AMPLIFY is today announcing it will convene the first national AMPLIFICATION on housing - an entirely independent and unprecedented process for the community, by the community, to find uncommon ground on housing reform, with all Australians invited to participate.
New research shows that 95 per cent of Australians rank housing availability and affordability as a top priority issue in Australia today, however less than one-in-six (15 percent) Australians trust the government to make the right decision on housing, compared to 53 percent who trust community-based decisions to create better outcomes, according to new research.
It also found that seven-in-10 Australians agreed that the Australian people should be playing a central role in identifying the right solutions to the housing problem, while 84 per cent want to be able to better influence policy development around housing solutions.
Starting this month, the six-month process – including offline and online forums - will give the community the opportunity to seek out new information and expert perspectives, share their thoughts, solve by learning and confronting the trade-offs of the potential solutions and ultimately be part of sparking change on housing via the AMPLIFY community.
From this week, Australians from all walks of life and across the nation are invited to put their hat in the ring to be selected to participate in the first national AMPLIFICATION event. Scheduled for February 2025 in Sydney, AMPLIFY will convene a randomly selected, broadly representative group of 100 Australians who will carefully consider Australia’s housing issue.
They will vigorously and respectfully deliberate contested housing reform ideas with each other, questioning experts with different perspectives, and weighing the pros and cons to find uncommon ground on housing reform. Amplify will support the community to advocate its judgement to decision-makers and spark housing reform.
Founder and Chair of AMPLIFY, Paul Bassat says “The emphasis on community participation in housing reform is both timely and crucial.
“With such low trust in the government to make the right decisions on housing, the AMPLIFICATION provides a platform for diverse voices, ensuring that reforms are reflective of real needs and experiences. By facilitating dialogue among a representative group of Australians, AMPLIFY aims to foster a sense of ownership over the housing crisis, which we believe is essential in helping to achieve meaningful solutions,” said Paul.
Those who are not selected can still contribute their voices by joining the AMPLIFY community online, ensuring that everyone has the chance to be part of the AMPIFICATION. Decisionmakers from government, industry and community, covering all agendas, are invited to contribute to the process, however, the process is entirely non-partisan, meaning it is independent of any political party or interest group.
Georgina Harrisson, CEO of AMPLIFY, says “The community has spoken - housing is the issue that they want to help solve."
“For decades, we have seen this problem grow but solutions haven't met the scale of the challenge. We have built a process that will provide policy makers on all sides with the insights, opportunity and the courage to take real action on housing,” she said.
“The community have to be at the heart of solving the housing crisis because the solutions inevitably impact on where and how we live and on our connections to family, place and community.”
The National Housing AMPLIFICATION starts with AMPLIFY’s Community Heroes, a group of Australians of The Year, including community-minded Local Heroes, shortlisting housingreforms in the most impactful and contested areas of housing demand and supply, including the tax treatment of housing, access to finance, tenancy regulation, social and affordable housing stock, land use planning and administration and construction industry capacity.
Highly regarded economist Saul Eslake, will be the Community Heroes’ key independent expert, supporting them to understand the complex housing environment.
“Given how unsuccessful any effort at getting real change in this space has been over some five decades, I’m happy to be involved in a new approach”.
The research which surveyed 4,000 representative Australians, was conducted by AMPLIFY, a new community of Australians who want to see bold, evidence-based reforms at the heart of moving the nation forward.
Australians that want to get involved are encouraged to visit Amplify | Get involved.
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Background
The Survey also found that:
- 90 percent of people agreed that affordability is getting worse for everyone: renters, first-time buyers, homeowners, and people who are homeless.
- 81 percent of Australians agree that narrowing home ownership opportunities is causing social and intergenerational divides in Australia
- A majority of every age group of homeowners say they are willing to accept a slower rate of growth if it improved housing affordability for others
Details of survey:
The nationally representative survey was conducted by an independent polling organisation, Resolve on behalf of AMPLIFY. The representative sample of 4,000 Australian’s were asked closed and open-ended questions on a range of policy and systemic issues in the period July – August 2024.
About Amplify
Australia has become more divided and Amplify has been born as a response. Amplify is the place where people get to have their say and make a difference on the most important issues facing Australia. It is a community of Australians from all walks of life and together we will find ‘uncommon ground’ on the issues we care about most. Amplify is non-partisan and completely independent of all political parties. It will make a difference by Amplifying the voice of the community to spark change and help build the policy blueprint for Australia’s future. To find out more or to join, visit www.amplifyaus.org