We’re all property developers now. Here is Cotello’s SMH:
McDonald’s has joined local councils, churches, RSL clubs and supermarkets in the growing list of unlikely property developers who have discovered that their lucrative properties are worth even more with tall towers.
…Committee for Sydney planning policy manager Estelle Grech welcomed the fast food giant’s move into residential development.
“If existing landowners like churches, supermarkets, RSL clubs and even food businesses like McDonald’s are in a position to redevelop well-located sites, why not partner with developers to deliver much-needed homes?”
The political focus on the housing crisis has also prompted businesses such as Woolworths to enter the residential market, said Property Council of Australia’s NSW executive director, Katie Stevenson.
The Committee for Sydney should be renamed the Committee of Developer Whores.
What could possibly go wrong with the above? Let me list the issues:
- defected constructions;
- crowding out of quality developers;
- corporate-controlled leases with higher rents;
- dilettante developer bankruptcies;
- misallocated capital;
- ghettoisation of youth;
- ongoing shortage.
This is not an answer to the housing shortage. It is the symptom of the desperate illness of the failure of the political economy to create an economy with rising living standards.
It is defaulting to crazy crush loading and profiteering in place of reform. Not least Costello’s Nine, which is cheerleading to boost Domain, its financial lifeline.
But wait, there’s more pretending to care at The Guardian:
When Byron Bay council wrote to Matt Bruce to inform him it planned to demolish his tiny home, it included the number for crisis accommodation.
“Council acknowledges that the attached … Demolish Works Order .. may have the effect of making any resident of the subject dwelling homeless,” its letter reads. “Therefore council provides the contact details of the following agencies to assist in finding alternative accommodation.”
Tiny homes are not a solution, either. They are just another excuse for failure.
There is only one answer, and we all know it.
Stop quantitative peopling.
