Fianna Fail plan to betray public Authority housing residents

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Inclusion Mon May 28, 2007 18:03

Fianna Fail Policy pre. election and the sale of local authority premises to existing tenants.

Did Noel Ahern make a decision on this or are you still in abeyance waiting to see what the incoming Government will decide to do!

As a person caught in negative equity in the UK in the 1980's and 1990's, I would remain watchful of housing markets and would suggest negotiating price with Government on the premise that given the buoyancy of the market at present, that a fair and equitable price ought to be determined in favour of existing tenants......

Michelle

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sun Nov 11, 2007 15:48

58 people died in Ireland, homeless people, we ought to ponder awhile about the values and principles we as individuals want to uphold.

Last posting I made was in May but I would suggest that the term 'Negative Equity' is now in our media circles. Remember be cautious and secondly if there are developers with apartments/housing, why don't the government take the initiative and opportunity to seriously re-consider social housing problems, and affordable Housing and be pro-active to provide for the people in need of accommodation rather than let companies go to the wall or leave people without accommodation......

Michelle

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Wed Jan 02, 2008 17:16

Happy New Year to all.

Before the real panic happens, let us all gather our senses and head off a possible housing catastrophe.

There is an Irish Council for Social Housing. Acquaint yourself with same.

I suggest that Local Authority committees, like the one that has written earlier posting, take on the new dimension of falling house prices, Sub-Prime lending (i.e. so risk intense, it is the social housing entity at the end of the line in the US who suffers), become watchful of Bank and Building Society rates and lending practices (include history), housing schemes where negative equity occurs, section 23 houses that are vacant, 2nd homes that remain vacant - and link to people who have been left out of the housing boom and are in need of housing.

Use the knowledge, negotiate prices downwards, involve the Government, the developers and create your own market.......

This is to let the prices reduce but a mobilised group of people with housing needs intervene and break the fall.

Remember, the internet allows the flow of information and knowledge....this is a great start to help avoid financial crises.....i.e. of the future.

Remember, rumour has it that the Revenue are to seek lists of people who have purchased foreign properties and experience has taught them to source directly these people from Auctioneers (possibly after the Lynn affairs, solicitors, etc). What a fall for the Revenue yet again. Watch this space.

Common Sense - the Plain People of Ireland.

Gandhi
'You have to be the change you want to see in the world'

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Wed Jan 02, 2008 17:16

Happy New Year to all.

Before the real panic happens, let us all gather our senses and head off a possible housing catastrophe.

There is an Irish Council for Social Housing. Acquaint yourself with same.

I suggest that Local Authority committees, like the one that has written earlier posting, take on the new dimension of falling house prices, Sub-Prime lending (i.e. so risk intense, it is the social housing entity at the end of the line in the US who suffers), become watchful of Bank and Building Society rates and lending practices (include history), housing schemes where negative equity occurs, section 23 houses that are vacant, 2nd homes that remain vacant - and link to people who have been left out of the housing boom and are in need of housing.

Use the knowledge, negotiate prices downwards, involve the Government, the developers and create your own market.......

This is to let the prices reduce but a mobilised group of people with housing needs intervene and break the fall.

Remember, the internet allows the flow of information and knowledge....this is a great start to help avoid financial crises.....i.e. of the future.

Remember, rumour has it that the Revenue are to seek lists of people who have purchased foreign properties and experience has taught them to source directly these people from Auctioneers (possibly after the Lynn affairs, solicitors, etc). What a fall for the Revenue yet again. Watch this space.

Common Sense - the Plain People of Ireland.

Gandhi
'You have to be the change you want to see in the world'

by Jack Russell - Social Justice and Ethics Fri Jul 04, 2008 17:41

Jack Russell asks Michelle: That May 2007 posting.....Were you predicting housing slumps and market falls?

Michelle replies No......but just bear in mind what can happen with the property markets and be prepared?

A suggestion: Apartments that cannot be sold......ask government to fund and provide for social housing. Likewise, there are houses that need to be sold.......negotiate with banks.

