The housing crisis.

There is no doubt that we have a housing crisis. On the one hand, many simply can not afford to buy a home because their income is insufficient to service the mortgage that would be necessary at today's prices.
On the other hand, rents have increased sharply and we now have many families unable to find adequate rental accommodation at the prices offering.
There are two schools of thought on the solution needed.
One is to release more land - but there are pros and cons. New housing estates need infrastructure such as roads, schools, hospitals and shopping centres. This is costly and the levees needed to provide them push up land prices - and as a result new homes built there. There is also the problem of sprawl - and the roads and transport structure needed to service such new suburbs.
The second school of thought suggests redeveloping existing suburbs - but that too has pros and cons. Redevelopment takes advantage of existing facilities such as roads, public transport, sewer, power and phone lines. Hooking up to existing services is obviously much cheaper than creating new ones - but the down side is that such development is only economical if it involves soaring towers containing units. These may be suitable for young unmarrieds and the aged - but not for families with children.
The need is for a mix of units and conventional housing - with a yard for children to play in. Common sense suggests that the best course of action is a blend of the two - but whatever decisions are finally made there is one factor that will be unchanged. The time of cheap housing is well and truly over !