I believe public housing is totally immoral. Those who get into it are set for life, bludging on the tax payer.

Rents in public housing are often lower than the actual cost of living in the same house as an owner, & with the total inefficacy of bureaucratic systems, the maintenance costs are way higher than an owner would incur.

A company I ran supplied 2 states housing commission/trust organisations with water & energy saving stuff, & saw this first hand.

One aboriginal island settlement in Qld, with about 240 houses bought 800+ shower heads in a single year. We assumed they must have been using the solid brass items as fishing sinkers.

ok, so battlers should be left to compete in this absurd housing market which has become unaffordable for more and more people here.

I am not talking about freebies, I am talking about smaller apartments that are subsidised, with people still obliged to pay.

Paul,

You forget that the unemployed get housing or a housing allowance, free medical and many other benefits that you don't include. My son moved out and into a share house where his budget incl accommodation was $350 a week which he had no problem keeping to while he saved to go overseas.

The dole is a safety net, not an alternate lifestyle.

Thanks Hasbeen for your valuable perspective on the public housing issue.

I've often thought that simple low maintenance low cost 2x2 sized metal boxes could be placed in parks for temporary secure shelter for homeless along with simple low maintenance low cost showers and toilets- factoring in risks such as fire, etc- they could perhaps be hosed out by council maintenance. One problem is that teenagers might use them too. I'm sure there are other issues too.

... often lower than their contemporaries in the non-Government bureaucracies.
is Mise,
And, so they should be considering their safe, risk-free employment which allows them to plan years ahead, a luxury most others don't get !
Perhaps if performance appraisal were an annual thing with a very real possibility of demotion of rank due to lack of performance, many would seriously consider becoming more responsible !
Presently, people get paid no matter what under the Peter Principle ! That must stop !

I could probably live on $44 a day, my rent and rego comes in at $14 day together;
- but you might need to ban me from eBay, Kogan, Afterpay and Zip-pay.

I've got a $2000 Afterpay limit with no up-front costs on purchases and also the ability to reschedule payments, plus there's now bonus rewards and discounts for using it, so it's hard not to.
And I've also got a $1000 zip-pay account why I can buy things and not have to make a first payment for 6 weeks or something.
If I use zip-pay more I'm sure they will up my limit too.

I'm trying to limit my purchases but sometimes you just can't help it.
I probably owe around $600 or so at the moment.