Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, Chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, will Address the National Press Club of Australia.
Australia’s housing crisis has been decades in the making. What is being done to address it?
In December 2023, the Australian Government established the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (the Council) to provide independent, evidence-based expert advice on housing supply and affordability to support policy making and improve outcomes across the housing spectrum.
In May this year, the Council published its inaugural ‘State of the Housing System 2024’ report, which reported that Australian Government’s national 1.2 million housing target was unlikely to be met in the current timeframe.
The Council’s ‘State of the Housing System 2024’ report also noted that housing prices have increased by over 35 per cent since the start of the decade. The share of income Australian households spent on housing costs reached its highest on record in 2023.
Australia’s vacancy rate is at 1.6 per cent, well below the 3 to 4 per cent considered to reflect a balance market. Finding rental accommodation is increasingly challenging, and rents have increased by more than 35 per cent since the start of the decade.
First Nations households are half as likely to own their own home (with or without a mortgage), 6 times more likely to live in social housing, 3 times more likely to live in overcrowded dwellings and almost 9 times more likely to be experiencing homelessness than non-Indigenous Australians.
The ‘State of the Housing System 2024’ report highlighted 10 areas of focus to improve housing outcomes for the Australian community, such as ensuring tenure-neutrality in the tax system, improving rental market outcomes for tenants, and investing in social housing.
Given the significance of housing as one of the most important current national issues which will almost certainly shape the forthcoming election, the Chair of the Council, Ms Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, will use this speech at the National Press Club as a major public address to inform and shape the discussion. Susan will highlight what actions can be taken – by government, industry and the community sectors – to enable all Australians the opportunity to access safe, affordable and secure housing in the immediate and longer-term.
BIO Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz:
Ms Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz is Chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council and was also chair of the interim Council, which started 1 January 2023.
Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz has been a pioneering force in the housing system and a leading property developer as former CEO and Managing Director of Mirvac from 2012 to 2023. Under her leadership, Mirvac ranked #1 in the world by Equileap for gender equality twice, in 2022 and 2023.
Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz is the President of Chief Executive Women, appointed in 2022 to serve in the role. Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz also serves as a non-executive director of Macquarie Bank, Macquarie Group, Rio Tinto and Spacecube and is a member of the Sydney Opera House Trust and INSEAD Global Board.
