The housing crisis has been decades in the making but we cannot afford decades to solve it.

Despite a lot of Commonwealth and state government attention in the last three years, little has been achieved, especially in social and affordable housing.

UK economist Mariana Mazzucato, in her book Mission Economy, might consider it a “wicked” problem that requires a “mission” approach such as used to put a man on the moon. This means that we don’t set a budget and do what can be achieved within that budget, but we set a goal and do what it takes to realise that goal.

In their recent book, Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson analyse the housing crisis in the US and determine that adequate supply will only be achieved if unnecessary regulation and zoning restrictions are removed and governments act to overcome NIMBYISM.

While older women are the most rapidly growing group of homeless in Australia, the housing crisis affects every generation, even those who own their own home. The shortage of affordable rentals in urban areas is crippling business, especially in the service areas where lower paid workers cannot afford accommodation.

There is a cohort of children, perhaps as many as 15-20%, being raised in housing insecurity whose life-chances are being crippled by chronic stress. Some of these children will grow into a life of crime affecting even those who think they are comfortable in their mortgage-free housing.

Homelessness is due to a lack of housing supply, rather than intrinsic issues such as mental ill-health, addiction or poverty. A Housing First approach, such as used in Finland is the only effective solution.

There are myriad causes for the lack of housing supply. Considering housing as an asset rather than an essential life requirement has led to a reliance on private development and the maintenance of high house prices. Tax concessions, introduced by the Howard Government, have aggravated the problem.

Over-regulation and zoning restrictions have made it difficult and more costly to construct houses and forced development onto green-field sites rather than inner urban areas where people, especially older people, want to live.

There are shortages of tradespeople and materials while alternative solutions such as modular housing are restricted by state and local government policies. Dual occupancy is also restricted by some local government regulations.

The only effective approach to this “wicked” problem is for all three levels of government to work together on plans with short-, medium- and longer-term goals and timelines.

The role of the Commonwealth Government is to set the priority and to provide adequate funds to the states, especially for public and affordable housing. Immigration policy should ensure the availability of trained tradespeople in the short-term.

The role of the state government is to develop policy to remove unnecessary regulations and zoning restrictions and to provide appropriate infrastructure. TAFE courses to train tradespeople need to be expanded and perhaps used to build accommodation on available government land as part of the training. Innovative solutions such as co-housing, co-operative housing, Homeshare, and modular housing need to be supported.

The role of local government is to identify available buildings or land for “meanwhile use”, to ease any regulations obstructing dual occupancy and to identify opportunities for medium-density development near transport corridors, commercial areas and public facilities.

It is hard to see how any meaningful attack can be made on this critical issue without planning involving all three levels of government and including all the key stakeholders, private, public and NGOs. This planning process needs to be led by the NSW Department of Planning.

LGAs could be collated into natural geographical groups such as Lower Hunter (LGAs of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Maitland and Cessnock) to reduce the planning costs. The planning process should take no more than 12 months and determine immediate, temporary, social, affordable and market housing needs.

Obstacles such as regulations, zoning, lack of tradespeople and materials should be identified. All available solutions such as medium- to higher-density corridor developments, meanwhile use of vacant buildings and land, dual occupancy, modular housing, Homeshare, co-operative housing and supportive housing need to be considered and possible funding sources identified.

Plans will be of little use, however, without short-, medium- and longer-term goals, timelines and responsibilities. We cannot let another generation grow in the chronic stress of housing insecurity.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.