Academic Calls for ‘Right to Housing’ as Young Australians Struggle to Buy a Home

The former associate director of UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre warns some Australians may be indefinitely stuck renting.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers addresses the National Press Club in The Great Hall in Canberra, Australia on May 13, 2026. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

For generations, the Australian dream followed a familiar script: leave home, find work, buy a house, and raise a family.

But as housing costs surge that pathway is now more the exception rather than the rule.