Melbourne YIMBY FAQ
Answering NIMBY claims
YIMBY Melbourne has recently put up a new FAQ on its website. It generally does a good job of answering the claims of NIMBYs.
Here are some links I thought were of particular interest, together with my short summaries:
Don’t high approval rates for developments mean planning reform isn’t needed?
Council approval rates are often exaggerated but more importantly they are not telling the whole story. Approvals can come with conditions that make the projects unviable. But more importantly there are the proposals that are not put up because they are banned from the start.
What is inclusionary zoning, and does it work?
For it to be of any use it has to be government funded otherwise it pushes up the costs to other residents which can tip the case against the project going ahead.
What is landbanking?
This is less common than assumed particularly in Victoria where there is a vacant residential land tax. It is the result of an undersupply of land available for dense development not the cause.
What impact do tax concessions have on housing?
It is estimated that the effect of tax reform would be an approximate 3.3% reduction of existing home prices and 2.9% reduction of new home prices. So it is not the primary driver of increasing housing costs. The primary driver is scarcity.
Is building infrastructure more expensive in established suburbs? The answer is no.
Aren’t there a million vacant homes already?
Nobody being home on census night is a dumb measure of vacancy. Electricity data suggests less than 1.5% of dwellings are vacant for more than 3 months. Many are holiday homes and there are plenty of other reasons for places being vacant other than empty investments.
Don’t we have enough homes already?
While the rate of growth in dwellings used to more than match the growth in the adult population, it has been lagging behind in the last 25 years.
Why can’t the government just build public housing for all?Funds are limited and it faces the same zoning restrictions.
Why can’t we just decentralise or build new cities?
There would be big efficiency and environment costs.
What impact do heritage restrictions have on housing?
You are not allowed to knock down old houses which greatly limits where you can build higher density dwellings.