NSW Affordable Housing Network is officially launched.

The NSW Affordable Housing Network and its flagship Affordable Housing Doctoral Training Network have officially launched as a statewide collaboration to tackle housing affordability, innovation and resilience. Established at the request of the NSW Vice-Chancellors Committee (NSW VCC), the initiative brings together expertise across planning, housing policy, economics and finance, social and community outcomes, engineering, architecture, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), climate resilience and child protection. For government and industry partners, the Network is designed as a single, organised entry point to access coordinated university capability, reducing fragmentation and accelerating practical, evidence-based solutions to NSW’s housing emergency.

Central to the initiative is a multi-university doctoral training centre that will co-design PhD topics with government, industry and community partners on live delivery challenges, including planning reform and supply, homelessness prevention, housing for vulnerable groups, MMC and delivery innovation, net-zero housing, and governance and finance reforms. Following concept discussions in early 2025, presentation to the NSW VCC in April 2025, and briefings to the Waratah Research Network in July and November 2025, the NSW VCC approved the initiative in October 2025. With internal coordination across eight universities underway, the first coordinated PhD cohort and government–industry roundtables are planned for 2026, alongside an open invitation for stakeholders to engage through advisory roles, topic co-design and the identification of high-impact demonstration projects.