Australia is facing a national housing crisis. The promise of affordable and secure housing has been broken. From young professionals looking for a rental, to families looking to find secure housing to bring their kids up in, to women fleeing domestic violence, to ageing Australians finding a suitable home, the housing challenges facing Australia are reaching boiling point.
Our Housing AMPLIFICATION was just the beginning. But it proved something important: Australians are demanding change.
We now have a set of community-backed priorities, clear recommendations, and a growing coalition of Australians calling for bolder reforms. Through AMPLIFY, we’re turning deliberation into advocacy — and community insight into political pressure.
We’re briefing decision-makers, running targeted campaigns, and engaging different levels of government across the country.
At the heart of the problem is the failure to build enough homes over the past three decades. And it’s become increasingly clear that we won’t deliver the 1.2 million new homes that Australia needs by 2029.
In major cities, average-income earners now need more than 12 years to save for a home deposit.
Vacancy rates have plunged to 1.3% nationwide, fueling a surge in rents and forcing many Australians into insecure housing or out of the market entirely.
This isn’t a short-term blip. It’s a structural failure. And it’s been decades in the making.
We need a different approach, one with the urgency this crisis deserves.
In February 2025, something powerful happened. AMPLIFY hosted a first-of-its-kind national deliberation.
The outcomes weren’t vague. They were specific, bold, and grounded in public consensus.
The AMPLIFY community has shown that it is possible to find uncommon ground across political divides. It’s time for our representatives to do the same. Our politicians need to work together and find long term solutions.
This page outlines what happened, and why it matters now.
Australians are stepping up on housing. Now it’s time for governments.
Australia’s housing crisis is spiraling — and “politics as usual” is leaving people behind.
In February 2025, AMPLIFY brought 100 Australians — left and right, young and old, renters and homeowners — into one room. Over three days in Sydney, they didn’t just talk. They debated fiercely, listened deeply, and reached real consensus on solutions to this crisis.
But the process didn’t begin there. It started months earlier, with a simple but serious question: what would it take to give Australians a fair go at housing?
A Different Approach to Policy
AMPLIFY takes a different approach – we call it AMPLIFICATION.
AMPLIFICATION goes beyond deliberation. It's about making Australians’ collective voice louder and stronger. We use deliberative techniques and tools, combined with innovative formats and processes, to help our community break through deadlocks and agree solutions for the biggest challenges we face.
For this AMPLIFICATION we partnered with our friends at Demco to design and deliver an Australian-first national deliberation on housing.
A National Conversation, Built on Real Reform
In the lead-up to the AMPLIFICATION, AMPLIFY invited submissions from experts and stakeholders across the country.
46 detailed housing reform proposals were submitted — covering planning, construction, taxation, tenancy, investment, immigration, and more.
These proposals came from some of Australia’s foremost housing experts and industry leads, reflecting the breadth and seriousness of the challenge.
To ensure a manageable and meaningful deliberation, the next step was to refine this longlist into a shortlist. That responsibility fell to a group of deeply respected community leaders, including Australians of the Year and individuals recognised nationally for their service, advocacy, and care for their community and public good.
They were supported by a panel of technical and policy experts, including Saul Eslake, Steve Driscoll, and Jenny Rudolph.
Together, they carefully reviewed each submission and helped craft a final shortlist of 13 bold but grounded housing reforms — prioritised for their potential to tackle housing affordability, expand housing choice, and deliver housing security.
We acknowledge and thank our “community heroes” for their commitment and leadership throughout this process:
Blair McFarland; Christine Robertson OAM; Nick Hudson (@pushforbetter); Melissa Redsell OAM (@abravelife); Bernie Shakeshaft (@backtrackyouthworks); Belinda Young (@mumsofthehills); Selina Walker (@yerrabiyurwang); Frank Oberklaid AM; Clair Harris (@tassie_mums) and Amar Singh JP (@turbans4australia)
Thanks to their work, the AMPLIFICATION started with a public agenda that was credible, inclusive, and focused on real-world outcomes.
After months of online engagement and expert input, the final step was national deliberation.
100 Australians, randomly selected to reflect the country’s diversity, came together to answer the question: how can Australians get a fair go at housing?
Every generation was represented — from Baby Boomers to Gen Z. Every housing experience — from homeowners and renters to those who had faced homelessness. A full mix of political views, incomes, and life stories.
These people had never met before. On any other day, their paths might never cross. But over three days, powerful stories were shared, new friendships were formed, and perspectives shifted.