Jack Russell

by ferret Fri Jul 04, 2008 18:27

It was written by Joachim Goldberg was for the customers of the private bank who to open an account must have at least 2 million swiss FR in liquid assets. He argued in his piece entitled "beware humans" that " Successful investing in financial markets requires self-control and a knowledge of how other players behave". He highlighted how the feelings of "doing well" that people get from good dividends or good bets on the markets are not comparable to the panic they feel when they percentage gains work the other way. In short that people feel losing money more than making it. 2004 was a crux period for the bank UBS which in the next four years was to go from 9th world ranking to 3rd position. Much of that growth being credited to the role it played in supporting emergent leftwing regimes on the South American continent rather than following other banks into real estate speculation in the then opening markets of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The same issue of the magazine carried an article on the flaws of real estate speculation in both the US and former communist markets. I've just got it off my shelf, and the arguments really were pretty sharp. Real estate is high risk in the short term and low risk in the long term under anglo-saxon law and with the banking insurance and reserve safety nets we evolved from 1929 to as recently as the collapse of Northern Rock for the UK and its over 7,000 Irish customers. But short term and long term in real estate terms are not the same as buying a new computer or opening a website. Longterm in anglo-saxon law as the case of Sark sovreignity shows can be a millenial and tarted up feudal affair. We don't even have to look as far as the channel island Sark, we need only examine the ground ownership and ground rent collection of county Galway.

But one big mistake was made by the people who thought to jump on a gravy train through EU membership and the expansion of the 15 state EU to its then 25 under Ireland's presidency to its now 27. Legal reforms of title deeds and real estate and the grant of state lands to infrastructure such as railways and the laws of subsoil resources in Eastern Europe were not quite what western European investors took for granted they would be. In short they could buy a big bunch of land or houses, but that didn't mean they owned them in the sense which they had taken for granted. Perhaps thankfully not many of these carpet baggers employed the nasty tactics of the first post Soviet Union oligarchs in clearing real estate of the sitting tenants. One particularly nasty clan had told each elderly resident that they had won rehousing to a quiet Florida like community of dachas outside of Moscow. One by one each elderly resident packed their bags and ended up in holes in the forest outside of Moscow.

http://www.ubs.com/1/ShowMedia/wealthmanagement/wealth_...T.pdf

The mistake of the bribery with which working class western Europeans were persuaded that the EU was giving them prosperity had very little to do with the USA. They would be very mistaken, even in Ireland to think the US financial crises are at the root of their depreciating wealth. They also would be very ignorant to think that the price of Oil or Hydrocarbons is to blame. The prosperity of the EU was a reorganisation of global capitalism which needed the willing rather than passive participation of workers in the privitisation of state holdings and the added collective bargaining weight of EU states working in harmony to change Ukranian and other former Soviet states' laws and suitability for capitalist "development".

As long as the workers felt on the piggies' back but at the same time were made more beholden than at any stage before to financial services - the banking and credit system which underlies the new model of "human resources" and employment would be copper-fastened.

In an ironic sense, this was all a good thing. irish people had forgotten how poor their grandparents were and how they wouldn't even cross the threshhold of a bank to ask for a loan. That their willingness to participate in the global financial reorganisation of capitalism (the musical chairs of billionaire finance) ultimately freed up investment capital for South America, was in my opinion

a jolly good thing.

I quite like Joachim's articles. I'm glad I fished that back issue of the shelf - to share its wisdom with you. He has spent his life advising people whose idea of dosh always has aout 9 zeroes at the end. But he lives quite normally, runs ubuntu software and helped stop illegal property speculation during the very interesting Julius Bär versus Wikipedia Swiss banking leak scandal.

You can read the back issues. If you like. Instead of spending your life complaining about billionaires, try and learn how they work. They don't all live inside hollowed out volcanoes.
http://www.ubs.com/1/ShowMedia/wealthmanagement/wealth_...T.pdf

by Jack Russell - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Jul 05, 2008 13:44

What amazes me about this country now is that the word panic has set in? As Fergus Finlay, said in the Irish Examiner during the week, the Government now under Brian Cowen take their instructions from various ERSI multi reports. If this is the case and a recession is looming why are they paying various so called Government Experts millions of Governments/taxpayers money.

