Latest news with #housingaffordability
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mark Humphries: ‘When did the Australian dream go from owning your own home to owning somebody else's?'
Mark Humphries has moved house five times in the past seven years. First was the place in the Sydney suburb of Turramurra he had to vacate because it was, 'forgive me for saying this – leaking like a giant breast from the ceiling'. Next came a house so damp, mushrooms began growing under the carpet; a small flat that was OK except for being utterly freezing, and another one-bedroom apartment where the rent went from $500 to $660 a week, forcing his exit. It's of no comfort to the comedian and TV presenter that he's not alone in having found it extremely difficult to secure an affordable and liveable home. 'This is the common experience,' he sighs. 'It's been extraordinary seeing everyone I know go through rental increases [over the past few years] … I feel like every one of us needs to start a GoFundMe just for our daily existence.' Housing affordability is a topic Humphries is angry about. And, perhaps ironically, that emotion can be a very useful tool for a comedian. 'I have found with a lot of my work that it's easier if you're angry about something,' he says – like, say, those political texts we all received in the lead-up to the election, or all things Mark Latham. 'Even if you're just doing comedy sketches, if you are genuinely annoyed by what has happened, you can channel that into something amusing.' Recently, Humphries has channelled his rage 'not just for myself, but everyone' over the housing crisis into a new documentary called Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream? Out on Binge, it's a one-hour look at the problems with Australia's housing market, and how we've landed in a situation where, as he puts it in the documentary, even a 'D-grade celebrity like me can't afford a home'. We're discussing all this in the incongruous setting of a quaint cafe specialising in tea and scones – Humphries' choice of venue. This was meant to be a quick bite before a walking interview but the moment the scones hit the table, we've lost all motivation to stand up again. Humphries, he proudly tells me, eats a lot of baked goods. He even once auditioned to host The Great Australian Bake Off, a job that 'would have been heaven'. That particular gig wasn't to be, but Humphries has nonetheless carved out a very busy career on our screens, largely as the tall, blond and affable face of Australian news satire. You'd probably recognise him from appearances on programs such as SBS's The Feed and Channel Ten's The Project (the recent cancellation of which is a 'great loss' for Australian comedy, whatever you think of the show itself, he says). Unlike most comics, Humphries has never been one for standup – he has done it, he can tell me very specifically, only 12 times in his life and found each one 'immensely stressful'. In fact, he's more reserved and strait-laced than the typical comedian, deflecting attention by asking me as many questions as I ask him. Rather than seeking out the stage, Humphries spent his early years after school working at a Blockbuster video store and then a warehouse. The video store may have been every millennial's teenage dream job, but it wasn't all roses. 'I got held up at knife-point three times when I worked in a video store,' Humphries recalls. 'It was awful. I had to leave that job after the third one, because I was so affected by it.' He can still see the humour in that formative trauma – such as when he went to the police station to do an identakit after one of the robberies and described the knife-wielding assailant as 'surprisingly handsome'. Or the time his unfailing politeness kicked in as he was being held up and he asked his attacker if he'd like a bag for all that cash. Or that after he finally quit and booked a ticket to London to try and decompress, as he stepped off the tube from the airport, a fellow holidaying Australian recognised him and exclaimed 'Hey, Blockbuster Crows Nest!' But through every odd job, Humphries was quietly nursing dreams of breaking into comedy. His career eventually began 13 years ago when he called up the satirical current affairs program Hungry Beast and asked for an internship, unsure of how else to get started in the industry given 'there's no university degree in comedy'. His turn as a comic came to the surprise of those closest to him. 'I was talking about how I'd always wanted to be a comedy writer [in a recent interview] and my dad said to me, 'I spoke to your mother about how you said you'd always want to be a comedian. We were gobsmacked, because you never said anything funny to us.'' Humphries' dad, who actually does very much support his son's career, gamely appears in the new documentary – to decline him any financial assistance cobbling together a house deposit, because, as the elder Humphries puts it, 'I'm renting too.' 'We're so obsessed with property in this country, and it's become worse especially in the last 25 years, where the idea of accruing multiple properties has become something that people aspire to,' Humphries says. 'And it's a line that I use in the doco, but I think it's true – when did the Australian dream go from owning your own home to owning somebody else's?' What makes the situation harder to fix, Humphries thinks, is the fact the majority of Australians do actually own a home. 'Owners outnumber renters two to one,' he says. 'So it's very hard to get huge change on something that the majority of people benefit from. House prices going up if you own a house is great, but for everyone else, it's a nightmare. And so the challenge is, how do you get people who are benefiting from the current system to ultimately make a sacrifice for the greater good, so that we don't end up with this two-tier system of the homeowners and the renters? Which is essentially what we have, and it's only getting worse.' At this point the anger Humphries had spoken of is starting to show, tea and scone neglected as fires up and rattles off the issues with Australia's housing market. Obviously, supply is part of the housing crisis, Humphries says – so it's great that the federal government has pledged to build 1.2m new homes by 2030. 'But the issue with the supply argument is that it doesn't take into account the other part of that, which is demand. So again, if you have this system where people are able to tap into these tax incentives and buy multiple properties, increasing supply doesn't really solve that. It ends up with a whole bunch of people owning even more properties.' Humphries points out he doesn't begrudge investors for taking advantage of the tax system – 'but that system shouldn't exist'. Couldn't the government, I proffer casually while Humphries finally gets the chance to take a bite, just put a cap on the number of properties people can own? 'Humphries nods furiously as he bites through his scone,' he narrates after a pause to chew and swallow. Ultimately, he says, to fix the housing crisis we need to rid ourselves of the idea that property prices should perpetually climb higher, and allow the value of homes to become static. 'And some of these changes can be introduced incrementally. It's not about crashing the housing market.' So, I ask, does Humphries ever see home ownership in his future? 'Bizarrely, at age 39 I just bought a home – I just moved in yesterday,' he admits with the mix of sheepishness and amusement now typical to any millennial who manages to get a foot on the property ladder. 'But I maintain the rage!' He is lucky, Humphries says, to have got enough work in the last year to secure a mortgage on a two-bedroom apartment near the airport, together with his partner. The irony of having used the salary from a documentary about not being able to afford a home to buy a home is not lost on him. And he insists being a very newly minted homeowner hasn't changed his perspective on the problem at hand. 'Like, I used to work in retail, and I'm still as annoyed today about rudeness towards service workers as I was when I was in the video store,' he shrugs as we dust off the scone crumbs and wrap up our conversation so that he can head home to start unpacking boxes for what is hopefully the last time. 'I'm thrilled, obviously, to get to that next stage of my life,' he adds. 'But it's something that, growing up, I thought I would have done 10 years ago, and it just felt like the possibility of it just kept moving further and further away. And I don't go into it with the idea of, now I can't wait for this to increase in value. I haven't bought a place because I want to make money. I bought a place because I want to live in a place.' Really, he's mostly just very grateful to not have to move again anytime soon. 'I'm excited to have a bit of stability,' he says, before pausing to consider the implications of this very momentous life change. 'And just to be able to stick a nail on the wall.' Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream? is streaming now on Binge.
