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2026-08-13 00:36:13 UTC

Looking for explanations… on Nostr: Yep! And we have to change our ideas about rental and public housing. Not “social ...

Yep!

And we have to change our ideas about rental and public housing. Not “social housing”, public housing owned by the state.

It’s common in many places in Europe, and people don’t have to be desperately poor & vulnerable to qualify. And many people choose to live in public housing lifelong. That’s not considered a rip off or bludging, because (truly) decent affordable housing is considered a human right.

That’s not to say that all public housing in Europe is “truly decent”, and that there aren’t social problems associated with large public housing estates. Getting public housing right is a challenge, but given how long it is since Australian governments have invested heavily in public housing and how small our public housing stock is, we have a chance to plan better types of public housing.

Mixed housing types to accommodate all sorts of needs. Family sizes, couples, singles, large extended family or multi-generational groups, share houses for people who like share housing (think neurodivergent singles, older single people etc.) Large homes where bedrooms have an ensuite, kitchenette & small lounge area for when people want/need privacy, and access to a larger shared living room & kitchen for socialising, and a shared laundry.

As long as people’s needs for privacy are factored in and construction is of a good quality, real communities could be built, instead of awful projects that increase people’s sense of deprivation and seem to pit them against one another.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2026/aug/12/isnt-it-amazing-what-a-policy-that-actually-tackles-the-cause-of-outrageous-house-prices-can-do?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other