🎧 Audio
📖 Script
Australia is currently facing a housing crisis with a shortage of affordable homes. However, a new report by the public policy think tank, CEDA, suggests a potential solution. The report claims that if one in four standalone homes in Australia’s five biggest cities were developed into dual occupancies, the housing stock could increase by nine percent. This approach could help ease the housing crisis by adding a significant number of new homes without the need for large-scale construction projects.
Dual occupancy involves building an additional dwelling on the same plot of land as an existing house. This could mean adding a small house in the backyard or converting a large home into two separate apartments. The idea is to make better use of the land that is already developed, increasing the number of homes in a sustainable way.
CEDA’s proposal focuses on the five largest cities in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. These cities have the highest demand for housing, and increasing the density in these areas could make a big difference. By encouraging homeowners to develop dual occupancies, the government could help meet the growing demand for housing without expanding urban areas into the countryside.
However, there are challenges to implementing this solution. Homeowners may be reluctant to make changes to their properties, and local governments would need to adjust zoning laws to allow for increased density. Additionally, there may be concerns about the impact on local infrastructure and services.
Despite these challenges, CEDA believes this approach is a practical and efficient way to address Australia’s housing shortage. By increasing housing density in existing urban areas, Australia could create more affordable housing options while preserving green spaces and reducing urban sprawl.
📝 Vocabulary
- housing crisis: a situation where there is a shortage of affordable housing（住宅危機）
例文: “The housing crisis has made it difficult for many people to find affordable homes.”
Collocations／日本語の意味を見る
- housing shortage
- housing market
- affordable housing
- occupancy: the use of a building or land（入居、占有）
例文: “Dual occupancy can help increase the number of available homes.”
Collocations／日本語の意味を見る
- dual occupancy
- occupancy rate
- residential occupancy
- density: the number of things or people in a given area（密度）
例文: “Increasing housing density can provide more homes without expanding the city.”
Collocations／日本語の意味を見る
- population density
- density increase
- high density
- sustainable: able to be maintained over the long term without harming the environment（持続可能な）
例文: “Sustainable urban development is important for the future.”
Collocations／日本語の意味を見る
- sustainable development
- sustainable growth
- environmentally sustainable
- urban sprawl: the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas（都市のスプロール現象）
例文: “Urban sprawl can lead to the loss of green spaces.”
Collocations／日本語の意味を見る
- urban growth
- urban development
- reduce sprawl
✏️ Grammar Point
Conditional Sentences (Type 1) – “If one in four standalone homes were developed into dual occupancies, the housing stock could increase by nine percent.”
文法の日本語補足を見る
💡 使用場面
条件に基づく未来の可能性を話す際に使います。例えば、ビジネスの会議で将来の利益を議論する時に。
📝 使用例文
“例: In a business meeting, you might say: ‘If we cut costs now, we can increase our profit margin next quarter.’”
❓ Listening Questions
- True/False: CEDA suggests that increasing housing density in major cities can help solve Australia’s housing crisis.
- MCQ: What does dual occupancy involve?
a) Building new cities
b) Adding a dwelling to an existing property
c) Buying more land
d) Reducing housing density - MCQ: Which cities are included in CEDA’s proposal?
a) Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide
b) Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Cairns, and Newcastle
c) Gold Coast, Townsville, Geelong, Wollongong, and Sunshine Coast
d) Alice Springs, Bendigo, Ballarat, Launceston, and Toowoomba
🔑 Listening Answersを見る
- True
- b) Adding a dwelling to an existing property
- a) Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide
📚 Reading Questions
- What percentage of housing stock increase does CEDA propose?
- Why might homeowners be reluctant to develop dual occupancies?
- What does “sustainable” mean in the context of urban development?
🔑 Reading Answersを見る
- Nine percent
- Homeowners may be reluctant to make changes to their properties.
- Able to be maintained over the long term without harming the environment
🇯🇵 日本語での経済ニュース解説
オーストラリアの主要都市における住宅不足は深刻な問題となっています。CEDAは、既存の戸建て住宅の25％をデュアルオキュパンシー（1つの敷地に2つの住宅を持つこと）に開発することで、9％の住宅供給増加が可能であると提案しています。これにより、都市の広がりを抑えつつ、効率的に住宅を増やすことができるとされています。国内の住宅供給が改善されることで、経済的な負担が軽減される可能性がありますが、規制の変更や住民の合意が必要です。今後の政策実施とその効果に注目が集まっています。
