Australia’s housing system is in crisis, and recent policy interventions have ranged from ineffective to counterproductive. From the deepening divide between home owners and renters, to unsustainable patterns of residential development and escalating climate risk – Australia’s housing policy framework needs an urgent reset. With new national and state housing initiatives on the table, this panel will debate whether it is possible to ‘renovate’ Australia’s housing system or whether radical change is needed to bring about a more inclusive and sustainable future.

This free, live event is taking place at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, although tickets are limited. In person attendees are warmly invited to refreshments from 6pm prior to the event.

The event will also be live streamed on the Henry Halloran Trust Youtube channel. Please register for remote attendance.

Panel

Jenny Leong, Greens Member, NSW Parliament

Rebecca Pinkstone, Bridge Housing

Leo Patterson Ross, NSW Tenants Union

Carrie Hamilton, Housing Action Network

John Engeler, Shelter NSW

Dr Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University

Chaired by: Nicole Gurran, Professor, Urban and Regional Planning, Director Henry Halloran Trust, University of Sydney

Jenny Leong is the Greens Member for the seat of Newtown in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. She is currently the Greens NSW Housing spokesperson and has led campaigns for renters rights and supported people to navigate the complex social housing system in NSW.

Rebecca Pinkstone has spent the past 17 years working in social and affordable housing. As CEO of Bridge Housing, Rebecca leads a committed team of 100 staff providing housing services to that change the lives of 5,500 people living in 3,500 homes across metropolitan Sydney. Before joining Bridge Housing, Rebecca worked for the NSW Government in a variety of senior roles to deliver major social housing reforms to improve services and grow the community housing sector.

Leo Patterson Ross is the CEO of Tenants’ Union of NSW. He has worked in housing justice and community development for nearly 15 years and spent more than a decade assisting renters, their advocates and the broader public understand and navigate the housing system.

Carrie Hamilton is a finance professional with 25 years’ experience in affordable housing and policy roles in the United States and Australia, focusing on innovative partnership and project debt/equity strategy. She consults to government and affordable housing developers who seek to finance projects through expanded tools and cross-sector collaboration. More recently, Carrie’s work has focused on future-proofing social and affordable housing communities by incorporating regenerative and circular economy practices.

John Engeler joined Shelter NSW as CEO in early 2020, having been involved in the formation, development and operation of Social, Affordable & Specialist housing for most of his professional life. He has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning and has undertaken post-graduate legal studies. He is committed to delivering housing solutions, particularly for those who the market has failed.

Ben Spies-Butcher is an associate professor in the Macquarie School of Social Sciences. Ben completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Sydney while working in the non-government sector on issues of human rights. His research focuses on the political economy of social policy and the welfare state, particularly how economic and political change shape social policy financing.

Nicole Gurran is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sydney, where she directs the University’s Henry Halloran Trust. She has led numerous studies funded by the Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute, the Australian Research Council, as well as state and local government and written widely on urban planning, housing supply, and affordability including Urban Planning and the Housing Market (2017, Palgrave), and Politics, Planning and Housing Supply in Australia, England and Hong Kong, (Routledge, 2016).

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The annual Festival of Urbanism is an initiative of the University of Sydney's Henry Halloran Trust and is hosted in partnership with Monash University.