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Can the Great Australian Dream continue as it has for hundreds of years or are there more sustainable housing options that will support family wellbeing? The Great Australian Dream is defined as owning and paying off a home on a quarter acre block of land and the belief that home ownership can lead to a better family life. This is a very important, debatable concept that many Australian families need to understand the facts of. Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world with about 85 per cent of the population living in highly residential areas. With a steadily rising population these suburban areas are quickly becoming too crowded and as a result housing affordability is rapidly changing while housing stress is becoming more common and family wellbeing is being compromised. As times change the idea of the Great Australian Dream may not still be a …show more content…
realistic approach for many families. This report will focus on the topics of the rising population, affordability and housing stress and family wellbeing. “Australia's estimated resident population in 2012 of 22.7 million people is projected to increase to between 36.8 and 48.3 million people by 2061, and to between 42.4 and 70.1 million people by 2101” (Population Projections, Australia, 2013). The population has increased enormously over the past couple of decades and has shown no signs of slowing down. In 1970 the population rate was just 12.51 million people, while 45 years later this number has almost doubled. The reasons behind Australia’s large growth rates has two main components; natural increase such as birth, and overseas migration. As urban areas are predicted to increase within the coming decades the demand of housing is rising and without a new supply of dwellings, the prices are radically intensifying for future home owners. New supply of dwellings is obviously needed to accommodate the growth in population. This can only result in urban sprawl, which in turn presents a whole new level of pressure to upgrade existing infrastructures as well as providing new resources and foundations to start a community. The standard of advanced quality expectations for these new developments has also increased vividly putting large pressures on both urban redevelopment and settlement. By discontinuing the Great Australian Dream, there would be more land space and capacity to accommodate for this quickly rising population and there would most likely be a vast drop in housing affordability, meaning that more families would be able to invest in a home and live a normal life. “In the last ten years Australian house prices have risen by 147% while incomes have risen by only 57%” (Toohey, 2011). House prices in Australia have led to an increased interest in concepts surrounding the idea of housing affordability and housing stress. Housing prices have increased enormously over the past decade leaving many of Australian families in immense amounts of debt, vast Housing stress and for some, without any hope of ever owning a house. Housing stress used to be considered as a rare and infrequent occurrence that only arose in quite poor families. However in this day and age it’s considered quite normal and appears to be a somewhat kind of lifestyle for many Australians. A family is thought to be in Housing stress when they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing while earning in the bottom 40 percent of the country, otherwise known as the 30/40 rule. Many couples or families place themselves in these kinds of situations voluntarily by investing in houses that are far beyond their reach for the concept of the Great Australian Dream. However this can be justified by many as aiming for high quality locations with good education and vast job opportunities for their children. Others find themselves in these situations by constraint; a marriage breakup, loss of employment, costs of children or sickness. The emotional side of Housing stress can be quite brutal. Some people can find themselves with unhealthy chronic stress, severe anxiety and quite often it leads to depression and other mental health cases. “In a study conducted by Dunn (2002), he found poor physical and mental health associated with physical and emotional housing stress.” Australian families are putting their own health on the line and finding themselves in severe financial debts that they are likely to never recover from, all for the sake of the Great Australian Dream. Australians are more troubled than ever by the rate and pressures of life, taking away from family relationships and wellbeing. Family wellbeing goes beyond the idea of financial affluence and prosperity to compromise things such as emotional and physical health and safety. As Maslow’s hierarchy suggests, you need these psychological needs to reach self-actualization. Maslow’s Hierarchy of wellbeing has five levels; physical needs, safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem and finally self-actualization. The importance of family wellbeing is much greater than a lot of people may realise. Family cohesion is a basic security need for all families that contributes a major part of essential qualities that are needed for unity; it provides a positive sense of self, creates opportunities to grow with one another and provides stability and security within the household. For children, this is a very important aspect of their development and mental growth. Children need to have a strong sense of belonging, love and care so that they can properly develop the skills they need in life to help reach their full potential, however more often than not these needs are not met and the chances of poor life outcomes increases. The most common reason for this; parents having to work late, working far away or working more than one job to pay expensive house mortgages along with other bills. Families Australia stated that, “Time spent together and good communication are key strengths of functional families but this is being increasingly harmed by work pressures. Many families want to spend more time together but find that increased consumerism and the demands on time and money to make ends meet prevent this from becoming a reality.” (Babington, 2006). As a result of this children are often left on their own or left only seeing their parents for short amounts of time and not receiving the love and nurture they need to properly grow. Too many Australian families are compromising the Great Australian Dream over the importance of family wellbeing. The research and evidence throughout this report has made it clear that the dream of owning and paying off a home on a quarter acre block of land cannot be maintained or continued.
