The Don Dunstan Foundation’s 2025 housing symposium will focus on an area of growing policy concern – renting. This year’s theme - The Missing Middle - recognises the growing role of renting in Australia’s housing mix and will address all aspects of renting – from the public and community housing sector, to the private rental market, to innovations in renting such as build-to-rent projects.

As the title suggests, we’ll be examining the “missing middle” in rentals – people who don’t qualify for public housing, but who are struggling to afford good housing in the private rental market.

The CEO of Housing Australia, Scott Langford, will present the keynote address, providing a national perspective and we’re assembling panels of experts from the housing sector (private and public), researchers and industry experts, people with lived experience, and government decision-makers.

The panels at the one-day event will address, among other topics:

· The scope of housing need: the problem, gaps, and the lived experience)

· How are we going to build the houses?

· What will these communities look like?

The event will include a working lunch and networking drinks at the end of the day.