For the most part it won’t be fixed by any current major party – because promising to fix housing, health and education is something they always want for the next election… without ever fixing it. Seriously, waiting lists for people needing urgent help can be fixed, and never is.
We need comprehensive housing reform, like GST and Superannuation before it. A package of ideas:
Regulation moratorium. I’m sure 7 star energy, fire hazard whatever, termite whatever, are all covered well enough for the foreseeable future. So, no more changes – federal or state – for 10 years. That gives certainty for those designing homes.
Non-code housing. Permits given for housing that fails some code, with the owner signing a transferable waiver. An easy one is the numerous requirements for building in bushfire areas, even though the advice is to abandon your home. I mean if you can choose to die there with a hose, maybe you can choose to not have a special gutters.
Portable housing. Should be allowed on a rural property. If grey nomads can spend a year on the road in their caravan, then doing so on their own farm should be an option.
Super for mortgages. Housing is a great investment for your super, so why not use it for the deposit. If you sell the house, that money goes back into super, plus CPI. Everybody wins.
End shonky building. The industry is so full of rorts and scams. The actual houses, mostly, are well-made and the correct price. But builders regularly fogo government taxes etc, bribe building inspectors, fail to pay contractors, and then arise as a phoenix company. This means the loans they take out have additional risk, which means non-bank lending, which means the costs of a build go up, industry-wide. Meanwhile contractors charge extra to cover any potential failed debt.
Government oversight of builders. Houses are serious. People spend their whole lives and a huge part of their income on housing. Builders need strict financial regulation, like banks. Not red tape, just levels of solvency to avert going broke. Once they are building more than one home a week, they need to be “too big to fail”.
Owner corporation rorts. Too much power in the hands of one manager and a committee who just want a chat and some cake. The OC fees are through the roof in many places, greatly increasingly rental costs for apartments. We need more government intervention, more hand-holding, most committee members are not critical or vigilant enough. We need more than just “OCs have to get tenders”.
State bank. This one is so easy. It is impossible to lose money as a bank, so this becomes an asset to the nation. The most simple bank imaginable. Savings account and term deposits. And owner-occupied home loans. That is all. Cannot fail. Let the other banks fight over more exotic things, but the government gets the bread and butter.
State housing. The phrase “social housing” has crept in, to signify a mix of ideas with some housing given to the poor in any large development. In outer Melbourne, where housing is already cheap and nasty with ugly facades and miniscule back yards, where it is already cookie cutter… let the government control that, and make it cheaper via scale and fast-tracking.