Sydney's housing affordability approach is failing. Without changes to planning, supply, and investment settings, more residents will be squeezed out.
The Opinion Desk is a contributing writer covering opinion and public affairs for The Sydney Times.
Sydney's housing crisis is no longer a problem for the distant future or for a marginalised few. It has become a defining feature of the city's economic and social landscape, shaping where people live, how they save, and whether they can imagine staying long term.
The policy response so far has been piecemeal. There have been adjustments to developer contributions, modest changes to planning codes, and targeted support for first home buyers. None of these measures have altered the fundamental arithmetic: demand continues to outstrip supply, and prices remain out of reach for a growing share of the population.
The debate over housing supply is often framed as a binary choice between development and preservation. In practice, the city needs both. What it does not need is a planning system that makes it equally difficult to build well-designed medium-density housing in established suburbs as it does to construct high-rise towers in the inner city.
Streamlining approvals for missing-middle housing, while maintaining design standards, would allow more people to access well-located neighbourhoods without the kind of abrupt change that generates community resistance.
Australia's tax settings have long encouraged property as a vehicle for wealth accumulation. Changing this is politically difficult, but the current configuration is compounding the problem by treating housing primarily as an investment rather than a home.
Any serious solution must address both supply and demand. Without action on both fronts, the market will continue to favour those who already own property, widening the gap between the housed and the unhoused.
The state government's housing target is welcome, but it will not be met without structural reform to planning, infrastructure funding, and tax settings. Sydney deserves a more honest conversation about what it wants to be and who it is willing to make room for.
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