An informative night was held at Council Chambers on April 27 to discuss what can be done with regard to the housing crisis.
It was attended by about 50 people including the Council Administrator, members of staff and Federal Member for Robertson Gordon Reid.
A lot of helpful comments were made some of which we hope will be followed up.
What a shame though that not one State Member of Parliament bothered to attend.
When the Labor Government was in Opposition we were constantly being told they could do nothing because they were in Opposition.
Now they are in power it appears they are too busy congratulating themselves to actually talk to their constituents and hear the ideas that are being given.
We can only hope that they bother to contact Council and listen to the results of the meeting.
If governments are serious about the housing crisis then a state of emergency should be adopted.
No developments should be approved that do not meet specific criteria.
Necessary infrastructure (should be) already in place.
This would mean housing could be built quickly without delays because of needed essential services.
Land (must be) cheap.
Building houses on land that has cost $500,000 a block is out of the question.
Governments could legislate and give themselves the right to resume land being held by developers and then sell the land cheaply.
Councils do not have the same ability to do this since most excess land is either Crown or State owned.
Housing (should be) affordable.
Europe now builds houses in factories and they can erect a good house in weeks rather than months.
All (that is) needed is factories such as the old Bunnings factory in West Gosford and the European know-how and this could be done here.
There are firms which could do the same here but they seem to be geared to the cheap, poorly constructed movable trailer homes which do not last.
Builders should be encouraged to stop building expensive homes and as a matter of urgency be required to build the affordable homes instead.
There needs to be a return to a Housing Commission to oversee this.
Email, Apr 30
Geoff Mitchell, Kariong
The housing crisis can’t be solved at local government level whilstever immigration is out of control at the Federal level.
Only this week it was announced that immigration this year was expected to top 400000 people against a projected 280000.
Induced demand beyond supply capacity (skills, number of tradespeople, materials) inevitably cause significant price rises.
Not much use whingeing about a problem our governments created.