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Unlocking the housing crisis
Could a cap on excessive wealth and asset ownership hold the key to addressing the housing crisis in Australia?
In this conversation we explore the philosophical and ethical dimensions of home ownership – who’s left out, and why? What are the impacts for generations, when it comes to the future, social justice, labour and productivity, and even family formation? How can we rethink policy and systems to be fair and sustainable? Hear from leading thinkers:
- Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns who is a scholar on limitarianism, a political-philosophical view she’s been developing over the last decade. Limitarianism in its most general sense is the idea that in the world as it is, no one person should have more than a certain upper limit of valuable goods, in particular income and wealth.
- Nicole Gurran, Professor and Chair of Urbanism at the University of Sydney. Nicole is an urban planner and policy analyst whose research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability.
- Eliza Owen, Head of Research at CoreLogic Australia. Eliza has presented extensively on key issues around housing in Australia, including housing affordability, credit conditions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing market performance.
- Host Jess Scully, author, curator and city-maker, and advocate for the creative economy and the role of cities in a fair future. During her time as City of Sydney Councillor Jess led the push for housing reform. Her critically acclaimed book Glimpses of Utopia offers hope and practical strategies to reshape our world to be equitable and sustainable for all.
This event was held on Friday 4 August 2023 at the University of Sydney.
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The speakers
Professor Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney
Nicole is an urban planner and policy analyst whose research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability. She has led and collaborated on a series of research projects on aspects of urban policy, housing, sustainability and planning, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian Urban and Housing Research Institute (AHURI), as well as state and local government.
Eliza Owen, Head of Research at CoreLogic Australia.
Eliza Owen was appointed the Head of Research at CoreLogic Australia in 2020. She has spent almost a decade as a housing market researcher, having previously worked at Domain Group and Residex. Eliza has reported extensively on key issues around housing in Australia, including housing affordability, credit conditions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing market performance. In addition to her role at CoreLogic, Eliza is passionate about sharing her knowledge with broader consumer audiences. She is a regular media commentator, has unpacked housing affordability on the TEDx stage, and has presented to thousands across the real estate, finance and construction industries.
Professor Ingrid Robeyns, Utrecht University
Ingrid works on issues in contemporary political philosophy and applied ethics, and holds the Chair in Ethics of Institutions at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. She is specialised in applied and "non-ideal" ethics and political philosophy, and in interdisciplinary and synthetic research, as well as in the development of normative frameworks, theories, and methods that are needed to do this kind of research.
Until the end of 2022, Ingrid is working on the synthesis of the Fair Limits Project, which examines the distributive rule that there should be upper limits to how many resources it is morally permissible to have.
Host: Jess Scully, author and curator
Jess Scully is an author, city-maker and advocate for the creative economy and the role of cities in a fair future. She was an elected Councillor of the City of Sydney from 2016 to 2023 and Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney from 2019 to 2022. Over a 20-plus-year creative career Jess has worked as a festival director, public art curator, cultural strategist, policy adviser, magazine editor and radio host. She is currently a consultant to the World Bank on sustainable urbanism. Her first book, Glimpses of Utopia: Real Ideas for a Fairer, is published by Pantera Press.
Header image and event photography: credit Michael Amendolia for the University of Sydney.
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