Lets talk about housing and homelessness.

[lind9650]

There were 105,237 homeless in 2011 in Australia.

I believe the number has risen enormously since then. This is a disgrace to our country, and the politicians don't want to know about it.

With house sales and rentals at staggering unafordable prices the problem of homeless people will continue to grow..

Something will have to be done to change this. Federal and State Governments give permits for billionaire investments, but don't care that the average working person will never be able to own their own home. Low rental housing for low income families are being pulled down to make room for high rise, multymillion apartmrnts to be built.

I fear and feel for the younger generation, for the future of our grandchildren and their children. How can a young couple on average wages save AU$200,000.- for a deposit towards a housing loan when their rent is AU$450.- per week or more? Not everyone has well off parents to help or parents with whom they can live while saving.

What is the answer?

Erica

[bushies.girl]

Portland is going backwards, cause its full of druggies these days, houses there,  can sit on the market for yrs without selling.  Not much in the way of shopping there, Hamilton, Mt Gambier n Warrnmbool are far better.

I live in a sm country town in a rural area, mainly sheep n beef cattle farming, not much here, which is why I love it, yet I m only an hour's drive  from everything.   There are plenty of places around  where housing is affordable but most people wont leave the big cities.

[zanadoo_56]

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@lind9650 wrote:

Sorry I was not hre last night to join the conversation.

I am astounded about some flippant coments. If you read the OP correctly, you will realise that I am comparing todys housing dillema with the future to come. As housing becomes more and more unafordable, there will be more homeless people (even families) in future.

Eg. One young cupple lived in a Melbourne suburb, paying $445.- per week rent. They have two small children and managed financially OK. Then husbnds company closed down and he is without a job. They did not want to depend on Centrelink support, so changed roles. He became a househusband as the wife found a job in Child care. She is qualified, but only at grade 3. Income is much less than what the husband used to earn, so they changed their lifestyle. They found a house in a small country town for less rent, but the woman has to drive one hour to work and one hour back again. With bad traffic she has to count 90 minutes at least to get to work. Her income is around $800.- per week, out of that $325.- rent, car maintenance, insuranc, petrol etc. and they do need to eat.

Small country town, no chance for the husband to find a job. Most good jobs are around big cities, but the rent is far to steep for young people starting jobs on low wages.

Can anyone tell me how on earth that young couple can save a deposit towards a housing loan???

And that is what I mean. If the ownwer of that house decides to sell and the new owners want to live there, where is the young family going to live?

Catch 22

Erica

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That's the thing that gets me about renting in Australia....there's no long term rental option.  Even if you can meet the rent and maybe start saving for a house, in another year or two if you're lucky) you have to find another place to live, another bond and of course the cost of removals.  It's ridiculous.

[chameleon54]

I just checked a few more random large regional centres. I dont know much about them except they are major centres. I checked Ballarat, Goondawindi, Dalby and Geelong. All up well over 1000 homes and blocks of land under $300,000 and again a number under $200,000.  There is almost unlimited affordable houses all around the country and in every state. They are just not in the middle of Melbourne or Sydney.

One answer to affordable housing is to decentralise our population and use technology to make it possible for more people to work from their new locations. As people move to large regional centres they will require education, health care, dining and tradies. New jobs in the service sector will be created allowing the centres to grow both socialy and in employment opportunities.

Some state governments are already following this idea with varying degrees of success. 

[zanadoo_56]

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@lurker172602 wrote:

I can remember, after we wrangled bought our first home, sitting huddled over a one bar heater (in Canberra in winter I might add!) agreeing to try to save $1 per day so we could buy a dishwasher LOL.  Luxury!

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I thought you'd need the $1 a day to go towards the winter utility bills (I lived in Canberra for 18 years).

As for saving.....I also remember a time when I had to choose between expensive dental visit....or buying a washing machine.  The washing machine won.

[chameleon54]

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@bushies.girl wrote:

Portland is going backwards, cause its full of druggies these days, houses there,  can sit on the market for yrs without selling.  Not much in the way of shopping there, Hamilton, Mt Gambier n Warrnmbool are far better.

I live in a sm country town in a rural area, mainly sheep n beef cattle farming, not much here, which is why I love it, yet I m only an hour's drive  from everything.   There are plenty of places around  where housing is affordable but most people wont leave the big cities.