The arguments presented in this essay have made it very clear that this ‘dream’ is in fact ruining families lives. The population is increasing at an incredible rate, leaving many families without a home; housing affordability continues to increase leaving families in the dark mists of housing and finical stress; and family wellbeing is being pushed aside and compromised for the Great Australian Dream. There is research that contradicts the idea of rising house prices in the future. The theory is that a rising population will decrease housing prices and make dwellings more affordable to Australian families. However questions are still left unanswered in response to this as the government has not yet put in place strategies to account for this rising population and for housing affordability, proving this hypothesis to be inaccurate and instead strengthening the idea that the great Australian Dream cannot be
continued.
It is the 21st century: more than 85 per cent of Australians inhabit the urban areas sprawling along the coasts, and more and more rural areas struggle to survive.
Keli Goff declares in her article, The American Dream is Dead and Good Riddance, that the original American Dream is no longer on the minds of most Americans. She insists that most Americans no longer pursue the ideology of a nice house, educated children, and decent car that once fueled the ambitions of generations that have come and gone. A large number of people live alone in the U.S today with no children. With that being said, it’s statistically spoken that the dream is dying even though most of those loners want to direct their dream in the direction of a partner and children. Goff proceeds to ridicule the home ownership portion of the dream by pointing to a mortgage “meltdown” that came from the pursuit of home ownership by those who
As the lease of my apartment is coming to an end it had me thinking of achieving my own American Dream of home ownership but as I do my research I find the dream is far from coming true. I am sure that the issue of housing prices and rent rates are what most of us Bay Area residents talk about and debate. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the officials of the area, city mayors, affordable housing committees, social justice activists,lawmakers, and even employers. Skyrocketing prices, low inventory, and investors’ bidding wars are not only pushing the middle and lower classes out of San Francisco and the Bay Area out but will completely eliminate them.
In the book “They Say I Say”, Brandon King writes an essay bringing multiple perspectives on what Americans golden way of living is. The “American dream” is what most American citizens all strive for. Early settlers came in to try to achieve “the dream”. Those who already lived in America choose to stay because of its grand possibilities. The United States of America is the only place in the world where you have the rights to freedom of speech. What is the American dream? It used to be said that you could come to America and go from rags to riches; you could come with nothing and achieve everything you ever wanted. Take a second and think. We all ponder upon, is the so called “American dream” dead or alive? This has been a steamy topic
Some say the American dream is completely dead in today’s society. No. The American dream is alive and well for those who will go the extra mile for it. People may believe it is dead due to factors that may “hinder” a person from achieving it. These factors include, but are not limited to, discrimination, lack of job opportunities, debt, natural disasters, etc. These theories may be proven wrong in most cases, with the exception of some. The American dream is the idea that anyone, no matter the situation they are currently in, can eventually live a happy and stable life in America. The dream is attainable for a willing individual, who will work hard for what they want. This does not mean it will be easy, nor does it mean
People usually do not have a concrete plan for their future, so they do not know what direction they are going to take; it is so difficult for people to set themselves up for success when they have no real support system put in place. They often have negative people around them that will bring them down, too, which will lead to a lack of motivation, and this will set them up for failure, especially when they set goals that are not clear enough or realistic. People are usually not motivated or disciplined enough, use too many excuses, and get overwhelmed by obstacles, causing them to fail.
“We like to tell ourselves that America is the land of opportunity, but the reality doesn’t match the rhetoric - and hasn’t for awhile” (Matthew O’Brien 1). In today’s economic situations, dreaming big may seem unaffordable, but not impossible. To achieve this goal many aspects should be analyzed to understand the American dream, weakened retirement, and smart investments. Megan Cottrell states that “graduate from college. Get married. Buy a house. Have kids. Put in a few decades of hard work, and then it’s time to retire by 65. That’s the American Dream, right?” (1).
