This essay by Matthew Maltman is a must-read for the housing nerds.

Victoria's planning system turned 9 well-located homes into one. This is why we have a housing crisis.

What's the single biggest driver of the housing crisis? According to a new Grattan Institute report, it's our own urban planning rules. The path out of this crisis runs directly through bold reform of these rules. A must-read. 👇

In 1999, it took 55 days to get a permit for 10 dwellings. In 2023, it took 371 days. Victoria’s new reforms will get it back down to 60 days. This is why it’s critical these reforms pass →

Saying no to saying no. Victoria’s new planning bill will make it much easier to build homes across our state. But they are at risk of not being passed in the upper house →

Victoria is finally catching up. New planning reforms are aligning the state's development rules with the rest of Australia, reducing the bottlenecks that hold up new homes. But these reforms are at risk →

Victoria's new Planning Amendment Bill offers a glimpse of a future where our planning system says "yes" rather than "no" as the default. But this future is at risk if it does secure the crossbench's support. Join us next Thursday for an emergency letter-writing workshop!

🏗️ PRESS RELEASE For the first time, Victorian planning law will explicitly require decision-makers to "increase housing supply, diversity and affordability" as a core objective. This is a key foundation of a planning system that says yes, rather than no, by default →

City of Melbourne has taken FIVE years to plan *one* affordable housing project. Melbourne cannot afford these delays. It's time to get on with it.

It just turns out that upzoning expensive areas works?

We cannot allow NIMBYism to continue to segregate our city.

The Victorian Government intervenes after a local council delays social housing for FOUR years 👇

Overly broad application of heritage restrictions: ❌ make housing more expensive ❌ make our neighbourhoods older & less diverse We need to let our neighbourhoods change with the times!

Victoria's new rental reforms are a good step forward. But let's be clear: in a housing shortage, renters have little bargaining power. We need to build more homes AND have robust regulations to truly empower tenants.

First they came for Brighton and I didn't speak up because I was not rich...

Great to see the Victorian Government grandstanding for more housing.....

NIMBYism from local councils doesn't just affect private housing — it hurts social housing too. Restrictive zoning raises land costs, and the risks of local NIMBYs waging war on projects make it more difficult to build social housing where it's most needed.

Who really benefits from expansive heritage overlays? They directly increase housing costs for renters and homeowners, but the public benefit is far from clear. It's time to re-evaluate the trade-offs. 👇

Halloween has come early for Boroondara's planners... ...they might have to approve medium-density housing! 😱 😱

Does Melbourne have too much heritage? Our Lead Organiser, Jonathan O'Brien, discusses with ABC Melbourne Drive 👇

Disappointing to see Victoria's Police Minister oppose high-quality medium-density apartments in his own backyard. We need to allow *more* affordable housing options in quiet suburban streets!

The Battle for Mentone (2025)

Greensborough NIMBYs are having a normal one...

It's too early to judge the success of Victoria's planning reforms based on permit statistics before the first Townhouse Code-enabled permit was likely even approved!

It shouldn't take years to rezone well-located land for more housing. The newly announced Unlocking Strategic Sites pathway is another positive (small) step towards a more affordable Melbourne.

Ten-day subdivisions send clear signal: Victoria can move fast and build things. You love to see it.

Stonnington is claiming that their current strategy can deliver 17,000 homes *more* than the Victorian Government's housing target. However, they fail to mention that their strategy needs nearly the entirety of Stonnington to be demolished and rebuilt by 2051. Very feasible...

Disappointing to see a majority of City of Yarra councillors vote to kill the redevelopment of Piedimonte's supermarket despite the council officer's recommendation supporting the redevelopment.

The Victorian Government today has released the draft plans for the next 25 activity centres in its upzoning program. It's great to see more homes being enabled around our world-class train and tram network!

🎙️ Our lead organiser, @jonobri.com, appeared on the latest episode of "The Elephant in the Room" podcast, discussing the need for a realignment between the balance of progress and conservation. [Link in next post]

*Local councils ban medium-density housing in most of our suburbs* Local councils: "Why is nobody building the housing we banned?" 🤔🤔🤔

Remains a mystery why we have a housing shortage...

Are subsidised homes for the middle class better than social housing for those at risk of homelessness? Planning academics and Yarra’s mayor seem to think so. We support the DFP’s 3% levy for Victoria’s Social Housing Growth Fund, which means more social housing for more people.

A new paper highlights that while countries like Australia have seen construction productivity fall, NZ saw a boom in the 2010s. Their secret? Zoning reform. By allowing more medium-density housing in cities like Auckland, they supercharged their construction sector

We used to build 50 homes per planner annually, but now it’s less than 9. Alan Kohler covering our recent research note on planner productivity 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iEh...

The cost discrepancy between community and public housing, caused by the inconsistent application of GST, is a significant reason why we're seeing public housing builds decrease as a portion of our social housing stock.

Architect Rowan Opat is bang on the money here. We need to upzone to allow more competition into the market.

This 3-part podcast series on New Zealand's housing crisis is a must-listen for the housing policy wonks. Australia's story is slightly different, but the core ideas and themes remain the same.👇

They can't help but lie about us 💅

The Planning Institute of Australia's response to YIMBY Melbourne's research demonstrates exactly why our planning system is broken. We never said that there are too many planners. We said that the sector's productivity has collapsed. 👇

Our lead organiser, @jonobri.com, writes for @inflectionpoints.work about "The Problem with Urban Planning" 👇

Australia's cities have extremely low densities relative to their international counterparts. The idea that this low density is impossible to overcome is silly. This type of conservative thinking is partly to blame for the housing crisis.

Want a fairer, more equitable future for young Australians? It starts with unlocking productivity. Our very own @jonobri.com is joining this expert panel to unpack how we get there and what it means for the next generation. Don’t miss it 👇 events.humanitix.com/generation-p...

Fantastic piece from Shane Wright highlighting how well-intended planning rules can make us all poorer 👇 www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

The City of Sydney just introduced new net dwelling retention controls to stop old apartment buildings from being demolished and replaced with fewer large apartments. A well-intentioned move — but it could make the housing crisis worse. Here’s why:

The Vacant Residential Land Tax is great, but as Grattan Institute’s Brendan Coates says: “it’s difficult to enforce and could only have a marginal impact on unlocking housing.” The real solution is to build more homes. www.theage.com.au/national/vic...

Heritage madness, again. Heritage tensions threaten new retirement village for downsizers 👇

Less parking in new developments actually reduces car ownership and reliance on driving, shaping more sustainable transportation habits. Reducing parking minimums is good for affordability and sustainability!

You can't make this up. The City of Melbourne blocked the redevelopment of the former Cancer Council building due to its heritage. A downzoning of the area was just approved, again, due to heritage. The City of Melbourne is now considering taxing the owners for not developing!

Local government lobby groups mislead the public at critical junctures of the debate around planning reform. It's disappointing but increasingly common.