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I dont know much about Warnambool, but are familiar with Hamilton and Mount Gambier. Both are attractive towns that I would have no problems living in. Mount Gambier is a regional city with all the ammenaties anyone could ask for.

[zanadoo_56]

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@imastawka wrote:

But our generation also had to pay 9-10% interest in the 70's

And way up to 18 1/2% in the 80's

The wussies kids these days are only paying 3.5 - 5%

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We bought in the 80s.....it seemed like every month or so there'd be another letter telling us the repayments were going up.  It was a struggle and there were times when we wondered if we would end up unable to pay. 

The house we bought was not a McMansion.  It's 11.7 squares with one bathroom, basic kitchen, no garage or carport.  One day I'd like an ensuite...and the kitchen badly needs an upgrade, but overall I love the house.  I don't need a huge barn of a place with rooms you'd never use.

[chameleon54]

I purchased my first farm in the early 1980,s all on borrowed money. Commercial interest rates peaked at 27.5 %.  We got further into debt until we recieved a letter from the bank advising our line of credit was closed and suggesting we make arrangements to sell up voluntarily before they foreclosed on us.

I took a full time off farm job and sowed a huge crop, just using what old seed I had in storage, no fertiliser and minimum of chemical sprays.. I would leave for my day job at 8.00 am, work till 5.30 and then prepare to drive the tractor in the icy cold winter darkness until 4.00 am. Three hours sleep and then do it all again. The truck motor blew up in the middle of seeding and with no money and little experience I rebuilt it with the aid of a large flood light borrowed from the local footy oval.

The rains came, the crop flourished and within six months I was able to refinance with a new bank and pay the old bank out.

I often wish I had kept that bank letter, but unfortunately I had screwed it up and binned it in disgust.

[***super_nova***]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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The topic of this thread is how can people in the future find affordable housing. My suggestion is to de-centralise our population.!!!

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Yes, but the population must want to be decentralised.  But you are right refugees would be only too happy to settle in smaller towns, and many have very successfully done so, and revitalised the towns in the process.

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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NOVA, PLEASE READ MY THREAD - No one is forcing anyone to do anything.

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You were lamenting that teachers and doctors do not want to come to small towns, and therefore inducements have to be offered.  I did not say anything about forcing them; but big block and river may not be what everybody wants, and doctors generally do not have a problem getting into real estate..

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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As mentioned houses are still available here for under $200,000 and plenty of 600 mtr.2 blocks of land under $100,000.   My own house is set on over 1000 mtrs2 of land and has 50 metres frontage to a river reserve with the river only 50 metres away and only one adjoining neighbour. We have a neat 3 bedroom, two bathroom house, large shed, nice gardens and $100,000 in renovations over the last 5 years. It would sell for around $300,000. We paid $195,000 seven years ago.

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Their house is for most people the biggest investment them make, they hope they will be able to sell it in the future with profit.  If you bought house in Melbourne or Sydney after 7 years it would have appreciated much more than place in small country town.  If you take in consideration your mortgage repayments you have actually gone backwards.  Seven year after I bought this house it more than quadrupled in value.

If the government decides to develop your town, helps to establish some industry and bring people there, house prices will soon escalate. 

[chameleon54]

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Yes, but the population must want to be decentralised.  But you are right refugees would be only too happy to settle in smaller towns, and many have very successfully done so, and revitalised the towns in the process.

I completely agree with you on this Nova. The small rural community I used to live in had a thriving irrigated vegetable growing industry. Australans where reluctant to move to the area for work, so newly arrived refugees where sent there with work visas to do the job. They played an invaluable role in keeping the industry going and I always loved the fact that my kids who lived in a fairly small, isolated, rural school had the opportunity to attend classes in one of the most multi cultural places in the world.

On the tragic death of a young extended family member, our family was embraced by these new Australians ( Islander people ) who offered their own cultural experience of chants and song to share their compassion for us. Incredibly moving and powerful stuff.

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[bushies.girl]

If people dont want to de centralise, thats up to them, they can just keep paying a squillion dollars for their their houses or go without n whinge 'cause they cant afford to buy one