Australian governments need to allocate more taxpayer dollars to social and public housing, to make housing more affordable for the young and the poor. In this submission, Grattan CEO John Daley, Fellow Brendan Coates and Associate Trent Wiltshire say the Commonwealth Government’s proposed social housing bond could help, but no amount of innovative financing can paper over the need for more funding. All levels of government need to do more to improve housing affordability more generally. The Commonwealth can reduce demand, by abolishing negative gearing, reducing the capital gain tax discount, and including owner-occupied housing in the Age Pension assets test. The states can boost supply, through better land-use planning and zoning laws, and by releasing more greenfield land.