Honoured Reader,
The letter by that intelligent lady writing about her predicament which may end in homelessness bothers me enough to once again overcome my reluctance to respond – perhaps to share some information or perhaps even may make a suggestion or two that may prove helpful.
I realize that in our system the market is supposed to take care of things: “Demand and Supply” or the other way around. If there is too much supply the price goes down and if the demand is too great, as every child knows, prices go up, plus a few other factors that can influence the market. One week I hear, Los Angeles has 36,000 homeless and then a few days later, a politician running for president of the USA points out that “America” has 500,000 homeless! What an opportunity for future builders and young people now in trade school looking ahead to be employed! I believe I have mentioned to my loyal readers I once upon a time built two houses with government assisted social housing money for $48,000.00 each – near Princess Margaret in Surrey, my previous high-school. It was fun and I’d do it again. (You can’t be serious, Wilhelm!)
But when I look at a piece of wood at one of our home building supply stores and look at a twelve by one inch, 12 foot long planned piece of wood, the price! then it makes me wonder, how much for a house? Why, why, why are things not adding up anymore?! Many reasons I know, but this will not help our lady about to be evicted from the security of her home.
If any of you who are reading this should ever visit Germany, visit the city of Augsburg (on the River Danube and about 100 km west of Muenchen. (Munich).
There you will find a “Siedlung”, a large housing subdivision with very quaint but lovely little homes, very old but well maintained. It was built by the wealthy textile merchant families of Fugger and Welshers for the poor who could not afford their own home, and as I indicated, they are still well maintained and of course occupied as Germany, as have many other countries, have the same homeless problems as we have.
Here is my suggestion: (we need to make a start somewhere) The sixteen million or whatever I read it is supposed to cost this municipal project for recreation, etc., let mayor and council rezone a piece of land up by the town line (it looks like someone already started to put in storm pipes – or what is it?—for residential purposes, build small 800 square feet fine little houses on it, with plenty of land for a large gardens (to help overcome the obesity problem of our age, do gardening instead of watching TV), lease the land and have very low interest and long-term mortgages on it as they do in Japan, so that practically everyone can own a little home.
Just be daring, bold and innovative and the world will thank your for it. And using the word “Thank you” — I like to say thank you to the fine trail we have here at the end of Pine Drive, The Huddlestan Trail. The air was clear this morning and the temperature just right, as this old man limped around three times the trail. (For the more ambitious of you: instead of needing a gymnasium, climb the Merry Widow, described the other day by one of our contributors to this fine North Island Gazette publication, with our very intelligent and ambitious editor—he needs all the help we can give him, and please, let’s have some young people get involved.
Someone said this morning on the CBC, this being Canada Day, the Green Party has good ideas but is too radical. And on the German channel one scientist said the Green Party is the only party that understands “Naturgesetz”, the law of nature.
The way things are shaping up: nothing will be too radical, things are that serious, my honoured reader. Those planes that cross our skies daily should be heavily taxed and that goes for everything else, and then we will also find the money for housing, and not to forget: if one percent of the USA population owns as much as the other ninety (is this really only idle talk we hear or is it really true, some of the stats given, proven or unproven, but something has badly gone wrong when parents suddenly live in a $100,000.00 home (such nice tax money for the city!) but the kids who now each need a house find it impossible to buy a home. Where have our politician or our professor experts been to let all this happen! (Ever heard of wage and price control under the man/PM I met personally, Pierre Ellet Trudeau!)
P.S.
I just came home from a little late afternoon shopping and whenever I see my First Nation’s friends and others, down and out and not a penny to their name, a deep anger overcomes me against a humanity gone stupid, complacent, or just helpless in becoming part of the solution.
There are more and more young people in Europe and other parts of the world asking for housing and food as a given for every human being, and not at the mercy of the capitalistic money system.
$240 trillion are owing globally from what I hear (or is it just idle gossip?) and the system will someday collapse and they (the ones in charge) will have to think of a different system.
How can we let these people in downtown Port Hardy and other places from coast to coast go hungry?!
What I write must not always be taken chiselled in stone, but I wish to make a point and hope to make people pause and think.
How can we swim in affluence in those food stores and at the gates are the hungry in a modern society?! Google what a man, a former PM of Brazil (Lulu) has to say.
He was PM from 2003 to 2011 and made a good start in Brazil but it was too good for the rich and powerful and even ordinary working people often vote right-wing, as if the rich would solve the problem, “Ayn Rand” fashion.
Wilhelm Waldstein,
Port Hardy