As 70% of Australians worry that they’ll never own a house, our worsening housing affordability situation has, understandably, been a well-covered and over-analysed issue in the media.

Award-winning journalist, and independent writer and researcher Peter Mares says housing policy has failed its purpose of providing reliable affordable housing over every Australian’s head because “we treat housing as an asset, rather than an essential human service”.

His new book No Place Like Home: Repairing Australia’s Housing Crisis is out now.