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Topic: Many of the world’s cities are currently facing a serious housing shortage. What are some of the reasons for this shortage and what solutions can you suggest?

It is true that the state of housing shortage is becoming an alarming issue in many big cities all over the world. In my opinion, there are several reasons for this problem.

One of the most obvious reasons is that an increasing number of rural migrants who come to the cities in search of better life and job opportunities are placing tremendous pressure on housing demand. Most cities are unable to build sufficient houses quickly enough to accommodate the huge number of immigrants. As a result, there is an unavoidable excess of demand over supply, pushing up the prices in real estate markets and making affording a house in the city out of reach in the low-income group. Secondly, there are many uses for land such as commercial, industrial, residential and recreational uses; therefore, land dedicated for one purpose will not be available for another. With so many competing uses for land in cities, the competition may result in insufficient land being set aside for housing. Last but not least, the speculation by buy-to-let investors, to some extent, seems to intensify the problem, contribute to inflating housing prices.

To address the root of the problems, a number of measures have to be taken. Firstly, the government has to provide more job opportunities for rural labors, helping them to seek a good job in their own hometown. Secondly, to take the pressure off, the government also need to commit a larger proportion of land supply to housing needs and subsidise the building of ecomomical houses for disadvantaged people and ordinary home-buyers. Another practical approach to prevent the housing price from climbing is to establish a policy which discourages buy to let and housing as an investment.

In conclusion, it seems to me that there are some main reasons for the increasing demand on housing in cities; however, this problem can be reduced by taking necessary actions.