Joan Burton TD Labour said recently on radio - figures from the court service show 126 repossession orders on family homes this year. That compares with mjust 59 with the same period of 2007. This is an increase of 113%. Adding to pressure on householders now, the European Central Bank, increased its key rate by a quarter of a percent rate point to a 7 year high of 2.5%. The banks of course will pass this on to the mortgage holders. Unfortunately now as mortgage interest continues to rise and the with the building sector on the brink of collapse, unemployment is at its highest for over 20 years.

Now this country has to face the word reality because in the last 10 years we have spent spent and spent between foreign holiday homes, and every new kind of sports car sold. Now the question is - who is going to pay for it all?

Already now householders are faced with a serious problem of negative equity which has serious economic and social consequences for people going forward especially to a generation that do not know what the word No means.

I hope the Government now don't introduce penal taxes on the ordinary Joe Soap and I will quote Vincent Browne in Last Sunday's Business Post 'The Rich should pay now for the downturn in this economy'.

The likes of Bono, all Ireland's Rich List candidates, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, Denis O'Brien, Dermot Desmont, JP McManus, might get a conscious call and decide to take their foreign bank accounts home in support of the endorsement of the Island of Ireland.

Jack Russell

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Mon Jul 07, 2008 13:11

Negotiate with lenders who are in liquidity problems already. Note that certain larger banks are quite strapped presently and could be subject to take-over from worldwide banks. Then they may face mergers and acquisitions and divestitures.

It is something an overgrowing Hedge (in nature). The man or woman with the clippers is needed (most likely the accountant/forensic brain. Ferret has given a real good indication in his attachment about UBS Wealth funds. Global banking is a roller coaster ride.

About social housing, negative equity.....really it's up to the banks to have some honour and protect their clients. Negotiation with Government ought to yield homes albeit longer terms, or reducing rates.

The knowledge and experience is there......it is using it is the secret.

Michelle Clarke

Bertrand Russell Philopher (Pacifism of Peace)

'All submittedness is rooted in Fear'

by Comyn - Social Justice for all Tue Aug 11, 2009 16:02

It is August 2009...since the last posting in 2008, so many crises have challenged the people in Ireland. The assaults are relentless but at least we are not like Taiwan and swamped by the effect of climate change.....we can do so little for those poor people in Taiwan today and their unwarranted personal hardships.

In Ireland, we face crises but are there solutions! If so what are they? Can we have a more positive approach in media coverage? We can try.

A good writer, presenter and experienced lawyer, is Vincent Browne. April 5th 2009, Vincent Browne wrote an interesting article in the Sunday Business post. No doubt, this can be accessed but there are a few points that bear relevance to the previous postings on this site.

Quite rightly, the title highlighted that the 'Budget will not address fundamental inequalities'. We must at all times of crises exercise common sense and we can all now via the media make our contributions and suggestions.

He states that Ireland still remains a rich country that has had a contraction in the economy of 12% between this year and last year. He goes on to say that if the euros38,000 comes back to euros32,000 by next year, we will still be richer than Australia, Japan, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and very much richer than Cyprus and other countries.

The problem with Ireland rests with the inequality in the distribution of income. He goes on to say that 6% of our population receives 28% of all income i.e. according to the Revenue Commissioners and 50% of the population oly receives 17%.

What does this say!! What can we do to make changes to the attitudes of people so that we can alter the unfair taxation system i.e. unfair to the majority of people and in particularly those who are vulnerable.

What about motivation? How do we generate money in the Island of Ireland to create the balance sheet that is most equitable. We need those who have the special gift of being Wealth Creators because without them our people would stagnate. We only need to look to human psychology to work this out. Equally, we can look to psychology to see how we can make those wealth creators more giving. The capacity to give exists otherwise we would not have philantropists like Chuck Feeney, Rockerfeller, Warren Buffett, Bill gates etc.......notice the absence of women!!!!

Some say that 'Inequality is essential' for a 'successful' economy. There must be some truth in this because all one has to do is look to say Marks and Spencer marketing in the last number of months to see 'the lateral creative thought function in full swing. M and S as a brand is celebrating its 150 anniversary and I heard on the tannoy that there is an exhibition being held in England to outline their history. They have moved towards social and ethical responsibility just note their in-store advertising of cotton tops from Fairtrade; their food labelled 'healthy'; and so on.

