What is affordable housing and how can it help society?

We all want to have a roof over our heads so that we have a safe place for ourselves, where we can relax and have our own privacy. Being housed, have money to spend, being able to use proper help and health care are the basics of our existence and that is agreed up on by society, as is written in the Declaration of Human Rights. So we need to up-hold that principle. But is this what is happening in society? No it isn't, there are still too many people homeless, live in poor conditions, are needy or simply cannot access the needed help. And this is a shortcoming of our society. How can affordable housing help and why is it a necessity for society to arrange for everyone?

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Table of contents

Thirty percent rule affordable housing
Housing gets too expensive
Payable rooms and apartments
Subsidized housing
Declaration of Human Rights article 25

We all want to have a roof over our heads so that we have a safe place for ourselves, where we can relax and have our own privacy. Being housed, have money to spend, being able to use proper help and health care are the basics of our existence and that is agreed up on by society, as is written in the Declaration of Human Rights. So we need to up-hold that principle. But is this what is happening in society? No it isn't, there are still too many people homeless, live in poor conditions, are needy or simply cannot access the needed help. And this is a shortcoming of our society. How can affordable housing help and why is it a necessity for society to arrange for everyone? 

Thirty percent rule Affordable housing

Having enough money to go around, means that one can pay for their mortgages and the renting prices of rooms, houses or apartments. A general rule for renting or buying a roof over one's head, is that one should spend not more then thirty percent of one's income on the cost of renting or mortgage (lit.1). This means one has enough money left to spend on other necessary things in life, such as food or doing fun things. This rule has some consequences as well. If one is below this rule then one is buying or renting in a very prude or safe way. But if one is over this rule, then one needs to save on other things with their spending.

Housing gets too expensive

The prices of buying and renting have been growing in time, but incomes haven't. And that means that the room for spending is decreasing and thus more and more people need to rent something above the stated thirty percent rule. But this also means that more people with low income, are losing the possibility to rent of buy anything. And thus the only choice they have is to sleep elsewhere, take a place at friends or family or in the worst case need to sleep in their car, or in or without a tent on the streets. So housing has become too expensive for those with low income, resulting in an explosion of homeless people or of those who are needy. It shows itself in the quantity of people using stamps for food (even those with housing) or living in the worst conditions.

Payable rooms and apartments

If people want to stay comfortable, with a roof over one's head and with enough money to have a full stomach and live in good health, then there must be a good ratio between what money is spent on. The thirty percent rule is a good way to see if you are overpaying or not, as you need to have money to buy clothes and house-hold items as well. For this you need to rent payable rooms or apartments. And this obviously needs to be provided by the society and thus society as a whole needs to make sure that everyone can rent a place and has the possibility of getting a place for themselves. And for this it is important for society to make rooms and apartments payable, anywhere on this planet. If it isn't provided then that must be seen as a shortage of living-space for those in need and thus it must be arranged.

Subsidized housing

Another method to cope with this situation is by subsidizing housing for those in need or who are homeless. And this needs to be implemented on a large scale. Too many people are suffering in poverty, living in their car or on the streets as they simply cannot pay it. So from this point of view government has a job to do, as they need to take care of everyone, not excluding anyone. By subsidizing housing and setting up cheap housing programs, also the needy and poor have the opportunity in getting a roof over one's head. And that is the primary job of our government, as it is stated so in the Declaration of Human Rights. It is the only way to make housing affordable again for everyone.

Declaration of Human Rights article 25

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control" (lit.2). And this means that society as a whole has responsibility to provide this right and thus affordable housing is a must. This article also shows that we need to provide the security in case one loses one's job, has health-problems, loses one's partner or gets old. But what we see happening instead is that the needy are being ignored, the homeless are left alone and forgotten, and no-one listens to the poor. And this tells a lot about the state of the World and why we need to change our ways. If we really want to succeed as a society, then the least we must do is to uphold the "Declaration of Human Rights" for sure. And everybody in this World has the same right as we are all the same (as we all have a heart and a brain). So we can change this World by simply following the rules stated as our general rights. Help the homeless poor and needy on our planet by giving care, help, money and help them get in touch with proper organizations so that they can get into housing as well. Everyone has the right on affordable housing as we all have agreed up on this to do so, and thus we as society need to uphold this now.

