Housing policy

I think that housing is one of more important thing in the world for people. People can live in village, or in town!

Village : There is less (méně) people than it town, but every people know each other well (každý každého zná), just only one shopp. Live in the village is boring (nudný). Because there aren´t cultural activities.

Town: live in town is good for young people and young families. There are cultural activities, the work and schools!

People can live in flat, or in house. Live in flat is cheaper (dražší) than live in house. But in flat we have less (méně) rooms than house. And big problems are neigbourts (sousedé). Live in house is good for family with children and animals because we have garden and private (soukromí).

Big problems are homeless (bezdomovci). Homeless don´t have work, people without home… The number (počet) of homeless people who sleep on the street, in cardboard (krabicích) of plastic shelters (úkryty, bunkry, ochrana) has increased (zvýšil) . People who haven’t any flat but just because there aren’t enough (dostatečné, dost) chances (příležitosti) for living in one or the flats are very expensive, for example, for a young couple. Formerly (kdysi) they were older people, now many are young. Charities such as (jako je) Shelter or the Salvation Army run (provozuje) hostels and soup kitchens for them. Homelessness (bezdomovectví) may being when someone loses (ztratí) a job and is unable (neschopný) to pay the rent (nájem) . Other reasons are family quarrels (hádky) and mental illness (mentální nemoci) . Some people, however (bohužel,avšak) , are too lazy (líní) to work or they simply waste (plýtvají) money.

Some countries have problems with an earthquake (zemětřesení) which destroyed (zničilo) a lot of houses and then people have no choice (řešení, volbu) , they must leave their houses. It is the same with floods (povodně).

British people prefer (upsřednostňují) living (žít) in house to living in flats. Now three fifths (3/5) of the population own (vlastní) a house, though (ačkoli) most often (nejčastěji) the house will be fully (zcela) their own (vlastnictví) only after they pay back (zplatí) the mortgage (hypotéku) . A typical house is semidetached (dvojdomek) joined to antoher (připojený k jinému) house and has a ground floor (přízemí) and an upper storey (horní), five rooms in all (dohromady 5 pokojů). The bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs, the living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs. The garden is usually very small. Low – income families (rodiny s nízkýmy příjmy) live in council houses (obecních domech) with subsidized rents (s dotovaným nájemm). Housing is cheaper (levnější) in the nort than the south. The sprawling (rozrůstající se) housing is costly (náročné) in infrastructure an brings the necessity (nezbytnost) of having a car. Living in a village may be inconvenient (nepohodlné) if you do not have a car because the public transport service is limited (omezená) and many village shops have closed. On the other hand, you may have a large garden, an ancient (starobylou) cottage and attractive countryside around you (venkovské prostředí) .

In Scottish towns, stone (kámen) is the traditional building material, in England brick (cihlové) houses prevail (převažují) . Half-timbered houses (hrázděné domy) may date back to the 17th century or earlier (dříve), though inside, after restoration (po restauraci) , there may be modern amenities (electric kitchen, bathrooms, etc.).

A solution (řešení) to a problem

Many economists (ekonomů) argue (tvrdí) that market solutions are more efficient than government agencies in providing (poskytující) services (služby) even when it (dokonce když) comes to “merit goods” (výhodné zboží). In the discussion of housing problem, I would disagree (nesouhlasit) with the economist’s view (výhledy). Housing is a very complicate issue (záležitost) that I believe it will work the best by the cooperation of market (tržní) and government (vládní) agencie (orgány, organizace).

The Canadian government has worked for many years on the housing issue (záležitost) , but does not seem (nezdá se) to have any adequate (přiměřená) solutions (možnost) to solve (řešit) the problem. The housing market (trh), unlike other (odlišný než jiné) industry, has a dominant feature (rys) of inelastic (nepřizpůsobivou) short-run supply (krátkodobá nabídková křivka). This characteristic of the housing market has made a great obstacle (překážka) in coping (kopírování) with the problem. In fact, we may look at other countries’ experiences (zkušenosti) and learn how to deal (řešit) with the problem effectively. Canadian government’s housing policy is based (založena) on the idea that everyone is entitled (mít nárok) to decent (přiměřené) and affordable (cenově dostupné) housing. Housing is a necessity (nutnost) and everyone needs a place to live. It is for this reason (důvodu) that government set its goal (cíl) to ensure (zabezpeči, zaručit) everyone is living in housing of adequate (přiměřenou) quality at a price (cena) they can afford (poskytnout). However, the government has turned (změnila) into wrong (špatné) definition of decency (vymezené slušnosti) and affordability. Firstly (předně), decency (chování na veřejnosti, slušnost) is subjective according (podle) to different (rozmanitosti, rozmanitosti) cultures . I think that the Canadian government is setting a very high value (důležitost, význam) on living environment (životní prostředí), and such a high standard may cause (příčina) more difficulties in solving (řešení) the problem. Secondly, Canadian government has continuously (průběžně) reduced its standard in defining affordability. It was consider affordable (cenově dostupný) if housing cost no more than 20% of your income (platu). Nevertheless (avšak), the standard has been reduced to no more than 40% until recently (poslední dobou). Such dramatic change of the figurepro has made the goal become ambiguous (pochybnosti). Practically, the government has tried many methods in dealing with the housing problem.

Housing code enforcement (prosazený zákon) is a method that tries to regulate minimal conditions for rental housing. However, this method does not seem to work because it brings additional (další) cista (výdaje) to the tenat (nájemníkovi, majiteli). On the other hand, the government tries to help people become homeowner (majitel domu) by benefits (výhody) in kind, such as imposing (velkolepý) tax exemption on first home down payment and low interest rate on mortgages. However, the method does not really aim at helping the poor. Moreover, the government tries to increase the supply of housing by building new shelters and buying existing apartments. Yet, none of these work efficiently. The reason that building new shelters does not work is because most of these new housing projects are expensive and time consuming. It may take years to finish a construction project form scratch. With a growing population, supply could never meet immediate demand. Moreover, new houses are more expensive due to high production costs. Therefore, low-income family would not be able to afford them. In other words, new housing could not full fill the demand of low-income people. In the short run, new construction cannot directly increase the supply of housing at the lower end of the market. This is also the reason that the housing market supply is inelastic. In solving the housing problem, I think both government agencies and private sector would have to work together. Government could select appropriate land site to develop new residential area.

If I were bought flat or house I would buy flat in town. If I were had a lot of money (spoustu peněz) I would built house near the town or in town. I have imagine (představu) about my dream house a lot of colours but only light colours ( green, orange, blue, pink, red ) and a lot of wood.