You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
The housing shortage in big cities can cause severe social consequences. Some people think only government action can solve this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above statement? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
The population in cities is constantly increasing, and thus housing crisis is a most common problem big cities are facing today. This is a major concern for governments as it not only increase the cost of living but also affects the quality of life for its residents. I do agree that only governments can solve this problem by taking various measures, such as restricting landed houses to save the space, encouraging vertical residential buildings and gradually expanding the city.
In the olden days, people lived in landed independent houses as there were lots of spaces in the city. However, this is not possible in the modern cities as the city population is increasing rapidly, and resulting in a space shortage situation for accommodating housing for all. One of the action governments can take is to discourage building new landed houses and encourage people to live in apartment flats. For instance, Singapore government has built thousands of high-floor residential flats through housing development board to accommodate its ever-growing residents in an affordable way. It also stopped permission for building new landed houses to deal with the space crunch.
Some governments are also looking at options for expanding the city to create more residential properties. For example, Bangalore, one of the fast growing cities in India is continuously expanding by incorporating more residential properties and other infrastructure at the outskirts of the city, which gradually becomes part of the growing city. However, this option is viable only when there are enough spaces surrounding the city. For cities like Hong-Kong and Singapore, which are islands, the only option is to grow vertically within the city. Solving housing shortage is an issue that requires proper planning and big investment and residence of a big city have very little to do and the government seems like the appropriate authority to solve this problem.
In conclusion, the cities are growing rapidly and so the residents of the city also grow. Thus, it is the responsibility of governments to take appropriate measures to create better living place at an affordable price for its city residents.
[ Written by – Sanoon ]