Reduced affordability and the vexed issue of an ever-increasing cost of living have beset the Border's housing market.
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Housing is simply becoming more and more out of reach for far too many people.
That is no surprise in the big cities, where median house prices have skyrocketed over the past two decades, but it is something else again to have this happen in a regional centre.
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Public housing construction, of course, has stagnated for many years.
There have been some new developments, but these are largely too few and, in some cases, have merely replaced housing stock well past their use-by-date.
What many of these experts spoke of as well was of demand outstripping supply in the private rental market
A basic, one-bedroom flat in Springdale Heights that might have provided an affordable entry point for a single-parent family at $60 a week had blown-out over a couple of years to $150 a week.
Now we are seeing an even greater tightening of the market, to the point where even those comfortably with the means to pay much higher prices are still not able to get a lease.
This incredible increase in demand has been matched by a large jump in rental prices.
One, for example, cited the growth in some prices from $300 12 months ago to $350 today.
Those living on social security payments, and even some middle-income earners, just cannot get into the market.
Clearly, there is no quick-fix that can be called upon.
But there does need to be a greater effort by government to develop strategies that can at least begin to take the heat out of the rental market.
Creating more social housing, on a considerably larger scale than the past, would at least be a start.
