Thursday 7 May 2026 - Australians’ trust in housing delivery has hit a record low but new national research shows unprecedented public support for once-in-a-generation reform in the Federal Budget.
Independent community advocate AMPLIFY today released its latest quarterly AMPLIFY Home Truths index* measuring community trust in housing based on the views of more than 4,000 Australians.
While all governments share responsibility for housing, AMPLIFY’s poll shows Australians are overwhelmingly looking to Canberra for leadership to solve the housing crisis – and there is significant appetite for change. The poll found:
- Nearly half of Australians (49 per cent) hold the Federal Government accountable for the increasing cost of building new homes, compared to state (33 per cent) and local (22 per cent) governments.
- Most Australians (61 per cent) do not trust the Federal Government to take the right actions to improve housing availability in Australia, up from 52 per cent in October 2025.
- They do, however, support tax reform, with 64 per cent backing changes to the Capital Gains Tax discount and negative gearing to drive more housing supply.
“Australians know that housing is a crisis 30 years in the making. That’s why two thirds want the crisis to be treated like a national emergency,” AMPLIFY CEO Georgina Harrisson said.
“We desperately need to make it easier, faster and cheaper to build more homes, with nearly one million new homes needed to meet the National Housing Accord target by 2029. As the national housing target slips further out of reach and with it the Australian dream of home ownership, trust and confidence continue to collapse.
“The Federal Budget is an opportunity to turn the tide by tackling tax reform, slashing red tape and delivering more affordable housing.”
AMPLIFY has released a comprehensive plan to solve the housing crisis, informed by the views of more than 18,000 people - Australia’s biggest ever community engagement on housing. Solving Australia’s housing crisis: A promise broken, a plan to rebuild it provides the mandate for governments to step up and match the public’s desire for reform.
AMPLIFY calls on all governments to adopt these community-backed reforms, which could deliver more than one million additional new homes and more than half a million new first homeowners over the next decade, while slashing housing costs by $320,000.
“Our research shows that when Australians have a say in decisions that affect them, they back reforms far bolder than the political debate presumes. The Federal Government now has the chance to prove it understands the scale of the housing crisis and is prepared to do what is necessary to solve it,” Ms Harrisson said.
*Survey sample of 4,253 people, representative of Australian states and territories, taken between 19 March 2026 to 10 April 2026.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Rosemarie Lentini | media@amplifyaus.org | 0421 201 315