Hi, all, I have read the views of some people and some politicians that feel the older people should be removed or forced to downsize from their family homes so younger people can have a place to live.
My Story
At the age of 17, I got an apprenticeship for 5 years, this changed my life, I worked all the hours God gave me in a day.
My wife came along so I needed a home, so we built a new home and were up to our necks in debt. Our home had West Australian Slate ( Concrete Floors ) no painting done for us, no window curtains, only Venetians on all windows, no appliances, no lawn, no fence, just the bare house on a gravel block. (I know today the banks won’t lend for a house partly finished, but if you don’t ask you will never know.) That house was turned into a home with our children so we carpeted the house. My wife made the curtains for the bedroom windows, and then the rest of the house. From my 21st Birthday to my 30th birthday I had bought a house, married and had a family and started my own business.
My company was the largest Jobbing business in West Australia until Primminister Keating said Australia needed a recession and my wife and I lost everything.
We built a home for the family it was Big, very big, as time went on our children grew up and left home so we sold and downsized. We purchased a new home with no yard only a path 3 sides of the house, and now when our extended family come home we still have room to have our children and their family stay at our house but nowhere for the Grand Kids to play. My wife and I sold the family home because it made sense to us, it was so big, we only lived in 3 rooms, the Kitchen, bedroom, family room, the rest of the house was closed off.
The reason for this article is taking a person’s home from them or asking them to downsize when they fought so hard to get it, is wrong.
When I left school there was no dole, no money, no Centrelink, no agency to go to, and get a job, My generation got our own jobs.
We, struggled like all couples today, we paid for our homes with our after-tax money. We did not buy all the trimmings with the house, we dought them as we could afford them. saving was a major part of our life, when we achieved a target we celebrated with a beer or a glass of wine and reset our goals for the next target. The above is so true for couples today so how would you feel if some wanted you to give up your home and downsize to another suburb away from the area you lived in for 20-40 years?
There are so many people with similar stories to ours, work hard, save your money, and buy with cash that was ground into us. I remember in Australia we even had a credit squeeze where you could not buy unless you had cash, there was no credit money.
But the biggest mover today as it was in my time was a dream to succeed in whatever you wanted to do.
This story is the same today as it was in my time if people don’t realize that taking from one group of people to give to another group of people who have not worked for what they are getting does not work.
What needs to happen which has been totally overlooked is when I was growing up State Housing was a major employer and housing was built for the people who were below the line of affordability. Building apartments in the cities is a great idea for those that want to live in the city, but their also needs to be housing in rural areas as well.
In my state, we have a huge FIFO ( Fly in fly out ) workforce why not have a stable workforce with homes attached to the job and workers and family relocate to the mining town, there are lots of ways to get housing for people.
Today Australia has another account surplus because of the mining and exports, I feel the government needs to look seriously at investing in housing for the not so well of, and mine companies have their employees and families living in a normal home environment.