The United Kingdom, Canada and Europe could offer a way forward for Australians trapped in a never-ending housing "nightmare".
Politicians, international leaders and local innovators came together at the MCG on Thursday for the Australian Co-operative Housing Alliance's annual summit.
Co-ops are a form of community-run housing, with the alliance pitching the non-profit and collective ownership model as the "missing piece" of Australia's affordable housing puzzle.
In Canada, more than 250,000 people live in co-operative housing.
They make up nearly 60 per cent of Switzerland's non-profit rental market and 17 per cent of Sweden's total housing.
While alliance members manage almost 3500 co-op properties worth nearly $2 billion, they still only account for less than 0.1 per cent of all housing in Australia.
Home ownership was no longer achievable for many Australians and renters remained subject to the personal and financial circumstances of an "unknown landlord", alliance chair Liz Thomas said.
She said policy-makers should not be "agnostic" when considering affordable housing funding options.
"In the United Kingdom, Canada, across Europe and around the world, co-ops are proving that housing can be done differently, at scale, sustainably and with people at the centre," Ms Thomas said.
"What can Australia learn from other countries to create a viable alternative to the great Australian dream for those who are experiencing the nightmare of housing insecurity?"
The Albanese government's social housing and homelessness special envoy Josh Burns, state Liberal MP Chris Crewther and state Labor MP turned independent Will Fowles were among the summit guests.
A rising star within federal Labor's ranks, Mr Burns indicated there was room for co-ops to become a bigger part of Australia's housing mix as the government eyes "security of tenure".
"Housing is not about bricks and mortar," he said in a speech.
"It's about safety, it's about security, it's about the foundations of life."
He wrote a 2021 policy paper entitled "The Crumbling Australian Dream" and conceded the trends of rising housing insecurity and declining home ownership were "only getting worse".
Almost half of residents in his inner-Melbourne electorate of Macnamara live in rentals and the number was "skyrocketing", he added.
He pointed to the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator and $10.9 billion Housing Australia Future Fund as the federal government's "main mechanisms" for speeding up construction and boosting supply.
With the third round of the housing future fund opening soon, Mr Burns said he wanted a level playing field and declared his door was open to co-op providers.
"We're keen to ensure co-op housing organisations are not excluded," he said.
