Unless you lived in West London, you would not have known about a 24 story, 70-metre-high apartment block that served as public housing London before June 14.
Grenfell Tower housed low paid workers, single mothers, migrants 鈥 those who could not afford to live anywhere else. It is located in an affluent area of London surrounded by luxury apartment blocks, many of which are empty.
It is too early yet to write about the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14 without being overcome by a mixture of sorrow and anger. This not just could, but should have been avoided.
The residents, including through the Grenfell Action Group, have been raising concerns about the safety of the block and the refurbishment for several years. In October, the London Fire Brigade wrote to Kensington and Chelsea Council expressing concerns about the insulation used at Grenfell. They were all ignored.
Despite declaring that housing affordability would be a key priority of her government, the new NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has squibbed the challenge of any real action to improve the lot of first home buyers and renters in New South Wales.
Berejiklian was unanimously elected premier on January 23 after former leader Mike Baird resigned in the face of widespread opposition to his neoliberal policies.
She immediately named housing affordability as 鈥渢he biggest concern people have across the state鈥.
The federal treasurer鈥檚 鈥渟olution鈥 to the housing affordability crisis is to get state governments to relax restrictions on housing developers to increase supply.
Scott Morrison told the industry鈥檚 peak body, the Urban Development Institute, on October 24 that 鈥渉ousing in Australia, especially in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, is expensive and increasingly unaffordable, but that does not mean it is overvalued.鈥
How can you have more affordable housing and keep prices up at the same time?
The answer is you can鈥檛 do both.
Increased evidence of homelessness in Melbourne鈥檚 iconic graffiti laneway, Hosier Lane, has prompted outrage from government and local businesses in recent weeks.
