A national roadmap for improving the building quality of Australian housing stock

Housing that is in poor physical condition has direct negative health impacts for occupants, is more expensive to run and reduces Australia’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This research investigates what is needed to lift the quality of Australian housing to align with international standards so as to address problems associated with aged and ill-performing housing stock in both the owned and rented sectors. The research explores different strategies for improving housing through voluntary programs and mandatory legislation, and found: a national strategy to improve residential building quality should be developed mandatory disclosure of dwelling energy performance could improve how markets consider the performance of houses offered for sale or lease more appropriate accounting methods of the benefits provided by improved housing standards are needed. To improve the building quality of Australian housing stock, it is important to investigate how and why governments make policy about the quality of Australian housing stock. Change is difficult because of both the challenges of getting government attention and pressure from strong property industry lobbyists, but it is not impossible. One of the sharp lessons from the case studies is that having research evidence is not enough; change needs key elements such as building a convincing narrative to tell a plausible story of a social problem (including coverage of the evidence in the popular media) together with a ‘coalition of support’. A national strategy to improve residential building quality should be developed and include the following regulatory mechanisms: improved performance standards for new houses; mandatory disclosure of dwelling energy performance; and minimum housing standards for the rental sector.