
Affordable housing activists in Australia are licking their wounds and reprogramming their priorities in the wake of a recent national election. They had eagerly awaited a new government that at last recognized the need to address an affordable housing crisis. Instead, the electorate apparently saw no need for a change from the sleepy, tightfisted indifference of previous administrations.
Worse, a recent study shows that only five percent of voters made affordable housing their number one priority. And both major political parties placed affordable housing in a distant ninth place as a matter of political concern and action.
A recent article in THE FIFTH ESTATE carefully unpacks the disillusionment of those committed to the creation of more affordable housing in the country.
Why might this be of interest in other countries?
Having disassembled the pieces of the affordable housing puzzle, the article explores the benefits of linking affordable housing challenges with public concerns that rank as more important than affordable housing.
Could this be a viable strategy for activists in any country to pursue — anchoring the need for affordable housing within other problems apparently more in need of solving, at least in the eyes of the public? Check it out at THE FIFTH ESTATE: Tightening The Divide Between Populism And Public Housing