Plenary & Public Event: Planning reform for affordable housing supply? International evidence and Australian policy debates

Date: Wednesday, 19th February 2025

Time: 5:30pm—7:00pm

Location: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, Camperdown, New South Wales

Planning reform features heavily in Australia’s housing policy agenda, underpinning the National Housing Accord to deliver 1.2 million homes over the next five years. Australia is not alone: in recent years jurisdictions across the United States and Canada have embarked on or are considering widespread ‘upzoning’ strategies designed to overcome local regulatory constraints on housing development. This event considers the latest policy debates and research on planning reforms and housing outcomes in North America in relation to Australia’s own reform agendas and affordability ambitions.

Speakers:

Professor Karen Chapple, School of Cities, University of Toronto

Dr Christina Stacy, Urban Institute, Washington DC

Professor Steven Rowley, Curtin University

Dr Catherine Gilbert, The University of Sydney

Mr Tim Sneesby, Waverley Council

Chair:

Professor Nicole Gurran, Director, Henry Halloran Research Trust

Speaker Bio

Karen Chapple, Ph.D., is Director of the School of Cities and Professor in the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto. She is Professor Emerita of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as department chair. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of regions in the Americas, with a focus on economic development and housing. In 2023 Chapple received the Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field from the Regional Studies Association. Her books include Transit-Oriented Displacement or Community Dividends? Understanding the Effects of Smarter Growth on Communities and Planning Sustainable Cities and Regions: Towards More Equitable Development (Routledge, 2015), which won the John Friedmann Book Award from the American Collegiate Schools of Planning.

Christina Plerhoples Stacy, Ph.D. is a principal research associate in the Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she specializes in urban economics, housing, and transportation. Stacy’s research includes a national study on land-use reforms and their impact on housing affordability, a randomized controlled trial of an unconditional and conditional cash transfer program aimed at reducing youth violence exposure, and evaluations of the Economic Development Administration and the New Markets Tax Credit.

Christina’s work examines how rent control and inclusionary zoning affect the affordable housing supply and access to opportunity for People of Color. She is also leading a study evaluating the causal impact of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit on housing supply and affordability.

Seven Rowley is a Professor, and Director of Research, in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Curtin University. He has been director of the Australian Housing Urban Research Institute’s (AHURI) Curtin research centre since 2011 and is a member (and past chair) of the WA Housing Industry Forecasting Group (HIFG). Over the last 20 years Steven has secured significant research funding to deliver impactful research for organisations such as AHURI, the Australian Research Council, UK government, European Union and industry. He has published over 100 articles focusing on housing affordability, the supply of market and affordable housing and the impact of policy settings on residential development outcomes. Steven has delivered numerous seminars for government and industry on these and related topics, is a regular media commentator and was awarded the 2024 AHURI/Housing Choices Berry Award for research excellence.

Catherine Gilbert is a Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. An urban planner by background, Catherine has expertise in land use policy, development control practices, housing systems, and inclusionary housing approaches. Her research investigates the consequences of declining urban housing affordability, and the design and effectiveness of planning based interventions and policy reforms in mediating housing opportunity for low and moderate income households. Catherine has led and collaborated on numerous projects funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and regularly engages in policy- and practice-focused research with community and industry partners.

Tim Sneesby is a manager of strategic planning at a Sydney council and an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. He was recently seconded to the Greater Cities Commission to assist with a vexed metropolitan planning policy of industrial lands. He has worked in an urban economics consultancy in Sydney, as a planner in London and throughout his career has worked with developers. He is a recipient of the Planning Institute of Australia’s National Young Planner of the Year award. His views are his own.

Nicole Gurran is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney, where she directs the Henry Halloran Research Trust. Over two decades her research and publications have focused on housing affordability, urban planning, and climate change. She is committed to informing public policy and debate through her research, media commentary, and advice to governments, and most recently served as Co-Commissioner on the People’s Commission into the Housing Crisis.