No consideration of the stress implications, the social impact of this, the fear and desperation of the people involved. They are treated like numbers, not people terrified out of their wits. Is there a better solution? One thing is for sure. People will need to help themselves, as inspiration ain't coming from the top down, as seen from above.
If we look at the figures, we are told 4% of mortgage holders are in dire difficulty. And anything up to another 10% are under uncomfortable strain meeting their repayments. Of course, the demographic involved is the 30-40 year old, with a couple of kids, i.e. the working (or not working, as the case may be) middle class poor. Also a major tax contributing demographic, if they are working. So they should just hand back their keys and give up. Yeah right!
It's time for unified thinking. Let's look at all of those who have no mortgages, e.g. the empty nesters, early 60's, who may be quite comfortable. Approximately 40% of people have no mortgage commitments and most of those are that type of profile described above. If we have a fit and healthy couple in their 30's who are unemployed, then they shouldn't languish under the stress and strain of potentially losing their homes through no fault of their own. If they can't (and many can't) gain employment, then perhaps we can marry these two demographic ranges together. For every unemployed person who can't get a job and who can't repay their mortgages, there is, in most likelihood, 10 mortgage free householders (or more) of more advanced years.
What if the young couple were to work in a socially agreed fashion for those 10 households? Any type of work; from manual labouring, painting, garden maintenance, to driving services etc.. Also more socially oriented work like house calls, counseling services, letting their young kids interact with what can often be a quite lonely demographic, i.e. the retired/elderly person. A fee could be pre-arranged, of say 10 euro per hour, for services rendered from the young couple to the older people. If each young couple performed just 10 hours work for another "older" household per month, then it would mean a remittance to them of 100Euro per month. Do that for 10 households and you have 1,000 Euro/month, for only 100 hours of your now "free time". That 1,000 would often meet, or go a significant way to meeting a monthly mortgage repayment.
Of course the "older" household has to have that 100 Euro spare every month. But a lot would have that. Secondly, they have to want to participate. But, if they are getting work done by a trusted, regular caller to their house, well they may well want to engage with such a scheme. Very often maintenance on something will prevent future catasptrophic failures, and so, a scheme like this could actually utimately save them money. Also, at a rate like above of 10 Euro they are getting a very fair price.
The upside is huge.
- Unemployed struggling young people can "work" without being dependent on the wider paralyzed economy to employ them
- Older people who physically may not be up to some tasks can get a lot of work done to their homes at a moderate rate
- There is a sharing of problems
- A feel good factor for the older generation, in being of such valuable social service
- The obvious easing of stress on young couple which feeds into less stress/pressures passing on to their kids
- The building of relationships that will trancend the generational gaps. When the younger people come out the other side of their difficulties down the line, valuable and deep relationships will have been forged. etc.etc.
A ratio of 1:10 is what's needed. Find ten comfortable households for each struggling household. Oh, and I believe that that 1000euro/month should be tax exempt. It is people helping themselves through a very difficult time; hence they are not now so dependent on the government. They will not end up on social housing lists, will need less state support and will get back on their feet a lot quicker. A government should be encouraging schemes like this, and the best way to do that is to grant them official tax free status. The economic and social payback from a scheme like this far outweighs whatever puny (in relative terms) taxes it would raise.
How to set up this scheme? Well it would be easy to operate, easy to follow rules. The hard part, as always, is to own up and to actually ask for the help, if one is struggling. We have forgotten we are a society, not a collection of economic producing housing units. The scheme should run from the ground up though, i.e. do not let incompetent institutions (including private banks) near the reins of power. A simple website to advertise the idea, publish profiles of those seeking aid, and of those willing to offer "work". A matching process could then begin, based on location.
People helping people. The only way out of this mess. And nobody is getting screwed.
It sure beats having thousands of house keys dangling from a banker’s office wall, with their corresponding houses lying empty.
Barry Fitzgerald
Author of "Building Cities of Gold"
Available Now From Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/22t3mkc
Kindle Version - http://tinyurl.com/2vq2e2d
Publishing house: ATTM Press.
http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com/buynow.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment