Homeless in the lucky country
You know how rich Oztralia is. With a GDP per capita over $55k a year it's quite amazing that four years ago in 2016 there were 116,000 people officially homeless. That was before the Covid-19 depression we are currently in the midst of which is bound to increase homelessness along with unemployment.
The Age ran a story a few months ago, again pre-coronavirus, which highlighted the devastating effect of homelessness on older women.
It's a state of affairs conveniently swept under the carpet.
According to the Homelessness Australia website, the rate of homeless people is around 50 per 10,000. In the affluent burbs of Canberra that would mean over 1500 people are homeless. Predictably the rate amongst aboriginal and Torres Islanders is 10 times the average.
This appalling state of affairs is but one consequence of a housing policy that encourages investment in housing as a means of wealth creation. Successive governments have pandered to the "housing market" and the middle class voters whose wealth is largely tied to the value of their house. Any government that introduced policies that undermined the inexorable growth in asset prices would be burned at the stake.
Tax incentives such as negative gearing are "sold" as encouraging investment in housing but the bottom line is almost everyone who buys property factors into their equations ongoing asset growth with tax advantages built in.
Housing policy is not about providing housing to everyone who needs it. It's about protecting the interests of those already in the housing market.
This philosophy underpins the recent housing stimulus announced by the LNP govt. Giving public money to existing house owners to extend their renovations simply transfers public funds to private house assets, to be redeemed once the market takes off again. That tradies (who statistically own more than their fair share of real estate) also benefit from some extra cash sloshing around in the renovation business is bound to be considered a win-win for the neoliberal crowd in the government.
Unfortunately, expecting the ALP to do anything other than make sympathetic noises would be an exercise in blind optimism. Already they are talking about scrapping any plans to reduce negative gearing and politically, they too are captive to the fortunes of the home-owning middle class.
Only a seriously big investment in public or social housing will fix the problem. It would also drive employment and reduce the diabolical impact of homelessness on people in our society. A far better measure of our collective wealth might just be, how many are homeless?
The Age ran a story a few months ago, again pre-coronavirus, which highlighted the devastating effect of homelessness on older women.
It's a state of affairs conveniently swept under the carpet.
According to the Homelessness Australia website, the rate of homeless people is around 50 per 10,000. In the affluent burbs of Canberra that would mean over 1500 people are homeless. Predictably the rate amongst aboriginal and Torres Islanders is 10 times the average.
This appalling state of affairs is but one consequence of a housing policy that encourages investment in housing as a means of wealth creation. Successive governments have pandered to the "housing market" and the middle class voters whose wealth is largely tied to the value of their house. Any government that introduced policies that undermined the inexorable growth in asset prices would be burned at the stake.
Tax incentives such as negative gearing are "sold" as encouraging investment in housing but the bottom line is almost everyone who buys property factors into their equations ongoing asset growth with tax advantages built in.
Housing policy is not about providing housing to everyone who needs it. It's about protecting the interests of those already in the housing market.
This philosophy underpins the recent housing stimulus announced by the LNP govt. Giving public money to existing house owners to extend their renovations simply transfers public funds to private house assets, to be redeemed once the market takes off again. That tradies (who statistically own more than their fair share of real estate) also benefit from some extra cash sloshing around in the renovation business is bound to be considered a win-win for the neoliberal crowd in the government.
Unfortunately, expecting the ALP to do anything other than make sympathetic noises would be an exercise in blind optimism. Already they are talking about scrapping any plans to reduce negative gearing and politically, they too are captive to the fortunes of the home-owning middle class.
Only a seriously big investment in public or social housing will fix the problem. It would also drive employment and reduce the diabolical impact of homelessness on people in our society. A far better measure of our collective wealth might just be, how many are homeless?
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