YIMBYs misaimed focus on council a gift to housing developers

Communal living was popular in the 1960s; an entire generation built a collectivist model of equity, inclusion and environmental sustainability in city share houses, regional farms and forest communes. But, as wealth contagion spread and populations grew, housing developers saw an opportunity.

The Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) movement, which started in the 1980s, fought to preserve neighbourhood character and property values. It sought to save the ever-shrinking green open spaces from the developers bulldozers, just as the systemic neglect and sell-off of public housing became popular with the aspirational voter.

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When the John Howard Coalition government supercharged negative gearing in 1999 with a 50% capital gains tax break, homes became investments and tenants became cash cows. Politicians ensured there were no limits on personal investment property gain.

Then the 2007 global financial crisis hit and mortgage credit suddenly dried up. Regulators stepped in, over-tightening mortgage criteria to ensure banks would only lend to people who already had money, increasing the pressure on rents.

At this point, the home ownership dream became a mirage for anyone without a guarantor. Supply and demand had been officially hijacked.

Now, amid terrifying affordability statistics and with families living in tents and cars, communal living and shared spaces are again becoming popular — out of sheer desperation rather than choice.

The Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) movement believes that housing precarity is so severe that, regardless of aesthetics, mass high density development with less council regulations is the answer.

Contrary to the accepted economic convention, they do not believe negative gearing and capital gains is a significant part of the problem.

Chair of YIMBY Sydney Justin Simon told Green Left that the group does “not have a formal position on tax........

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