The Jobs and Skills Summit must consider the urgent need to expand social and affordable housing if it hopes to deal with core economic challenges such as productivity and labour mobility, according to key housing affordability advocates.

The joint call from the Community Housing Industry Association, National Shelter, Homelessness Australia and Everybody’s Home comes as a raft of recent data and research demonstrates the economic toll of inadequate housing options for Australians on low and modest incomes.

An Impact Economics report last week showed how the affordable housing shortage gripping regional Australia is blowing a hole in local economies worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as employers struggle to attract staff due to low vacancy rates and skyrocketing rent.

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