Join Voices of Malvern and Voices of Ashwood for an evening on one of the biggest issues facing our communities: housing.

Malvern and Ashwood are being asked to make room for more homes, including higher-density living. The challenge is doing it well, so that more people can live here without losing the green spaces, local character and lifestyle that make these suburbs such great places to live.

We hear a lot about planning rules, interest rates and immigration. But new research shows that one of the biggest handbrakes on housing supply gets far less attention: the boom-and-bust cycle of the market itself.

When the market booms, builders scramble for workers and materials, costs rise and quality can suffer. When it busts, projects stall, skilled tradespeople leave the industry and capacity is lost. The result is that we build fewer homes than we need, and housing stays out of reach for too many people.

The evening will be a panel discussion with:

• Andrea Sharam, Director of the RMIT-AHURI Research Centre. Andrea led recent national research for AHURI showing that market volatility is a key barrier to building more homes.
• Frank Rizzo, Managing Director of FTR Construction & Development. A residential builder for over 25 years who has seen the industry's ups and downs firsthand.
• Christina Zigouras, Independent Candidate for Malvern. A trained building designer who knows how the built environment shapes communities.
• Hitendra Joshi, Independent Candidate for Ashwood. An electrical Engineer with more than 27 years’ experience in engineering and infrastructure leadership.

Together they'll unpack what's holding back housing supply, how our suburbs can grow without losing what we love about them, and what it all means for local families, renters and first-home buyers, before throwing to you for question time.