Gympie Today (21/3/25) provided opposing views on what is required to resolve the current housing crisis.
One person urges the government to scrap Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax discounts.
The other said that changing Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax is not needed.
Governments were encouraged to invest in more schools, roads, railways, and hospitals, but no mention of increasing taxes to pay for those.
The ideas in the articles worthy of progressing are that policies need to be supply-focused rather than demand-focused (e.g., first-home buyer schemes).
But as soon as one suggests opening up affordable smaller blocks of land or building social housing, neighbours complain.
Do we reduce migration to decrease demand on housing, or do we increase migration so there are more workers to build houses?
One issue not mentioned in the articles was whether the housing we build is what is needed.
In short, we are building bigger and bigger homes for smaller families.
Indeed, Australia has on average the largest houses in the world.
And those with the money will not down flats to build their own large house.
Do we need as much space as we think?
Private enterprise will build what is most profitable, a few larger houses rather than more smaller houses.
And they build to meet the market.
There is no quick and easy solution to the housing crisis.
And governments cannot solve it.
The solution lies in governments, businesses, individuals, and communities putting aside their own wants to think about how to make housing more affordable and plentiful.
– Dan Stewart,
East Deep Creek
