Jim Penman says zoning laws and immigration policy are choking housing supply. He argues eliminating zoning is both a freedom issue and a social-justice one, and points to half a million new people entering the country yearly as a key mismatch with how many homes are legally allowed to be built.
"A half million new people into the country every year."
Well, zoning, zoning, get rid of zoning. It's such a simple thing. You know, we pay billions of dollars to bureaucrats to stop us building. We have a policy that says we're going to bring a half million new people into the country every year and we're going to use the iron hand of government to forbid anybody to build enough houses to put them in. What could possibly go wrong? We have to get rid of zoning. It is noxious, it is poisonous. And look, I do not like the labor government in this state, but I tell you what they've done. Yes, I'll cheer you on. Just because you're on the other side in most things, if you start making some sensible decisions, that's good. And the interesting thing about this is that it's not necessarily a left versus right issue. If you are in favour of freedom and free enterprise in business, you don't want zoning. But if you're in favor of getting people to have affordable housing and getting homeless off the street, you should be in favour of getting rid of zoning. It's not a left versus right issue. That's the interesting thing. It's a freedom issue and it's a fairness issue and it's a social justice issue and it's the right thing to do to get rid of zoning.
Rising mental illness and falling birth rates have the same cause, it is this.....
