Affordable housing has become a major issue in recent years, not least in Sydney and Melbourne, where the housing bubbles have priced a significant portion of the population out of the market. The recent budget did little to alleviate the problem for first-home buyers, amounting to not much more than tinkering to provide the illusion of change.
In the absence of any other measures, could it fall on the architects themselves to enact steps that will take the pressure off? With the increasing costs involved in planning, design, building and labour, and a community demanding more sophistication in the wake of TV shows like The Block, the emphasis may now be shifting to the earliest stages of the process when thinking about what can be done to provide better, more affordable housing.
