Housing shortages in big cities can have severe consequences. Only government action can solve this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is argued that only the government could handle the housing crisis in metropolitan areas. I disagree with this view and I believe that citizens can also assist the government in tackling these problems.

On the one hand, the problem of housing shortages is highly complicated and definitely needs government interventions. Firstly, without government’s reasonable actions, no single individual could independently curb the phenomenon of price bubbles in real estate markets, which makes property prices become prohibitively expensive. As a result, by putting limits on land and housing prices, the government could provide more affordable and decent houses to people with low or medium incomes. Secondly, local authorities also play an indispensable part in reducing the excessive demand for housing stemming from overcrowding in big cities. For example, the government could encourage companies to move their business to rural areas so that suburban dwellers would no longer have to commute to city centers to work, which in turn reduces urban population density.

On the other hand, this is not to say that individuals cannot do anything to alleviate these problems. Indeed, people could ease housing pressure by opting to live in other cities when the city that they are working becomes crowded. The clearest example of this is that in recent years, a tremendously higher number of people from big cities such as Hanoi capital or Hochiminh city move to Danang city because they believe that they could get better chances to afford houses while still maintaining their living conditions. Furthermore, if individuals only buy houses or lands for the purpose of living and say no to speculation in the real estate market, asset bubbles would not happen and real estate companies would be forced to decrease property prices to survive in the market. Consequently, those cities would become more livable for everyone, not just the super-rich.

In conclusion, I believe that the lack of housing is a complex problem which requires a combination of both the government and individuals.