Investors and renters actually listened to each other. YIMBYs and NIMBYs found uncommon ground. Boomers saw what Gen Z is up against. Gen Z gained new respect for the generations before them.
Housing experts laid out the evidence behind each reform. Community participants didn’t just consume it — they engaged, challenged, questioned, and decided.
This wasn’t just talk. It was everyday Australians making the tough calls — setting priorities, weighing trade-offs, and demanding action.
And the public agrees. In AMPLIFY’s June 2024 national survey, 75% of Australians said they trusted each other more than politicians to solve the housing crisis. What we saw in that room proved them right.
The 13 reforms they deliberated on were grounded, serious, and ready to go. The result? Agreement on real, actionable reforms that can shift the needle — not just in theory, but in practice.
The Outcomes: What Australians Want—Loud and Clear
Faced with tough choices and armed with expert input, participants reached powerful consensus. From 13 reform proposals, they identified five top demands:
- Increase the use of pre-fab (Blueprint Institute) – Unlocking cutting-edge technology to build more homes, more easily.
- Upzone to medium density around transport (YIMBY Melbourne) – Allowing more homes in walkable neighbourhoods near transport links.
- Increase social housing to 10% of housing stock (Everybody’s Home) – A long-term ambition to significantly increase the proportion of social housing by 2045.
- Strengthen renters’ rights (CEDA - Committee for Economic Development of Australia) – Greater protections to ensure renters have a place to call home.
- Enable gentle densification (CEDA - Committee for Economic Development of Australia) – Making it easier to build granny flats, tiny homes, and garage conversions.
Minds changed. Priorities shifted. Hope grew.
Before the event, people were unsure. By the end, they weren’t just informed—they were united.
After engaging with the facts and each other, participants shifted their views in meaningful ways:
Support increased for most reforms – and surged most for stronger renters’ protections and more skilled tradies from overseas to speed up construction.
Interestingly, the biggest swing for renters' rights came from an unlikely source - participants who owned investment properties. They changed their mind after hearing the evidence on international comparisons and talking to renters in the room.
People also rethought what’s really driving the crisis—and what will actually fix it.
At the end of the Amplification, participants agreed that the main causes of the housing crisis were barriers to building more homes: the high costs of land and construction, lack of investment in public and affordable housing, and excessive regulations and taxes on construction.
However, after listening to the evidence, people were much less likely to think that foreign investment was a major driver.
But something even deeper happened…
When people feel heard, they listen more.
After three days of intense, respectful discussion, participants left with more than policy proposals. They left with a renewed belief in each other.
They felt seen. They felt hopeful. And they believed—more than ever—that Australians can find uncommon ground and push for real reform.
What we’re campaigning for now: Prefab and Density
The AMPLIFICATION gave us a clear mandate. To start, we’re focused on two reform areas that Australians overwhelmingly backed, and which directly contribute to building more homes, more quickly, in the places we need them.
Fab, Fast and Fair Prefab Homes
Build smarter, faster: Use prefabricated housing to deliver homes more quickly.
Factory-built housing is already used across Australia — but not at the scale we need. Prefab homes can be delivered faster, with less waste, lower emissions, and greater quality control.
While the AMPLIFICATION reform focused on harmonising regulations, further engagement with the community, industry and decision-makers has highlighted that if we are to really accelerate the use of pre-fab, we can’t stop there.
So, AMPLIFY is campaigning to:
- get the regulatory settings right
- Seed investment to unlock innovation in home building
- Ensure the biggest bang for the public buck
- Invest in the skills of the workforce
Unlocking Density Together
Increasing housing density - particularly around transport hubs, well-serviced areas and our cities - is one of the most powerful levers governments can pull to improve affordability, reduce infrastructure costs and boost productivity.
Our aim is to create a new blueprint for how to engage communities on the benefits of increasing density in places people want to live. This means more LGAs will meet their housing targets while ensuring density is done well.
This Is Just the Beginning
Our Housing AMPLIFICATION was just the beginning. But it proved something important: Australians are ready for change.
We now have public-backed priorities, clear recommendations, and a growing coalition of Australians calling for change.
While our current focus is on unlocking pre-fab and density, we’re continuing to champion more social housing and stronger rights for renters.
Through AMPLIFY, we’re turning deliberation into advocacy — and community insight into political pressure.
We’re briefing decision-makers, running targeted campaigns, and engaging every level of government.
We’ve already seen some early wins, for example through the Government’s stronger focus on building more homes, and commitments to supporting more pre-fab.
The build-up is over. Now the rebuild begins.
AMPLIFY these ideas for change
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