"The supply demand idea breaks down in Oz because of a myriad of...

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    "The supply demand idea breaks down in Oz because of a myriad of issue"

    The supply and demand to put it simply just states that in a free market system there is a price (the equilibrium price) at which the market clears (demand equals supply). You may argue that such price is too high due to a host of conditions causing supply restrictions, but that does not mean that the market forces ruling the supply and demand have stopped working. For the free market ideologues that just serves to emphasize the existence of too much red tape, while for those that believe that the market mechanism when left to its own devices can become unacceptably discriminatory or even highly inefficient (who does not remember the Global Financial Crises) that just serves to emphasize the need for government intervention.

    "a lot of our housing shortage may be a mirage.
    "

    I have a neighbor that has 2 houses, the one where he and his family lives and the one where he and his family tend to spend their summer holiday period, which is left vacant for most of the year. At the same time when I take my dog to a dog part and have to pass under a railway bridged I see someone living there.

    "There are more than a million empty homes in Canada and on any given night at least 35,000 Canadians are homeless. They pack into overflowing, often dangerous, shelters or they hunker down outside, hoping the elements will be kinder to them than the conditions indoor." I suppose that in Australia the figures must not be much different.

    Incidentally, in Finland they seem to have found the will to declare housing a human right and do something about it.

    https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-for-january-26-2020-1.5429251/housing-is-a-human-right-how-finland-is-eradicating-homelessness-





 
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