Housing fix needs bold thinking

Fixing the nation’s housing problem requires bold thinking and action that go beyond Anthony Albanese’s plan to act as mortgage insurer of last resort for first-home buyers, which will only drive up prices. The solution is better planning, less red tape and more supply. The failure in May of a $5bn offer from the NSW government to buy Rosehill racecourse and redevelop it into a masterplanned mini-city with transport access to central Sydney is a microcosm of the difficulties being faced.

Rosehill is located 3km from Parramatta, which has become the geographic heart of Australia’s biggest city as suburbs have marched from the Pacific Ocean fringe towards the Blue Mountains across decades. The $5bn offer represented 128 times the value of the land. Australian Turf Club chairman Peter McGauran, who supported the sale, said: “If someone offers to purchase your house for 128 times its value, I think you should sell it no matter how much sentiment or memories are attached to it.” ATC members did not agree and NSW Premier Chris Minns has been forced back to the drawing board on how to deliver on his share of Labor’s housing target.

On Tuesday, Mr Minns characterised the housing issue as an existential one for the future of Sydney. He told a meeting of business leaders that Sydney would be left “without a future” because the state was losing twice as many young people as it gained every year despite being the largest city for inbound migration from any jurisdiction in the country. The dispersion of young people seeking opportunities in a less expensive location is not always a bad thing. But what it means for Sydney and other cities in housing crisis is a skills and brain drain that eventually will change the character of the city.

In terms of generational equity, it will make governing more difficult across a broad political front. And it is a missed opportunity to think outside the box on how to deliver the level of accommodation and type of lifestyle that people who are currently locked out of the housing market need. Without big plans such as Rosehill, what is left for Sydney is an equally controversial plan for high-rise infill development along transport corridors where there is limited opportunity to develop the infrastructure and social facilities needed to support it.

These developments are inevitable, but what is needed is a historical perspective, bold thinking and master planning of the sort that has transformed many of the world’s other major cities.