Australians are in the middle of a housing crisis. Demand outstrips supply. At the same time the country’s borders are opening further to help ease a widespread labour shortage.
The Federal Government plans a further boost to its social and affordable housing scheme that will see 1.2million new dwellings built over the next five years.
There is no easy fix to such a significant societal issue and without seeking a political stance we asked industry insiders the following:
Does this scheme address all concerns?
What do you think needs to occur to relieve the issues the come with low housing supply, rising home prices, and underlying cost of living pressures.
Here’s what some of our most highly regarded conveyancing colleagues offered:
GABRIEL SMITH, Licensed Conveyancer, BB Smith Conveyancing, NSW
“What we are seeing now are governments at all levels reaping what they have sown over the past 40 years.
“There has been a failure to invest in social and affordable housing close to places of employment and instead gentrification of inner-city areas traditionally inhabited by lower income families.
“Valuable taxation incentives such as negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions have been used to attract votes rather than to create infrastructure.
“All considered, residential subdivisions have been approved despite a lack of community facilities. There are no easy answers and no quick fixes.
“Real solutions will be uncomfortable for many and require an investment lifecycle longer than the election cycle.
“The longer we take to make hard decisions the longer the problems will persist and worsen.”
FILIA DRAGONE, Licensed Conveyancer, Shoreline Conveyancing, Victoria
“Whilst boosting the social and affordable housing scheme will assist with the current housing crisis, it does not address all the issues faced within the housing crisis itself.
“There are many who are literally living week to week with no means of being able to afford these new houses being built, barely getting by.
“We need to start from the bottom, working on the underlying issues faced by many Australians, by giving some breathing room on the cost-of-living pressures and interest rates.
“The high rising of interest rates has put pressure on those still waiting on houses to be finished, with many having to pull out of contracts and lose their deposits pushing them further away from owning a home.
“The injection to finish these houses has come too late for most that can no longer afford it.”
CHANTEL PRIDDY, Paralegal, Priority Legal, Queensland
“No, the scheme does not address all concerns in my opinion.
“I am concerned that by adding 1.2million new dwellings (affordable housing), this will have a detrimental effect on the building industry in a whole similar to what we saw in covid times.
“It is my belief that the costs of building materials will likely skyrocket from this action and as we saw over the covid period this will create a massive shortage of building materials, causing a significant increase to the overall costs of building which then saw many builders go into liquidation.
“We also know from this experience that we saw rents increase dramatically which has in retrospect caused a major issue in relation to the current housing shortage that I do not believe by building 1.2million new dwellings will fix.
“By spending so much on affordable housing, this is just a government ‘band aid’ fix that will create more problems than it will alleviate.”
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