Tampilkan postingan dengan label cost. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label cost. Tampilkan semua postingan

Jumat, 13 Mei 2011

The Poor Have to Live With High Rents

The poor in Australia are doing it tough. While the economy is booming the price of housing has continued to rise. Despite the recent levelling off, further increases are forecast. With the higher valuation come higher monthly mortgage repayments and rental payments must keep up with this. Only one per cent of low income earners can afford to pay such rents. If you are on welfare and cannot get public accommodation forget it - you have to live on the street, unless you live with relatives and friends who can put a roof over yours head.

The real problem is not the cost of actually building a house. Modular housing can be purchased, but people who have new houses put up do not chose such basic designs. Rental housing is largely designed for the wrong people. Unless government takes the lead and actually builds modular housing for the poor the situation will stay the same. Costs involved in getting land ready for construction is the real problem. Land levelling and servicing is very expensive. Councils are the main reason for this. There is no competition is regard to charges. A builder must pay fees to councils at council set rates.

Without established affordable housing it is virtually impossible for a person to contribute to society by holding down a job. Even when learning job skills rents are very high for accommodation near educational institutions. User certainly pays in this regard. Low income earners are also competing with each other to get the cheapest third of advertised rentals. Plenty of houses are available in rural areas of course. Living off welfare payment is almost mandatory there because there is no work. By definition where there is work rents are high.
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Society

Selasa, 29 Juni 2010

The State Governent and Councils Use the Water Fiasco to Charge More

The high cost of water is going to break the back of family finances. People must have water and even if you don't want it and town water comes to your fence line you will be charged for it. It is infrastructure that everyone must pay for whether you can pay for it or not. If you pay rent then the extra cost will soon be passed on to you.

What is quite surprising though is the reason why water costs so much. A high population you say. Well, if that is the case then why has the cost been reasonable per head over the last 200 years? Why does it cost so much per individual now? Dams have been built in the past that sustained supply. The building of dams in Queensland has stalled. In the 1980s 20 were constructed, in the 1990s 15. Over the last 10 years only two have been put into service. Other states have an even worse record.

The truth is Queensland is not short of water. New desalination plants will not be needed until 2017. Did the piping of water from the Sunshine Coast down south cost that much? It didn't cost very much actually. But overall, the panic investment in water was overinvestment. It is a problem caused by the Labor Government. Anna Bligh was at the helm and she gave the "yes" to go ahead. The price of bulk water will rise from $683 a megaliter to a whopping $2,755 in 2017. Councils have subsidized water in the past. But the new water bodies are under State control and Councils are taking the opportunity to grab some money by not reducing rates by the full amount of the now defunct water charge.
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