Bloomberg
17-07-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
How Cities Became the Epicenter of America's Plumbing Crisis
In the world's richest nation, the share of households living without access to clean running water is growing — and urban areas are at the center of the crisis. That marks a significant change from decades ago, when 'plumbing poverty,' as researchers call it, was endemic to rural America. The rise of housing unaffordability and living costs began shifting the issue to cities in the 1990s. Today, nearly three-quarters of households lacking running water live in metropolitan areas, with wealthy places like Portland, Oregon; Houston and Phoenix seeing some of the largest surges in recent years. Utility shut-offs due to nonpayment or improper maintenance by landlords are the main factors behind the problem, Laura Bliss and Klara Auerbach report. Today in Businessweek: Why Access to Running Water Is a Luxury in Wealthy US Cities
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Down-payment support now essential for Canadian homebuyers: Poll
Getting help from family to make a down payment on a new home is no longer a 'nice-to-have.' Instead, it's becoming a necessity for Canadians looking to buy a home, according to a new report from Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC). The organization's 2025 State of the Housing Market report reveals that among buyers in the last two years, 70 per cent say they couldn't have bought their home without financial help. Among all respondents, that number was 58 per cent. About 35 per cent of Canadians acknowledge they will never buy a home. 'Down payment assistance is no longer a backup plan — it's a requirement for many Canadians hoping to buy,' said Lauren van den Berg, president and CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada, in a statement. These findings underscore the deepening challenges of housing affordability in Canada. Young Canadians buying their first homes, in particular, may face the greatest barriers to home ownership without financial support. Canada's youngest households — those under 35 — are building wealth at the slowest pace of any age group, in part because they're reducing their real estate holdings, according to a Statistics Canada report on the savings and wealth of Canadians. Young prospective buyers may be giving up on the housing market due to affordability issues, the report added. Homebuyers who entered the market when interest rates dropped from 2020 to 2022 may have also dropped their real estate holdings because they moved into more affordable accommodations – or are putting their financial focus on repaying existing mortgage debt, the report says. More than half of Canadians (56 per cent) agree that now is a bad time to buy, and 60 per cent believe that, due to previously lower interest rates, many Canadians bought homes when they probably shouldn't have, the MPC report says. Canadians largely expect home prices to rise another 5 to 10 per cent, especially those living in Alberta and Quebec. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
DeSantis appoints State Sen. Ingoglia as Florida chief financial officer to bolster state cabinet
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday appointed state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia as Florida's chief financial officer, gaining more control over the state Cabinet and potentially setting up a proxy battle in 2026 with President Donald Trump. DeSantis called Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican whose social media handle is "@GovGoneWild," a warrior on issues such as immigration and insurance and "the most conservative senator in the state of Florida." "Yes, he's got a great financial record, which is important, but I looked even broader than that," DeSantis said during an event at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. "I want to see who's running towards these fights and who's running and hiding. And every single time we've had a flash point in Florida, Blaise is running into battle." DeSantis added that Ingoglia, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, will be a "really important voice" in the governor's push to pass a constitutional amendment in 2026 to reduce property taxes. The chief financial officer's position opened this spring when former CFO Jimmy Patronis successfully ran in a special election for a congressional seat. The CFO is one of three Cabinet positions elected statewide, along with the attorney general and agriculture commissioner. DeSantis chairs Cabinet meetings. Ingoglia said his initial goals will include focusing on property taxes, housing affordability and reviewing local government spending. "With the audit authority at the CFO's office, I promise you, we are going to start digging in, and we are going to start calling out some of this wasteful spending," Ingoglia said. But the liberal group DeSantis Watch issued a statement Wednesday calling Ingoglia, who has chaired the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, an "insurance industry lackey." The CFO oversees the state Department of Financial Services and also helps regulate the insurance industry. "Floridians have been crushed by predatory insurance corporations who have been jacking up their rates and refusing to pay legitimate claims and they need a chief financial officer who will actually do the job of holding them accountable when they take advantage of policyholders," Anders Croy, communications director for DeSantis Watch, said in the statement. The appointment likely will lead to a Republican primary battle in 2026 between Ingoglia and Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who is running for CFO with support from Trump. Gruters is also a former state Republican chairman. DeSantis clashed early this year with legislative leaders about immigration issues, and Ingoglia was one of a few lawmakers who publicly sided with the governor. Also, amid a legislative impasse this spring about budget and tax issues, Ingoglia stood behind DeSantis' call for cutting property taxes — an idea that did not pass. Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, a Miami Republican, said on the social-media platform X that DeSantis' appointment of Ingoglia "has single-handedly once again divided the Republican Party because his own ego cannot allow him to support President (Donald Trump) and his backed candidates like Joe Gruters." Asked about Gruters' endorsement by Trump, DeSantis questioned Gruters' votes on several issues and said his record is "contrary to what we've told the voters that we would do." "If George Washington rose from the dead, came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?' My response would be, 'No, I can't do that without betraying the voters that elected me to lead the state in a conservative direction,'" DeSantis said. Wednesday's announcement means that two of the three Cabinet positions will be held by DeSantis appointees. In February, DeSantis named James Uthmeier to serve as attorney general, after the governor appointed former Attorney General Ashley Moody to the U.S. Senate. Uthmeier had served as DeSantis' chief of staff. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who was elected in 2024, holds the third Cabinet office. Ingoglia, a homebuilder, was first elected to the House in 2014 and moved to the Senate in 2022. He served as state Republican chairman from 2015 to 2019, a period that included DeSantis' first run for governor. A special election will need to be called to fill Ingoglia's Senate seat, which represents Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties and part of Pasco County. Former Rep. Ralph Massullo, R-Lecanto, announced his intention to run for the seat Wednesday and quickly drew support from DeSantis and the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. DeSantis still needs to appoint a lieutenant governor. That office has been vacant since February, when Jeanette Nunez left to become interim president — and, ultimately, president — of Florida International University.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TNT Endorsement: Our pick for Tacoma City Council Pos. 4
To choose a candidate to endorse for Tacoma's district 4 representative on city council, The News Tribune editorial board spoke with the incumbent and a challenger who are both highly involved in the East Tacoma and South End communities. Sandesh Sadalge is our pick for this office after showing a solid understanding of the housing affordability crisis. He's the incumbent, but he hasn't been in office for long. He was appointed to finish the remainder of Catherine Ushka's term after she passed away in 2024. Sadalge, 45, was on the council when it finalized the Home in Tacoma Phase 2 ordinance, and he's familiar with the tools the city now has at its disposal to increase the affordable housing stock. In addition to affordable housing apartment complexes like the new Patsy Surh Place, Sadalge says he prioritizes homeownership options for middle-income Tacomans. When it comes to issues like crime prevention, he emphasized creating economic stability for all residents and a fully staffed police force. While we were hoping to hear some more specifics in the interview, the board thinks Sadalge deserves a chance to keep working on these issues, implementing what he's learned so far. He also voices support for small businesses and called out the city's recent controversy over requirements imposed on restaurants to install expensive grease traps as an example of red tape he wants to eliminate. He lists endorsements from mayor Victoria Woodards, four fellow council members, U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland, state House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, County Executive Ryan Mello and State Rep. Jake Fey. Sadalge was born in India and came to the U.S. at age 6. He grew up in New York City, and came to Tacoma to help run a cannabis company in 2019, which was later sold. Silong Chhun is a community advocate and digital communications specialist for the Washington State Attorney General's office. He was also considered for Ushka's seat, and lists some big name endorsements of his own. Those include former governor Jay Inslee, State Rep. Sharlett Mena and city council member Jamika Scott, as well as a few unions. Chhun has impressive bona fides with his work in the community, which he's been a part of since his family came to the U.S. from Cambodia as part of a refugee resettlement program. Chhun, 46, lists some notable priorities on his campaign website, including government resources to protect immigrant families during federal enforcement activities, investment in minority businesses, more green spaces and a clean environment for neighborhoods in a district that historically hasn't had as much access to either of those. We were expecting some full-throated responses to our questions on those topics. So we were surprised when he lacked specifics, especially on the question of preventing displacement as neighborhood improvements drive up the cost of living for longtime residents. Another candidate, Israel McKinney, declined to participate in the endorsement process. The News Tribune Editorial Board is: Laura Hautala, opinion editor; Stephanie Pedersen, TNT president and editor; Jim Walton, community representative; Justin Evans, community representative; Bart Hayes, community representative. Solve the daily Crossword
