Grounded Submission to the Productivity Roundtable
On 25 July 2025, Grounded made a submission to the Productivity Roundtable. The Economic Reform Roundtable aims to build consensus ways to improve productivity, enhance economic resilience and strengthen budget sustainability. It will bring together a mix of leaders from business, unions, civil society, government and other experts.
At Grounded we believes the Australia’s housing system is failing households, and it’s failing productivity. Housing stress reduces geographic mobility, suppresses entrepreneurship, deepens inequality, and inflates public costs. A more efficient, secure, and equitable housing system is now a productivity imperative.
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) offer a tested, long-term solution that delivers affordability, stability, and greater return on public investment. With targeted federal support, CLTs could become a key pillar of Australia’s national productivity strategy.
We also outline macroeconomic interventions to transition from a land-based boom–bust cycle to a productivity-led model grounded in environmental and community resilience.
HOW AFFORDABLE HOUSING IMPROVES PRODUCTIVITY
> Workforce Mobility
Unaffordable housing near job centres forces people into long commutes or out of the workforce altogether. CLTs provide secure, well-located homes for key workers in health, education, care, and other essential services.
> Entrepreneurship & Participation
High rents and mortgages suppress risk-taking. Secure, affordable tenure allows people to retrain, start businesses, or take on flexible work—critical in a transitioning economy.
> Public Sector Efficiency
CLTs reduce the long-term burden on welfare, rental subsidies, and crisis housing. They also deliver lasting public benefit from one-off land investments—avoiding perpetual subsidy cycles.
> Intergenerational Fairness
CLTs permanently remove land from speculative cycles, helping reverse widening intergenerational inequality—one of Australia’s most entrenched productivity drags.