Explore the latest wellbeing insights revealing the differing health, income, housing, and environment findings across Australia's regions.

The Give Me Shelter report, a cost-benefit analysis by SGS Economics and Planning for Housing All Australians, found that investing in helping young homeless people by providing accommodation and wraparound services would provide an economic benefit to Australia.

In an ABC News interview, Dr Marcus Spiller discusses the future of Melbourne's outer suburbs. Highlighting that these suburbs are projected to see an influx of 1 million residents by 2056. This projection takes into account various changes in living preferences and urban development strategies, signaling the need for thoughtful planning to accommodate the growth while maintaining the areas' appeal.

The rising cost of living has put significant pressure on households, with around 11,500 experiencing mortgage stress in the past year. A report called "Future Campbelltown" by the Committee for Sydney highlights that Campbelltown has a higher proportion of homes with mortgages compared to the rest of Sydney. Jeremy Gill, Principal and Partner at SGS and key contributor to the report, states that the income of Campbelltown residents is typically lower, making them more vulnerable to rising interest rates.

Out-priced city dwellers have been moving to the regions but, in doing so, these homeowners have exposed themselves to a different problem – the cost of increased climate change risks. Director and partner at SGS Economics and Planning, Ellen Witte, believes it’s a problem politicians need to fix. “There is a big failure in both the climate change area and the housing area,” Ms Witte said. At the moment there are no clear rules on where to build new residential development in a way that plans for and mitigates climate change risks at any government level, she explained. “At a local level...

The NSW Productivity Commission in November released its final report on the Review of Infrastructure Contributions in NSW (PC Review). It controversially ruled out capturing a share of windfall gains made from rezonings or the granting of additional development, even though this is widely used in voluntary planning agreements (VPAs) and state infrastructure contributions (SIC). Planning controls ration access to development rights for the benefit and amenity of the community, and enable those...