The Future of Housing - Part 5
Continuing our look at the Environmental, Financial and Health impacts of the 3 current strategies being employed to fight the housing affordability fight –
1. Open up more land for development and increase supply
2. Reduce Government Fees & Charges
3. Create Smaller Products
Now let’s focus on Affordability V Location
The major problem in capital cities is the constant battle between affordability and location. The closer you want to be to the CBD the higher the value of the property. So people tend to locate in a radius of the CBD that fits their available budget. This is particularly problematic for young couples starting out who have limited borrowing potential and are also looking at something of a sufficient size with location to schools and amenities that may suit a future family.
Affordability is often dictated by location. The further from a city centre the cheaper the property. But in that equation the following key items must be considered, and if not considered, they will begin to impact on our social and environmental welfare –
· Its impact on property value
· Its impact on living and travel expenses
· The social and emotional impact on family time
· Environmental Impact
· Cost of providing Infrastructure
The further we push out, the greater the strain on infrastructure. It is better to concentrate residential in greater density in terms of public infrastructure cost, but that on its own does not solve the issue of affordability.
This is where the strategy of changing our way of thinking about housing needs comes into play. Instead of thinking small first home, then upgrade when we have a family, then downsize when the kids have left home, as a society we need to start thinking along the lines of starting small but with ability to grow the house size in that location, intergenerational housing designs, and ageing in place design. This has been happening in Europe and some parts of Asia for many years and has been driven by affordability…just like we are starting to see the beginnings of in Australia.
Of course this isn’t a magical cure, but it is one very large part of the strategy aimed at housing affordability into the future that needs to be debated with greater enthusiasm.
Next week…A new design concept
John Rosel