HOUSING STRESS HAS DOUBLED DURING THE PANDEMIC

HOUSING STRESS HAS DOUBLED DURING THE PANDEMIC

WHAT this Report leads one to question is why …

Young people appear to have little prospects for employment apart from jobs in hospitality and retail.  What brought this about?

We can think of some reasons. They include the Liberal Coalition policies inviting:

-Visa workers who accept low wages to gain ‘permanent residency

-the demise of TAFE

-employers having access to cheap labour from visa workers

-the loss of manufacturing for cheap imports

-an economy based on high density residential development esp. mixed-use development of shops, cafes and warehouses, childcare on lower floors

-thus expansion of the retail and hospitality sectors

WHAT this report does not reveal is why those aged 75 and older may own their own home is because of their age; 40, 50 years spent paying a mortgage; during that time they paid their full taxes to cover the cost of their parents aged pensions … they enjoyed job protections, good wages and conditions through Union membership. And there were more job opportunities with a bigger range of industry

-currently though more older women are finding themselves homeless due to insecure work; less employment continuity due to child rearing; marriage breakdown and/or domestic violence

KEY POINTS from Professor Gray’s research …

-1 in 7 Australians struggled to pay rent or mortgage payments during Pandemic

-housing stress has doubled to that of 3 months earlier

-44% of young people could not meet rent or mortgage repayments

-a relationship between age and not meeting housing payments on time

-young Australians largely employed in retail or hospitality * the hardest hit sectors by the Pandemic

-young people subject to lowest wages growth and consequently little savings

-less than 2% of those 75 and over struggle to pay rent or mortgages

QUESTION why won’t the Morrison Government come clean on what their plans are for JobKeeper from September with a review of payment now underway, and what of JobSeeker? 

Rather than giving the victims sufficient payment to sustain life, does this Government prefer to look after itself with a pay increase?

View:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-07/federal-politicians-payrise-backbenchers-morrison-albanese/11189016?fbclid=IwAR2JJUU7MVVuBKrmYhttyBvb3toAalINdppXNjiSmW87JzPXVyePeDpVDys

IF these JobMaker and JobSeeker payments are withdrawn … which is looking likely … how soon before Australia falls off an economic cliff?

From a public health crisis to an economic crisis likely to become a housing crisis

READ MORE!

Proportion of people who can’t pay their rent or mortgage doubled during pandemic

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/young-people-housing-stress-coronavirus-covid-19/12404114

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CAAN Photo: Queue outside Chatswood NSW Services; along the street and around the corner; May 2020