I was just watching the news as I am getting ready to travel interstate when I heard that rent is going to increase by 50% over the next four years. Holy crap!  Where on earth are we going to get the money to fund that?  As Gordon Ramsey would say, ‘F*** me!’.

Being the internal optimist (hey even my grade criteria is optimistic) I was thinking so what does that mean for me and people like me who are the lower end of the middle class?  The reality is this: either find a way to make more money or kiss the dream goodbye.  It’s no longer just out of my reach… it’s miles out of my reach.  It’s so far out of my reach that I would have to stretch further than plastic man!

You know what I have learned from this whole thing… there is a reason you need faith some times.  The current situation only suits those that have money and can make a fist of it.  Those that have a bit or a little more than a bit are stuffed.  What I want to know is why are we tolerating it?

So to finish my morning rant I have to say this: what’s the answer?  This is, after all, the problem solving blog.  I have heard a great majority of answers but for me only one real answer springs to mind:

I need a miracle.

I was sent this article from local news site Brisbane times. In short it says the government is going to tax us more when we buy a car to make us pay less ‘mortgage duty’ when we buy a house. The article points out that people will save $500 initially on taxing on houses and later on $1000. Ok, so I am not rubbishing the journalist here but what the hell?

So tell me state government: what am supposed to do to save up the whopping 10% of $320,000? Last time I checked the only place I can buy a house for that price is in the middle of bloody nowhere, miles away from work, oh and did I mention that I am only eligible for a loan 1/3 of that? I suppose I could buy 32 houses? Give me a break.

So here we are in the middle of a housing crisis where people are living on the street and all we can do is give tax breaks to people who need it the least. I have to be totally honest here and say this is the least helpful idea in the crisis so far. I like Rudd’s sliding scale concept, but I can’t save with rising food and accommodation costs can I? Here’s a concept: work on making something different so more people can afford to buy a house. Wow! What a concept!

To be fair I think the idea has merit because of extending tax options for investors (thus making more rentals available…I hope) BUT this sounds like an attempt to bait investors to me NOT an answer to getting a house for the first home buyer. It does not sound (perhaps as it’s framed in the article) as an attempt to work towards a meaningful solution to the nations affordability problems. Now, I am all for making money and success but what happens when people keep getting rich on one end and the majority miss out? Poverty and rises in homelessness that’s what.

I have discussed these things previously and judging by a comment I received in that post this morning I am not alone here.  This has made me seriously rethink the whole renting versus buying thing. As I have already said before, I am not sure it’s sound investment as many say it is. I would just like to add my voice to the growing discontent of how this situation is being handled. It’s like the people in charge of this thing are asleep at the wheel. So why am I whining about this? Well, it’s a classic case of looking at a problem from a purely economic point of view. Shallow, narrow minded and at best a poor solution to a problem that is growing rapidly out of control.