Politicians aren’t interested in more affordable housing because it would cost them votes, according to the Barefoot Investor’s blunt assessment.
Finance guru Scott Pape, writing in News Corp newspapers on Wednesday, said the hard numbers of electoral calculation and fear of a backlash from property owners ruled the way politicians treated housing.
‘The fact is that neither Labor nor the Coalition wants to do anything that will cause house prices to fall … and become more affordable. Why not?
‘Well, think of it from a politician’s point of view: a third of voters own their own home outright, another third are paying their home off, while the final third rent,’ Pape wrote.
‘In other words, the overwhelming majority of voters want to see their homes rise in value.
‘So that means that politicians need to play a game of legislative limbo and come up with pole-dancing property policies that really don’t achieve anything.’
As an example of a futile policy Pape was scathing in his criticism of the Albanese government’s Help to Buy Scheme, which aims to assist low-income earners who have just 2 per cent of a deposit to buy a home.
Pape labelled this is a ‘dumb idea’ because ‘broke people shouldn’t buy homes’
Barefoot Investor Scott Pape says that politicians aren’t interested in making house more affordable because it would lose votes
However, Pape said the biggest losers of the ‘housing dumpster fire’ were not voters but children growing up without a stable roof over their head, forced to constantly moved schools and absorbing the stress of parents looking for a place to live.
‘The long-term trauma of a childhood spent without a stable roof over your head, of constantly moving schools, and absorbing the impact of Mum or Dad being constantly stressed about where they will live, is real and it’s long lasting,’ he explained.
He believed housing was something politicians could fix but but long ago ‘decided it was a better vote-grabber to give tax breaks to investors to provide private rentals, rather than build more public housing’.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to bat away suggestions he is out of touch with people struggling to find housing after he bought $4.3million waterfront mansion.
The Prime Minister is the new owner of a five-bedroom home at Copacabana, just south of Avoca on NSW’s Central Coast.
Mr Albanese will share the cliffside home with his fiancee Jodie Haydon, whose family live in the area.
Pape said that governments were only interested in playing ‘legislative limbo’ to look like they were tackling house prices for fear of backlash from property owners
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been forced to deny he is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Australians after buying a $4.3million waterfront mansion
At a press conference in the south east Queensland city of Logan Mr Albanese was asked whether he thought his expensive new purchase was a ‘good look’ during the nation’s cost-of-living crisis driven by real estate prices, high interest rates and rents.
‘Jodie and I are getting married. Jodie’s a Coastie. She’s a proud Coastie – there are three generations of Haydons on the coast there and when your relationship changes, your life changes and you make decisions,’ he replied.
‘But what I’m focused on is making sure everyone can get a roof over their head. I’m focused on increasing public housing and social housing investment.’
‘I also know what it’s like to struggle. My mum lived in the one public housing (flat) that she was born in for all of her 65 years.
‘I know what it’s like which is why I want to help all Australians into a home, whether it be public homes or private rentals, or home ownership.’
