Housing

Created
Tue, 01/10/2024 - 04:54
One should never feel sympathy for a politician caught in a rule-in rule-out game. Perhaps the period should be after the eighth word, but there is something spectacularly dumb about foreclosing on policy options even when they are not under active contemplation, narrowing the range of debate and allowing its terms to be set by Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 26/09/2024 - 04:54
Negative gearing costs Australian taxpayers billions each year. Its defenders say abolishing it will cause a rental crisis. That’s not true. One of the great urban myths of Australian political history is that “rents went through the roof” after then-Treasurer Paul Keating abolished negative gearing for property investors in July 1985, and as a result Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 17/09/2024 - 11:09
Pulling children out of rubble, witnessing ill-treatment of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers, witnessing the displaced Gazan population work its way through destroyed streets. In Australia, the Senate debate on housing. These are the items we found on our five-minute scroll on X. Civil defence teams rescue children from rubble @swilkinsonbc Civil defense teams rescue Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 10/09/2024 - 04:54
While most Australians remain well-housed, few public policy experts would argue that our housing system is today in good shape. Homelessness continues to increase and both rental and mortgage affordability stress are widespread. But although compounded by post-pandemic market disruption, such problems have been mounting over decades. Perhaps the single most powerful indicator of dysfunction Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 25/08/2024 - 01:09
I’m the lead author of a recent report, commissioned by Vibrant Communities Calgary, looking at factors associated with social disorder on public transit (including social disorder involving people experiencing homelessness). Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of the report: https://nickfalvo.ca/report-finds-insufficient-daytime-options-for-people-experiencing-homelessness/