a home. This shift is seeing an increasing army of renters shuttled around the suburbs of Sydney, moving on as properties are sold and resold or as the ever increasing rental burden becomes too much to bear. Short and insecure tenancies, spiralling rents and landlords often not interested in being landlords but just getting a capital return on investment. Others are left behind all together as real estate agents have far too many applicants to deal with any that might be perceived as difficult in any way.

Sydney and Melbourne are engaged in a long and drawn out process of self-asphyxiation, where essential workers so needed by our services and institutions need to travel at least 3 hours a day to get to work and then told they just need to get a better paying job. The institutions themselves begin to suffer as they find it difficult to attract lower paid workers who are willing to travel and then equally difficult to keep them as they keep dreaming of working closer to home. The day we realise that housing is not simply an investment we can use as a tax deduction, but vital infrastructure that keeps not just families but our city going, well… that will be a good day.