06-04-2024, 08:15 PM
Definitely need something radical. But it won't happen. More than a quarter of the voting age public failed to show up last election. The majority of those who did were seniors, no wonder we got the three handed shake down. Lots of us are increasingly disengaged because we know how futile our expectations are. The promises are drowned by the monolith that is our brand of democracy. We look at those standing for Parliament and we see self interest, career politicians, cowards, and sellswords available for the best price, and very few worthy of our trust.
But we look overseas and see even worse, no wonder we are at a loss when it comes to the challenges we know the community faces.
Each government inherits the challenges of the previous. It is a snowball, and it's all downhill because of the way our society is structured. Profit means more than people. Moteliers see profit, at a level where putting their property at risk is worth it. And let's face it - they would be really unlikely to let their units be occupied by homeless unless it was hugely profitable. With the best will in the world - would any of us take that risk? When we own property and it increases in value as each year passes, faster than we could earn that kind of money, would any of us be willing to sacrifice that profit? No wonder as a society hoarding property is seen as a good thing.
Housing is a limited resource, and an expensive one. It takes time to develop, with layers of officialdom on top of the physical, and that isn't going to change because too many bodies have fingers in those pies.
And trust me, I know how some people live. I live in social housing, I hear the stories, though ours are usually mental health and dementia cases, still hard to live nextdoor to...I know too about blind eyes, corporate neglect and favouritism, shady deals, and the nepotism rife in community housing circles.
And I know that several charity based community housing projects on the drawing board have been shelved because the guaranteed funding by way of government subsidy runs out in June next year, and there has been no hint as to what will come. Even if that resourcing continues, those projects are now delayed by months if not years, simply because planning is an ongoing process, and hold ups magnify delays. So motels will continue to be inadequate homes, moteliers will continue to profit, families will continue to be stressed and damaged, because there is no radical thinking to provide alternatives. No imagination. And more to the point, no one prepared to sacrifice their bit of the pie to house young mums, or gang associates unless there is a lot of money to be made. Or even mildly demented old people living in their children's garage for that matter. Been in a resthome lately? Seen the way our vulnerable elders are fed and cared for? Especially the ones who can't afford the Rymans and Metlifes...
There are horrors out there we all prefer not to know about. Be we MP or man in the street. With luck our own good fortune will shield us. If not, there by the grace of...
But we look overseas and see even worse, no wonder we are at a loss when it comes to the challenges we know the community faces.
Each government inherits the challenges of the previous. It is a snowball, and it's all downhill because of the way our society is structured. Profit means more than people. Moteliers see profit, at a level where putting their property at risk is worth it. And let's face it - they would be really unlikely to let their units be occupied by homeless unless it was hugely profitable. With the best will in the world - would any of us take that risk? When we own property and it increases in value as each year passes, faster than we could earn that kind of money, would any of us be willing to sacrifice that profit? No wonder as a society hoarding property is seen as a good thing.
Housing is a limited resource, and an expensive one. It takes time to develop, with layers of officialdom on top of the physical, and that isn't going to change because too many bodies have fingers in those pies.
And trust me, I know how some people live. I live in social housing, I hear the stories, though ours are usually mental health and dementia cases, still hard to live nextdoor to...I know too about blind eyes, corporate neglect and favouritism, shady deals, and the nepotism rife in community housing circles.
And I know that several charity based community housing projects on the drawing board have been shelved because the guaranteed funding by way of government subsidy runs out in June next year, and there has been no hint as to what will come. Even if that resourcing continues, those projects are now delayed by months if not years, simply because planning is an ongoing process, and hold ups magnify delays. So motels will continue to be inadequate homes, moteliers will continue to profit, families will continue to be stressed and damaged, because there is no radical thinking to provide alternatives. No imagination. And more to the point, no one prepared to sacrifice their bit of the pie to house young mums, or gang associates unless there is a lot of money to be made. Or even mildly demented old people living in their children's garage for that matter. Been in a resthome lately? Seen the way our vulnerable elders are fed and cared for? Especially the ones who can't afford the Rymans and Metlifes...
There are horrors out there we all prefer not to know about. Be we MP or man in the street. With luck our own good fortune will shield us. If not, there by the grace of...