Economist survey finds most believe Australia’s lack of social housing is costly

Abstract

Australia’s leading economists agree – governments don’t spend enough time on housing policy in Australia and it is costing us money as well as widening the inequality gap.

University of New South Wales’s City Futures Research Centre surveyed 47 top economists (mostly professors) and 40 senior experts (chief executives and partners) from across government, industry and academia and found 84% agreed “Australian governments have paid too little attention to how housing outcomes also affect productivity and growth”.

The subsequent report, “Australian experts’ views in the economy: abstract dreamings or real directions”, found, overwhelmingly, economists and policy experts in the field believed status quo economic policies had “exacerbated income and wealth inequality”.