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

Recognize a good society by how the needy are treated

You have a home, a loving family and a nice good paying job, and so you have made it! And it is a dream for many to get to this point. But there are many others who live in hardship and need to fight daily to come around, and those who are unlucky are forced to live on the streets and are needy. How do you react when seeing someone in need or has to get help? Do you react nice, kind and give a helping hand? Sadly many don't and walk past others in disrespect and this is a signal of how good or how bad society is doing. How can one recognize if a society is doing the right thing, can we really sell that we are doing good and how does society need to change for the better?

Treat others the same way you want to be treated

There is only one universal method to judge if a society is a good one. And that is: "Treat others the same way you want to be treated". So if you want to be treated good, then do good yourself to others. This is not only a method to use on Earth, but I do believe it is the method for other species to judge us as well. With this "how we want to be treated" is put into a bigger galactic scale, as extraterrestrials might be judging us as we speak. So the question for Earthlings is, do we treat our species correctly? And I am sorry to say, No, we don't! We have used mass-destruction weaponry on our own citizens, we have waged wars for centuries making deaths and dislocating many, we have suppressed "other-thinking", other religions and other-colored. So can you answer me this question: do you really think we are doing the right thing? We absolutely are doing the wrong thing and that needs to change urgently, as the crisis in the World seem to be worsening, pointing out to an end-point. Without change we are doomed, and thus we have to change!

Can you sell, what we are doing?

How do you and I know, that our society is doing the right thing? You might say be kind and friendly and take care of those who you love. I would agree with that for sure. But if you then ignore the needy and don't offer help to others, then are you making a good example of yourself? No, you aren't, but you actually think you are doing the right thing. This is how I see it on a small scale and it is wrong, and this is also how mankind needs to think as well on a bigger scale. If we still decide to waste much money on war and the military or trying to put earthlings on Mars or other planets nearby, then we are prioritizing wrongly. If we cannot take care of the people on our own planet, then what right to we have to explore other planets? And this is a point of view, you cannot sell for sure. Especially if you try to sell it to aliens, as they will judge us on how we treat the needy. We cannot do the one thing, without also taking care of the remaining problems.

Measurement of compassion

The best way to judge if we are doing the right thing, is to introduce a measurement of compassion. And this must be based upon how we treat the needy. This means how do we treat the homeless, the roofless, the disrespected people, the sick, the immigrants and those living in a desert or in terrible living conditions. We need to collectively be responsible for others, and if we cannot arrange this care for others by ourselves, then it must be put into law. We are all the same as we all have a brain and a heart, and if you were in such a situation then you would want to get the same help as well. I seriously would recommend this measurement of compassion in this World to see how we can improve mankind as a whole. If there still remains one person living in turmoil then we fail, so we must arrange the care for all everywhere.

And how do we pay for this?

I think that this question actually is a joke for sure. We can pay billions for the development of armament and military or for the development of traveling to Mars, then for sure there is enough to go around to help everyone on Earth. The payability is only a question of rearranging priorities and thus helping the needy can be arranged for sure. Using a basic income for the needy is a very effective method to help, and it can increase the living conditions for everyone for sure. We simply need to do so, and that is a simple collective choice!

Arrange collective help

You and I can help those who are in distress by giving help and showing respect. But this can be arranged collectively. For instance if you would see a homeless person you personally could help, but if this would be arranged from society then an organization could take over this care. This would mean arrange a first short-term room to assess the health and mental state. From this treatment and recovery, and then arranging a long-term room to give time to think on how to improve the situation from that point on. During that time they must be given basic income so that one can put oneself in perspective and think on what to do next. And that person should be given the opportunity to reconnect with society as a normal person with the possibility on work or other way for further development. This is a simple way of thinking on how to improve the situation of those in need and that needs to be structured. But the starting point is that people need to recognize those in need and then act on it so that proper help is given instantly. There already are organizations that try to work like this, but for all those in need it isn't sufficient for sure and thus this needs to be upgraded drastically Worldwide.

People need to get aware

We can grade ourselves based on how we treat others and the needy. But people everywhere need to understand that society needs to change for the better this way, and thus we need to get aware. Within this discussion helping the needy is used as a signal to show how we are doing as a society. And currently that signal isn't a good one, so you and I need to act. Collectively we can make a difference for sure, so that we can improve our World as One.