Fee hike a challenging conundrum

The story about a council fee hike on granny flat construction poses a challenging conundrum.
Logan City Council, in its wisdom, has been offering a discount which encourages people to build granny flats, thereby increasing density of living, and helping solve the current housing crisis.
During the latest planning changes, council has returned the fees to where they were originally, creating the unfortunate perception that this is a rate hike.
Council will argue it’s not, merely a return to the rate deemed necessary by bean counters to cover the city’s costs. As we’re often reminded, the council is Logan’s biggest business.
Others will have a fair point arguing it’s poor timing – re-rising the fees at a time when the housing crisis has worsened, instead of improved.
Real estate agents have taken this line, saying local authorities should be doing everything in their power to incentivise construction of dwellings that can be used as rental or family accommodation.
Conversely, there’s no point retaining an incentive that’s not doing its intended job. If people are not building in increasing numbers, leave the cost as it was meant to be.