Ehssan Veiszadeh, Deputy CEO of the Committee for Sydney: 

“With cost of living dominating the federal election, likely next year’s state election too, the most powerful lever governments hold for delivering real affordability is housing policy.

Quick fixes won’t solve what’s set to be the highest inflation since the GFC. What we need is a real long-term strategy to make Sydney more affordable.

The Committee’s Life in Sydney study (Feb) revealed deep community concern about housing affordability and cost of living – that’s been repeated in virtually every survey or poll since. 

While homeowners may want the cost of housing to remain high, young people and low to middle income families are being locked out of future home ownership. 

To tackle housing affordability, we need meaningful federal and state tax reform, increased supply of new housing focused around rail and Metro stations, and a well-funded social and affordable housing program.”

The Committee’s cost of living paper is here, and the earlier Life in Sydney results are here.