Housing shortfall, costs and affordability

[plam]

This Australian article says that using the term "NIMBY" as an insult is misguided and that "The real reason for the housing affordability crisis is the “NIMPS” — “Not into my profits”. These are the property developers and multiple property-owning landlords and politicians who won't allow a cent to be spent on public housing and quality public infrastructure, lest it eat into their profits and generous tax breaks."

I don't think that's as much the case here. I don't see a pushback on Kitchener Housing or similar organizations, but then their presence (and housing portfolio) is also only a fraction of what it might be in a similar-sized city in Europe or the UK. (The one part that might apply is the general fear by local politicians of property tax increases in general.)

I don't know whether the (voting) public here would have an appetite for building public housing on a significant scale. So far, I don't see anyone even proposing that.

NZ Labour did ("build 100k affordable homes" promised in 2017). Implementation is hard. There is a history of state housing in NZ as well, which the conservative government went and sold off.