In a housing crisis, it's money well spent.
If the apartments are sold at cost price, by definition they're not making a loss.
If they're rented out for 25% of residents' incomes, they'll eventually recoup the cost of construction.
And those returns can be reinvested into additional developments.
Something like what The Greens are proposing here with a public property developer is what I had in mind: greens.org.au/campaigns/pu...
greens.org.au
Public Property Developer | The Australian Greens