Australia has more homes per adult than at any point in our history. So why is our housing crisis worse than ever? 

Professor Nicole Gurran’s been studying housing for 15 years, and she says the solutions to Australia's housing crisis are obvious – it’s the execution that’s failing, and most Australians are being distracted by media and politicians. 

Nicole explains why "cutting red tape" won't solve the problem, why  more than a million Australian households are living in housing stress, and what happened when government funding for social housing fell off a cliff in the mid-90s. 

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The Solutionists is a podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram, and @sydney.edu.au on Bluesky. 

This episode was produced by Liam Riordan with sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. Supervising producer is Sarah Dabro. Executive editors are Kellie Riordan, Jen Peterson-Ward, and Mark Scott. Strategist is Ann Chesterman. 

This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.