McMansion

Many Australians face losing their homes right now. Here’s how the government should help

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火曜日, 4月 23, 2024
ACT, HECS, COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, Homelessness, Government, MP, RBA, Mum, House, Reserve Bank, Risk, Research, Conversation, Policy, Worldwide Angel, IMF, Housing, The McKell Institute, Crossbencher, G20, Senate, McMansion, Real estate

That same principle underpins the HomeKeeper program I proposed in The Conversation last year.

Key Points: 
  • That same principle underpins the HomeKeeper program I proposed in The Conversation last year.
  • The idea is to help mortgage-stressed owner-occupiers avoid losing their home.
  • If it’s a good idea for companies, why not for responsible and otherwise financially-viable Australians at risk of losing their homes in a cost-of-living crisis?
  • Rather, it’s government help through a small equity stake with positive returns for taxpayers when HomeKeeper help is no longer needed.

People need help now

  • HomeKeeper would be of most help to lower income families who often don’t have a “Bank of Mum and Dad” to help them “over the hump”, as Albanese puts it, during temporary difficulties.
  • ACT Independent Senator David Pocock backed HomeKeeper last week in his additional comments in the Senate Economics Legislation Committee report on the government’s Help To Buy Bill 2023.
  • Pocock wants the government’s Help To Buy mechanism amended to enable low- and middle-income earners “facing mortgage repossession and possible homelessness to remain in home ownership” via a HomeKeeper-style program.
  • Establishing HomeKeeper is more important than ever because the monetary policy script isn’t following the arc politicians and policymakers planned.

Relying on interest rate relief to arrive isn’t enough

  • Yet interest rates in Australia are not falling.
  • What’s more, even without further rate increases by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) this year, the average mortgage rate is set to rise anyway according to research by the RBA’s Domestic Markets Department’s Benjamin Ung.
  • Nearly a third (31.4%) of mortgaged owner-occupiers are “at risk” of mortgage stress according to the latest Roy Morgan survey.
  • The longer it takes, the more damaging to individuals and families, and the more costly it is to governments.
  • Albanese is right – sometimes there’s a role for government in providing help to get over that hump.


Chris Wallace is a professor in the University of Canberra's School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law. She has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

New NPG Forum Paper Examines Uphill Battle to Counter Population Growth in the U.S.

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木曜日, 12月 7, 2023
Employment, Policy, City, Pew, Home, Multimedia, Growth, National Geographic, Corruption, Impossible, Population growth, Fresh water, McMansion, Spoiler Alert, NPG, Housing, Forum, Deception, Negative Population Growth, Environment, Renewable energy

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A new Forum paper from Negative Population Growth has revealed that 'smart growth' won't be enough to solve the population crisis in the United States. The paper, titled Spoiler Alert: 'Smart Growth' Won't Save the Day, by Mark Cromer, examines the challenges posed by the country's rapidly increasing population and the need for meaningful dialogue to produce policy initiatives that can reverse the trend. Cromer begins his work by noting: "With more than 8 billion people now crowding a planet that continues to convulse with the conflict and corruption that drives mass migrations, the United States confronts its own steadily escalating population growth and the challenges it presents in both the short-term and over the long haul."

Key Points: 
  • Slowing Down Population Growth in the U.S. is Not Impossible
    ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A new Forum paper from Negative Population Growth has revealed that 'smart growth' won't be enough to solve the population crisis in the United States.
  • This Forum paper highlights the visible symptoms of population growth, such as the abject chaos of mass migration, the fierce competition for employment and housing, and the escalating homeless crisis.
  • Taking on the media, Cromer dissects comments on population growth made by various figures and points out inaccuracies along the way.
  • Founded in 1972, NPG is a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to educating the American public and political leaders regarding the damaging effects of population growth.

From Chinatowns to ethnoburbs and beyond, where Chinese people settle reflects changing wealth levels and political climates

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火曜日, 8月 1, 2023
Hatred, Poverty, Housing, McMansion, Violence, Awareness, COVID-19, Asian Americans, Gold, Restaurant, Learning, White Australia policy, City, Racism, Chinese Exclusion Act, Policy, Geopolitics, Group, Legislation, Hunting, Drug, Film industry, Jewellery, Silicon

Ethnoburbs defy the traditional assumption that Chinese immigrants arrive poor and have to settle in urban Chinatowns before earning enough money to move to the suburbs.

Key Points: 
  • Ethnoburbs defy the traditional assumption that Chinese immigrants arrive poor and have to settle in urban Chinatowns before earning enough money to move to the suburbs.
  • Instead, educated and wealthy Chinese immigrants arriving in the past few decades have settled in upper- to upper-middle-class neighborhoods.
  • Shifting Chinese immigrant settlement patterns reflect the changing profile of Chinese immigrants and the effects of globalization and geopolitics.

Changing Chinatowns

    • Chinatowns – inner-city, compact Chinese residential and commercial quarters – represent the prototypical ethnic enclave, a geographic area with high concentrations of a particular ethnic group.
    • A number of Chinatowns were displaced in the name of urban development or because of violence.
    • Since the repeal of those policies, the fate of Chinatowns in different locations has varied dramatically.
    • Some intentionally developed Chinatowns, like the one Las Vegas opened in 1995, are commercial plazas with mostly restaurants and shops.

Emergence of ethnoburbs

    • Another type of immigrant community has been emerging since the 1960s as a result of changing immigration policies: ethnoburbs.
    • Then, during the second half of the century, the center moved steadily eastward as large numbers of new Chinese immigrants directly settled in the suburban San Gabriel Valley, signifying the emergence of an ethnoburb.
    • For example, ethnoburbs in Silicon Valley emerged with high-tech industries attracting skilled and affluent Asian Americans who are highly politically involved.

Ethnoburbs are different from Chinatowns

    • Residents in ethnoburbs are more racially and socioeconomically diverse, suggesting greater potential for racial tensions and class conflicts than traditional ethnic enclaves.
    • Many ethnoburbs have supplanted Chinatowns as the commercial and cultural centers of contemporary Chinese diasporas.
    • Obviously, not all Chinese people live in Chinatowns or ethnoburbs.

Geopolitics and integration

    • Recent decades have seen increasing anti-Asian hate amid rising geopolitical tensions with the People’s Republic of China, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
    • The long-term effects of these trends on Chinese diasporas are unclear.
    • We hope that ethnoburbs will not become, like historical Chinatowns, the only refuge for Chinese immigrants to live.
    • Learning from history’s mistakes is key to building a fair and just society for all, the Chinese diaspora included.