Sources:
Lit.1: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/14/how-much-of-your-income-you-should-spend-on-housing.html
Lit.2: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

How can basic income help change our World now?

Giving away free money as a government is something many of society object to. But people do not realize that basic income has many advantages on society which do weigh against the cost of it. Especially those in need, such as the homeless, poor, and others in hardship do have rights as well in getting the best help there is. And this kind of help easily can be given through a basic income for the needy. How do I think basic income must be used to help the less fortunate ones and why is it for society important to prioritize in how we are spending our budget?

What is basic income?

A basis income means the following: "Universal basic income (UBI) is a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly" (lit.1). This money is free and not taxed, and it is unconditionally. This means people don't have to prove anything to get it and there are no strings attached to it as well. Basic income has been tested in many places (such as in Finland lit.2) where people got a standard income every month, without the need to work or any pressure on it as well. And if one would find work or get income, then that wouldn't have any effect on their basic income. It has helped to stabilize peoples health (as they are less stressed about work, money and need to use help less), it has helped to minimize criminalization, it stimulates local consumption as people buy more in their area and it reduces the amount of people sleeping on the streets as well. The overall impression was that basic income helps society in many ways and thus the cost of it weighs against the benefits. So these are important lessons to take into account, as it improves our general well-being in many ways.

"How good we do it as a society, depends on how good we treat and help those in need".

Hardship and difficult times

If basic income would be implemented now right away for everybody, then that would have big financial consequences. But as said, it has many benefits as well. I can see that there might be problems implementing it for everybody right now. But that doesn't mean we cannot use it for those who actually are in need for it. There are many people who find it hard to get around during these financial uncertain times, there are a lot of poor people and consequently there are many people roofless or homeless. And not everybody wants to sleep in a shelter as for many it isn't considered as a safe place. So how can basic income be used to solve the problems for the poor and homeless?

Two wrong decisions and you can be homeless

Many people have debts and their income is needed to finance their spending. So if one gets into financial problems due to health-problems, relationship troubles, divorce, accidents, overspending and so on, then one can get homeless very quickly. You might not see it now, while you have your life settled, but even you can get into such problems that you end up on the streets. And life on the streets isn't a happy place, as you can imagine. One is cold, miserable, hungry and people ignore you completely just like you are worth nothing. Just by making two wrong decisions and you can end up on the streets as well. So from this point of perspective it is wise to learn from those who already are homeless, and try to help them as well. It isn't their fault they end up in this situation as things simply happen. And this can happen to you as well!

How do I think basic income should be used now?

We most likely cannot put basic income in place for everyone now, but we for sure can implement it for those in need. There are many that are poor, homeless, in distress in any way and do need help. In my opinion it is the decent way to act for those who haven't any problems in life. Helping others is what we need to do and basic income is a strong instrument that can be used to lift others out of their sorrow. After helping the homeless and poor with basic income, in time it gradually can expand by including other groups of society. Think about those who do have income, people with health problems, others with basic living hardship, and can barely come around with their money. By lifting up their living standards giving a basic income, they don't have to fear for uncertainty anymore and thus can create a better life. This has many positive effects for sure on them and on society as a whole as well.

Society needs to prioritize for change

You might say, giving away free money like this is un-payable for society. If you start giving away basic income by helping those in need first, then you do what is required to help society as a whole. How good we do it as a society, depends on how good we treat and help those in need. So we don't measure how much money we make, or how far we traveled in space, but we measure it in the quality of life of the most needy ones. This must be the primary method to measure if humans really have compassion for others. Now there are laws that forbid people to be homeless or sleep on the streets, but we should make laws about forbidding people not to help others instead. And if society isn't in order yet, then there is no need to invest billions in going into space or on the military as we can not even care for those on Earth. It means that society needs to prioritize and decide what is really important for our species as a whole. And basic income is a necessary means to an end in preparing this World for the next step in our evolvement.

Sources:

Lit.1: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/basic-income.asp

Lit.2: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/fair-society/basic-income-experiment-finland-yields-surprising-results