Prime Minister John Howard says that a lack of residentially zoned land is to blame for Australia's growing affordable housing shortage.
"In the face of rising interest rates, the Government is trying to shifting the blame for a dearth of affordable housing to the states, saying a shortage of land, not interest rates, is the problem.
Mr. Howard today repeated his message that if the states released more land, housing would not be so expensive.
'People argue ... that housing is less affordable now than it was previously. Why? It's not because of interest rates. Interest rates are half of what they were 20 years ago,' he told ABC radio.
"Now why is it less affordable? Because the cost of land has gone up. Why has the cost of the land gone up? Because too little land is released."
Mr Howard said the states should release more land, which would bring down the total cost of building a home.
He accused state governments of using housing development as a revenue raiser, charging home buyers for the cost of providing services historically provided by local and state governments.
Mr Howard said urban sprawl, which in many Australian capitals already exceeded more than 100km, may be a price the nation had to pay to solve the problem of unaffordable housing."
FULL STORY: Sprawl trade off for cheap housing: PM
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.
The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.
Engineers Gave America's Roads an Almost Failing Grade — Why Aren't We Fixing Them?
With over a trillion dollars spent on roads that are still falling apart, advocates propose a new “fix it first” framework.
The European Cities That Love E-Scooters — And Those That Don’t
Where they're working, where they're banned, and where they're just as annoying the tourists that use them.
Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)