We have a public housing problem. My maverick idea is why not take some of the concepts from Singapore & overseas to fix our issues?
HDB Singapore, low-cost housing does not look run-down tenement style ghettos. People live there with pride & definitely better than the rising rent & unaffordable houses we have.
We're also hung-up on 3BR properties coz banks & builders usually just like those. But we have so many homeless, solo singles, single parents who will be ok with an affordable safe 1-2 BR.
We have many lonely elderly & youth, not enough childcare, but if we have high-rise complexes with plazas & gardens, where it is possible to interact then maybe we won't be as lonely & isolated coz it is multi-generation.
So why can't we 'force' the government yo build & maintain these? Sell to people at near-cost or rent. The properties can't be sold to free market so it protects the inventory so only eligible people can buy.
Source: PrettyPrincess2024
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This sub’s worst nightmare lol
Singapore is such a great example of good governance. Right next door and yet we never seem to learn from it.
Another example – the COE system for paying for the cost of cars is brilliant.
It doesn’t work because Singapore imports migrants to do the job, cramp them and then they are back to Johor Bharu (Malaysia) afterwards.
They have a 2nd class system working there, like Filipino maids, and migrant workers.
A skilled Migrant construction worker can earn between $900 to $1600 per month. That equates to $209 – $372 per week average. Do you think our tradies earn that level of income per week? (Check Google if you like)
If you want that, Australia needs to follow that to allow affordable housing. And there’s no affordable housing solution because it’s literally expensive to build in its current form.
That approach might be too communist for Australia lol.
Allocation of HDB is needs based, basically the state wants you to make babies. Higher priority and larger residences if you have more children.
Forget applying if you’re unmarried, the social expectation is that you live with your parents until you get married and move out to your HDB. You can apply early if you’re engaged to get on the waitlist but if you break the engagement you lose your spot.
If you never marry, the state deems you “finished” at 40 years old at which point you get a small HDB flat so your parents can be rid of you.
Labor Chifley had to deal with a housing crisis and huge immigration with post-WW2. Instead of restricting immigration, they decided the best option was to supply, supply, supply… by the government. The government housing project by was so enormous that 26% of new dwellings in the first year of operation was public housing. Then Liberal government believed private ownership was better than public ownership, and thus successive governments since then went with private-everything, protect-private-with-1-storey-zoning, etc.
The old Labor party had solved housing crisis v1. For comparison, this year non-private dwelling totals since 2022 (March, pre-Labor win in May 2022) in total non-private housing and % of total:
2022: 3,011 1.73% (Last months of LNP gov)
2023: 3,397 1.93% (Greens vote against HAFF)
2024: 2,638 1.48% (Greens voted for HAFF)
2025: 3,463 2.00% (More than a year later)
Some statistics:
https://www.housingdata.gov.au/visualisations/home-ownership/home-ownership-by-age-group
https://www.housingdata.gov.au/visualisations/home-ownership/household-tenure
https://www.housingdata.gov.au/visualisations/social-housing/wait-lists
https://www.housingdata.gov.au/visualisations/social-housing/dwellings-households-and-household-occupants