Our burning housing crisis rages on
Something has really got to give. Forget home ownership, forget renting, the average Australian is going to be homeless at this rate. The shortage of housing is a raging fire. There really is a housing shortage in Australia, this is a well-documented fact. It is also not new; we have been supplying less homes to market than need for over a decade. By the end of 2023 we were building less homes than back in 2016 by almost 40%.
Oh, and it is trending down. It’s crazy, it really is, because: Today in 2024 we are accepting new migrant every minute. More newcomers than ever, all at once, without enough houses and building less than we were 8 years ago. Getting housing within reach of young Australians is It is a pipe dream at this point. Watching the Government respond is like watching Albanese try to put out a fire with a bucket of petrol.
I don’t think our State and Federal Governments are up to the job. There is a genuine lack of leadership, they sit and hope that we don’t connect the dots, don’t see how much their bad decisions, weakness and poor policy hurts. It really hurts. First, they must slash immigration, deeply. Now.
Second, get out of the way of the housing industry, the taxes, regulations, planning systems and restrictions from Federal Government, State Government and Local Council is beyond need and unreasonable. Every bad idea, every bad policy, every well-meaning but silly addition adds dollars, time and resource to builds. It all slows supply making the problems even worse.
Third, acknowledge that the Government cannot, and will not, give everyone a free house; that the Government trying to build homes is a bad idea. Acknowledge that build to rent is un-Australian. Acknowledge that unless our generation comes to these and other hard realisations, there will be no next generation. It is that simple. Homes are the factories that produce the next generation. A person owning their own home is better for them than any super fund, it might not be as good for big finance or the Unions, but it is good for them, middle Australia, the quiet Australian, you, your mum and dad, your kids, me and mine. It’s good for our society – our Australia.
We need to refocus on what matters. Us, Australia and Australians, the next generation of great minds, farmers, builders, engineers, who knows they might invent wi-fi lawnmowers driven by the cochlear. We need leaders, now, that understand that we matter - that we deserve hope. We need leaders that understand that something has simply got to give.
lead, follow or get out of the way.
#Auspol #HousingCrisis #HIA #MBA #CostofLiving #Australia