Housing affordability has recently become an issue in major areas of Australia. According to the annual Demographia report on housing affordability, Sydney is rank second on least affordable housing (Beer, 2017). First home buyers have great barriers to purchase property in Sydney or Melbourne (Cocks, 2017), the price of properties also affects rental prices increase to a high point.
Affordable housing refers to the range of housing options such as Government owned, social housing by charities and low-cost private housing (Cocks, 2017). The number of affordable houses in Australia has decreased over many years in result low-income families has to compete with others in private rental markets. Due to the large amounts of investment in Australia, there would not be a large change in next 20 years (Cocks, 2017).
Affordable housing is a complex issue, it counts many factors in minimising the effect of this issues. It would involve government regulations on tax, investment policies and regulation on the development of housing. I am interested in how regulation on the development of housing can contribute to resolving the issue. I think that the regulations should also contribute to environmental sustainability as well as social and economic.
In terms of built environment in affordable housing, I think that one possible solution for this issue could be urbanization of areas that surrounds the CBD. Urbanization of surrounding areas would reduce the need to expand the boundary of the city which reduces the development of extra city infrastructure. It also provides an opportunity for rural areas to develop into sustainable areas. For example, the public traffic network can be renovated by the development of light rail which improves the connection of local areas and also connections toward CBD.
Another example would be the introduction to mid or high-rise residential buildings. The government could develop this high-rise residential as government owned housing and provide to low-income families. High rise residential can provide large supply while reducing the land usage for construction. These new buildings can be designed as ‘Green buildings’ which contributes towards environmental sustainability.
Furthermore, the renovation of the areas would allow for improvement in another aspect such as economic and social. For example, the development of the area would increase in employment opportunities. The higher density would also increase social connection and activities occur within the areas.
Although the idea of urbanization involved with complex restriction in the reality. I believe that in co-operating with other government policies on limiting investment or supports for the low-income families. The urbanization would contribute in resolving the issue of affordable housing and also leads Sydney into a more sustainable city.
Andrew Cocks. (February 2017). Just as there’s no universal housing affordability crisis, there’s no one- size- fits- all solution. [Online] Domain. Available at: https://www.domain.com.au/news/just-as-theres-no-universal-housing-affordability-crisis-theres-no-onesizefitsall-solution-20170223-guihou/[Accessed 19 March 2017]
Andrew Beer. (January 2017). A housing affordability crisis in regional Australia? Yes, and here’s why. [Online] Domain. Available at: https://www.domain.com.au/news/a-housing-affordability-crisis-in-regional-australia-yes-and-heres-why-20170129-gu150v/ [Accessed 19 March 2017]
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