I stole this from a 'beast' post on the general forum.
It reveals that 'demand and supply' theories by themselves are meaningless.
From all accounts the US housing market has a surfeit of houses (and low prices). Yet still there are 'normal' people living in all sorts of homes that have nothing to do with a house.
I know that you did not say here that demand will keep Australian house prices growing, but many do hold that belief. This article shows that other issues can usurp the need for a house, even though empty houses abound.
- pug
here goes - thanks beast: "
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Americans call tent cities home ABC - March 12, 2009, 2:47 pm
Many of those seeking shelter had good jobs and stable family lives until the economy spun out of control.
Some 300 people call a tent city in Sacramento home, including Tracy Vaughan, who moved to the city with her husband six months ago.
"We both worked for the same company, we both got laid off on the same day," she said.
"So yeah, it just kind of happened."
Another resident, Erich Platz, says there is no work to be had, making getting by tough.
"Nothing going on in concrete, nothing going on in carpentry, the housing - there's no boom any more so it's busted," he said.
Tent cities are cropping up at an alarming rate. Many shelters have run out of beds to accommodate the growing number of homeless.
Garren Bratchin from the Loaves and Fishes charity says the organisation has seen a 20 per cent jump in the number of homeless people using its services.
"It's been entire families, not just the guy that decides to leave his wife and get drunk - whole families; three or four, five people at a time," he said.
New figures show in February another 650,000 Americans lost their jobs, fuelling fears tented communities like this one will become more common.
-_Adapted from a report by Ian Burrows for the Midday Report