We can all contribute to making our economy improve and that includes those wealth creators who have funds overseas. Let them invest in our country and as NAMA reduces the prices of the toxic property they have on their books, let these people imbibe some nationalistic vervour and re-invest and re-invigorate the Celtic Nightmare.......It was done before, We had the Congested District Boards in the 1880's; these became the Land Commission after independence and we re-distributed the land. It is said on wikipedia that some sterling pounds 5,000,000 was given by the English govt at that time. Now we all have access to our history.......

Comyn

by R Grehan - Social Housing Thu Apr 28, 2011 21:07

Yet we hear nothing about ring fenced developments empty of occupants with potential of creating homes for those in need of social housing. What happened to 'Social Housing' or as it used to be referred to as Corporation housing.

The anti-begging laws are in but it hasn't stopped people on the social margins begging and if you ask their stories you get the usual tale of bureaucratic drabble that precludes them from gaining access to a home. Joan Burton and Social Protection have their work cut out in this area.

Add to this the people who were the DINKIES (Dual Income No Kids) who all of a sudden find themselves living the outer counties in their larger than normal homes with children and even two cars now minus no jobs and a capital loan rising at multiples while they can make no repayments. What is to happen to these quotient of unexpectant home owners? What will the banks and then the Courts do to these poor unfortunates. Maybe the only option is to re-possess and then add these houses to the surplus of homes to rent out (including holiday homes) and then re-house people who would have pre Celtic Tiger been on the Affordable Housing list and now their only expectation can be is to become numbers on a non allocation social housing list.

Everyone needs a home and this is a priority.

by Merrigan - Social Housing Thu May 05, 2011 16:44

Deputy Leader of Sinn Fein, Mary Lou McDonald thankfully has invoked concern about the Prime Time programme (tuesday night) about the appalling conditions that Irish citizens are living in Local Authority estates.

This must be dealt with. The costs involved in this form of degradation in living conditions is not acceptable when there are many properties in the 'Ghost Estate' and apartment complexes lying empty. Some joined together thinking is essential from the bureaucrats, NAMA and relevant housing agents.

by Austerity - Citizen Wed May 18, 2011 16:01

Austerity is now the Irish agenda. These '8 days of Dublin shut down' are over after President Obama's fleeting visit and Ireland no matter what links exist is on the road to an IMF agenda of austerity.

The depression is hitting home. Home loan lending is at the lowest ever level i.e. ever recorded. The graph in todays Independent is grim and scary. The first quarter 2011 issued 3,259 mortgages i.e. half the same period last year

and 44,000 less than at the peak of the boom in 2006.

We have ghost estates going nowhere and the sensible approach is to domolish the partially built houses. The are blocks of apartments empty as can be seen if you take a train from Heuston station. We need to know what is vacant? Then we need to know who is living in appalling circumstances in the older estates like Dolphin House etc. People may not wish to leave their existing communities but that doesn't mean that they should not be encouraged to move to vacant apartment blocks under the auspices of Dublin City council who in turn can pay off NAMA. This is about housekeeping at government level and humanity.

The fall-off in mortgages, the people in negative equity, the cases before the courts where people cannot pay the debts must be matched to the surplus and the alternatives that are available. The affordable housing scheme has all but fallen apart. Now is the opportunity for people with poor housing conditions and in need of housing to get together and pressurise the Government to provide in line with the social housing initiatives that started in the 1920's, 1930's at a time when Governments realised that slum conditions had to be stopped in Ireland. This is a mistake of greedy entrepreneurs but mistakes create opportunities too.

Unesco: Georgian Dublin is renowned in Europe and worldwide and there is an indication that it could gain a UNESCO award. However, the number of vacant houses, the amount of nil utilised space, the for sale signs and the to let signs bode badly if we are to seriously seek such an award. We may need a tax break of sorts to encourage people to revitalise this part of the city again. Also we need to know how easily and unexpensively these houses can be retrofitted. As it stands people fail to grapple with the rules and regulations of the Irish Georgian Society, in fact they provide a dis incentive.

People who need housing need to join together and create a balance sheet and work on to persuade Government to provide the money for the social housing shortfall that is a direct cost of the Celtic Tiger years....social housing was not the priority. It was about when private development is complete and the profit gained, then we will think about social housing.

Austerity can be the grim reaper or who knows!