Big Issue

There is an issue we all face.  All over the globe this issue exists. For nations with means this issue is managed well. For poor countries this issue is second only to food.

The issue is housing. 

Food, shelter, clothing, health. The four basics. We each strive to provide these things for self and family. All life long.

Because of its basic nature, food is widely available in America. Not so in other places where agriculture is scanty, economics are nearly non-existent, and natural flora and fauna do not provide enough food in nature. Think arid places: Africa, desserts in Asia, cold regions without accessible soil.

Still nations and peoples share their food with those without. Even clothing and medical care are shared for the benefit of the less fortunate. Yet people still starve to death, die naked and suffer medical problems easily managed in wealthier countries.

Housing, however, is another issue. If we were nomadic tribes we would live in portable housing – tents, yurts, teepees, lean-tos – makeshift and simple housing enclosures. To keep the rain off our bodies, to provide safe shelter in which to sleep, to keep warm in cold climes and out of the sun in hot spots.

We aren’t nomads. We don’t live in temporary or portable shelters. Our culture is to develop roots for family in a place we call home. A house or an apartment, a mansion or a tar paper shack; the shelter is thought of as long term. Maybe not permanent but for a chapter of life that is significant to us.

Through life phases we seek homes that fit our needs. Those needs change from when we are single to when we are building family to when we are empty nesters and to when we are retirees and following our journey toward eternity. It would be impractical to live in the same home for an entire lifetime. It would be wasteful.

So we re-use homes for other families for other times in other places. These homes serve useful purpose for changing life phases. They are functional and purposeful.

Comes now the issue of dreams and nurture. These are qualities of life that compound the housing question exponentially. How big is one element. Of what quality is another consideration. Then too is location and why that location is important. All these factors are unique to one person’s life. And his family’s life. And perhaps their place in society?

Yes, housing is a big deal in our culture. A huge industry interconnected with other huge industries addresses these concerns: real estate developers, real estate sales organizations, mortgage providers, banking institutions and their investment in housing and mortgages, investment banking which packages huge dollar packages to fund large numbers of mortgages, investment  brokers – the list goes on. It is this enormous conglomerate of business focused on housing that crashed in 2007 up until today. The conglomerate is still broken; better and more healthy today but still on the mend. Dislocations occurred in the housing market; people lost their homes. Houses were destroyed, vacated, abandoned. Foreclosures continue to grow although slowly. Many homes are empty. Many families are combining their generations to live together, at least temporarily. Not everyone has a home. Not everyone has the home they want. Not everyone can have this want satisfied.

So we have a housing need to start with. With economic troubles we have a larger housing need than we began with. How this plays out in the America of the 2000’s will be interesting to watch. Meanwhile we need to think on this overall issue and manage it for better outcomes for people. And the outcomes need to be affordable and accessible.

Over the next few months I wish to write about this issue in more detail. Bear with me as I feel my way. Perhaps you will find this discussion of interest?

April 1, 2013