News about halting development and planning proposals in the greater Sydney metropolitan area may align with a ‘politically correct’ agenda particularly with an upcoming State election, but it spells disaster for young people trying to get into the housing market.
Sydney is Australia’s major centre for employment and new immigrants. They need somewhere to live and failing to keep up with housing demand just pushes up the cost for dwellings and competition particularly at the more affordable end of the market.
We may be seeing a temporary slow-down in sale of dwellings in some areas, but the reality is the demand will continue to rise if supply continues to be reduced. It takes many years to have major developments approved by the bureaucracy, and it will take many more to rebuild housing supply to rectify the impact of cancelling or delaying approvals.
Actions by some Liberal MPs to call for a halt to planning approvals for housing in their electorates and supported by local councils, is contrary to the Premier’s agenda and the party’s agenda for increased housing supply. Worse still, it shows a very narrow understanding of the real issues with housing development.
Everyone understands that providing more housing means more demands for services and infrastructure, as well as greater population density, but smart planning doesn’t have to mean existing residents get caught in more traffic jams or crammed onto packed trains as a result.
In fact, services and infrastructure funded by Government in parallel with the huge revenue from housing development will actually provide our city with more effective and efficient public transport, better roads underground that move more vehicles more quickly to key destinations and away from local roads.
It just needs Vision!! Not an anti-development Vision, but an integrated infrastructure/housing development Vision.