The term American Dream was initially set by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of American which was written in 1931. In the book, James Truslow Adams (1931) stated that the American Dream was a dream of having a land to stay; each person had a better, richer and more fulfilling life, and those who had the ability or achievement were always full of opportunities. In the video of the American Dream, it assumes that is also a belief that as long as the American do a hard struggle, they will be able to achieve the idea of a successful life. It’s suitable to say in the 21st century in some specific example but not all situation. (Citation) In addition, American Dream existed long before the words created. In the colonial period, the immigrants
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows American dream as an unreachable goal for the characters. Of Mice and Men is a novel based on two childhood friends, Lennie and George, who travel together in search of work. Lennie, the gentle giant, has a mental disability and an obsession of petting soft objects. One day, while stroking a girl’s hair, Lennie accidently kills her. And eventually by the end of the novel, George is forced to shoot Lennie. Steinbeck shows American Dream as an unreachable goal because of a character’s standing in the society, their dreams to be unreal and their dependency on other characters.
House prices have been affected by the number of people who buy houses to rent out and this has had an impact on younger people wanting to buy homes. Thus, the term ‘generation rent’ has come to the forefront in recent years. In A Century of Home-ownership and Renting (The Open University, 2016) census data presented supports the claim for the use of this term. In the video, they mention levels of home-ownership dropped for the first time since records began. From 69% to 64% in the space of 10 years and the percentage of households privately renting has been on the rise. 11% in 1981 compared to 18% in 2011. In addition, house prices have risen faster than previous years and banks have also restricted lending. These factors have all lead to more people not being able to afford a home of their own, especially at a younger age. So, as house prices rise this benefits the home-owners and allows them to gain more wealth and capital. The distribution of wealth has been affected by changes in these markets. There is evidence to support this claim. Table 3.5 (Investigating the social world 1, chapter 3, p. 96) shows wealth distribution in Great Britain from 2000 and 2005. The table shows results for housing wealth distribution amongst other things. It’s important to look at the look at the lowest and highest percentiles to look at any
Everyone grows up with the thought of an American dream in mind . Unfortunately that American dream is only limited to the people who are not of color. Sadly the people of color and the american dream don 't match up to well. I feel that this is because it can’t be easily obtained due to improper education and never being given the opportunity to show what they’re made of. Maybe if we weren 't categorized by our living arrangements, or the amount of our wealth, or better yet being presumed as these incompetent animals who aren’t good for nothing. Then we too would be able to achieve our own american dreams ,but as people of color the chances of that are not likely living in a world that feeds us with this improper mindset.
Some people love living in the suburbs, others would rather live amidst the action in a big city, and some people just are where they are and don't think about it at all. While we used to consider the American Dream as having a traditional family, living in a home with a white picket fence on a cul-de-sac with neighborhood kids riding bikes and playing hide and go seek, the current generation of emerging adults - millennials - see things a little differently.
High rates of employment and general post war affluence allowed Australians to buy into what was promoted as the Australian dream- the quarter acre section with a house in the suburbs. At the end of the Second World War, the home ownership rate in Australia was approximately 54%. Just twenty years later, it peaked at approximately 70%. Post war affluence changed the way Australians lived their lives. At the start of the fifties, there were 10 cars, less than 10 refrigerators or washing machines and about 14 telephones for every 100 Australians. Just ten years later, there were 18 cars, 30 refrigerators, 20 washing machines and 20 telephones for every 100 Australians. In 1950, Television had not arrived in Australia. In 1960, two thirds of homes in Melbourne and Sydney had a TV set. In this context, it is easy to understand why most Australians considered that they indeed lived in ‘the lucky
The American Dream The American dream has always been a talk amongst the American culture. When people speak of it, they often think back to the 19th century. The American Dream can be thought about when learning information on the Declaration of Independence which states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This was written by Thomas Jefferson.
Buying and owning your home is part of the American dream. Although the dream itself has since changed, the home still remains the main focal point. Today owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean a house. People now buy duplexes, cooperative apartments, and condominiums. For some families it could take up to a couple of generations before it’s able to have the capabilities of buying a home. To many people it means a certain achievement that only comes after years of hard work. It is a life altering decision and one of the most important someone can make in their lifetime. The reasons behind the actual purchase could vary. Before anything is done, people must understand that it’s an extraneous process and it is a long term project.