Thread: Immigrants do not earn enough to even afford housing

I found this article, I think it brings up an important issue. Most of the low paying service jobs available for immigrants are in the more populated cities, which have a high cost of living. While this article is about Canada, I think this issue applies to most of the other developed countries in the same way. The issue is that immigrants barely even earn enough money to take care of themselves adequately. And when they do not have the means to adequately take care of themselves, then apparently the government has to help provide them with what they themselves are unable to afford. Note how this article suggests the immigrants need help with housing. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with this, but it does discount the notion that immigrants are able to make a net contribution to the economy.


"Canada housing unaffordable for immigrants"
by Florence Gibbs, March 16, 2012

Immigrants coming to Canada face several hardships while finding housing here. And high costs of housing are one of the major deterrents for immigrants wanting to live in Canada. This has been revealed by findings of a latest study undertaken by UBC. Finding houses in Canada is really difficult for immigrants, states professor of geography at UBC, Daniel Hiebert.

Housing in Canada a critical issue for immigrants — And things become complicated even more for immigrants facing language barriers or those with big families, adds Hiebert. No wonder, majority of immigrants including refugees in Canada spent half of their earnings on housing, findings of the study involving 600 immigrants in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto show. Low income makes housing unaffordable in Canada — The study analyzed that average income of immigrants forming part of the recent UBC survey was below $20,000 while average income in cities was around $69,000. And average prices of houses in Vancouver are nothing less than one million dollars.

As a result, majority of immigrants as well as Canadians falling in the low-income group have no option but to move into a rented accommodation, the research clarified. This also made immigrants vulnerable to unscrupulous landlords in Canada, the report further maintained. Agrees director of Settlement Services for MOSAIC (Vancouver), Sherman Chan. Housing problems for immigrants — Many landlords in Canada are taking advantage of lack of knowledge of immigrants by charging high rents for houses with poor living conditions. Rooms don’t have proper lighting and sanitary conditions are also worse, Chan adds.

With a major proportion of income spent on housing, immigrants have to cut back their expenses on food, education or other costs, he states. And immigrants choosing to shift eastwards for getting cheaper accommodation on rent, they have to shell out bucks on moving to and fro for their jobs in Vancouver.

Canada needs immigrant settlement schemes — Lack of proper housing or homelessness is proving a major hindrance for immigrants wanting to get settled in Canada. And Canada must work towards solving this issue by creating schemes for assisting immigrants in getting affordable housing, states Hiebert.

Originally Posted by Anders Hoveland

I found this article, I think it brings up an important issue. Most of the low paying service jobs available for immigrants are in the more populated cities, which have a high cost of living. While this article is about Canada, I think this issue applies to most of the other developed countries in the same way. The issue is that immigrants barely even earn enough money to take care of themselves adequately. And when they do not have the means to adequately take care of themselves, then apparently the government has to help provide them with what they themselves are unable to afford. Note how this article suggests the immigrants need help with housing. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with this, but it does discount the notion that immigrants are able to make a net contribution to the economy.


"Canada housing unaffordable for immigrants"
by Florence Gibbs, March 16, 2012

Immigrants coming to Canada face several hardships while finding housing here. And high costs of housing are one of the major deterrents for immigrants wanting to live in Canada. This has been revealed by findings of a latest study undertaken by UBC. Finding houses in Canada is really difficult for immigrants, states professor of geography at UBC, Daniel Hiebert.

Housing in Canada a critical issue for immigrants — And things become complicated even more for immigrants facing language barriers or those with big families, adds Hiebert. No wonder, majority of immigrants including refugees in Canada spent half of their earnings on housing, findings of the study involving 600 immigrants in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto show. Low income makes housing unaffordable in Canada — The study analyzed that average income of immigrants forming part of the recent UBC survey was below $20,000 while average income in cities was around $69,000. And average prices of houses in Vancouver are nothing less than one million dollars.

As a result, majority of immigrants as well as Canadians falling in the low-income group have no option but to move into a rented accommodation, the research clarified. This also made immigrants vulnerable to unscrupulous landlords in Canada, the report further maintained. Agrees director of Settlement Services for MOSAIC (Vancouver), Sherman Chan. Housing problems for immigrants — Many landlords in Canada are taking advantage of lack of knowledge of immigrants by charging high rents for houses with poor living conditions. Rooms don’t have proper lighting and sanitary conditions are also worse, Chan adds.

With a major proportion of income spent on housing, immigrants have to cut back their expenses on food, education or other costs, he states. And immigrants choosing to shift eastwards for getting cheaper accommodation on rent, they have to shell out bucks on moving to and fro for their jobs in Vancouver.

Canada needs immigrant settlement schemes — Lack of proper housing or homelessness is proving a major hindrance for immigrants wanting to get settled in Canada. And Canada must work towards solving this issue by creating schemes for assisting immigrants in getting affordable housing, states Hiebert.

Oh it's another racist thread by Hoveland. I'm going to start counting them in my sig line. Numero uno (that's a non-English language there, as I know you appreciate foreign languages)

No, it doesn't discount the notion that immigrants make a net contribution to the economy, but you discount the small but important fact that everyone in Canada and US is an immigrant or immigrant-derived and they constructed the entire economy via a system you choose to completely rubbish by suggesting continually that immigrants are worthless.

I don't know about Canadian immigration law, but most countries don't allow immigration unless the immigrant has a proven contribution to make and can prove financial independence.

Is Hoveland an English name, btw? Do you think your type should go back wherever you came from...

Originally Posted by Viv

Oh it's another racist thread by Hoveland.

No, no, I am genuinely concerned about all these poor migrants that cannot find a place to live, and have to settle with substandard apartments in overcrowded living conditions. It is so unfortunate that things are so bad in the countries these people came from that they would rather live the pitiful way they do in our countries. Apparently our countries do not really have a place for all these people; neither affordable housing nor decent paying jobs.

And do not forget all their misfortunate children that are born into a strange land. We need to help educate them too, because their parents cannot afford to send them to university.

Obama takin' Congress to task over housing market...

Obama Criticizes Congress on Housing Market
September 29, 2012 - U.S. President Barack Obama has called out the Congress, especially Republicans, for not acting on proposals aimed at saving homeowners thousands of dollars.

During Saturday’s weekly address, Obama said Congress has delayed taking action on a plan he sent them in February that he says would save homeowners $3,000 a year by refinancing their mortgages at a lower interest rate.

President Obama says the housing market is “healing” from the housing crisis of 2007 and 2008, and he is encouraging citizens to contact their representatives and urge them to take action when they return from their break in November. In the Republican address, congressional candidate Vernon Parker of Arizona pushed repealing Obama’s health care law and touted his party’s plan for creating jobs.

Parker also advocated reforming the tax code, saying the Obama administration’s economic policies have made it difficult for small businesses to add new jobs. President Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney face off Wednesday in the first of three debates ahead of elections on November 6.

Source

Housing industry still strugglin'...

2008-2012: Housing markets still struggles
Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A five-point glance at the U.S. housing market shows more communities worse off now than four years ago, online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac said Monday.

While ignoring lag time inherent in a deteriorating housing market, RealtyTrac said in a statement that 65 percent of local markets -- 580 out of 919 communities monitored -- were worse off using a five-point grading system than they were four years ago. The firm found 315 of 919 (35 percent) were better off in three out of five categories.

The firm checked average home prices, unemployment, foreclosure inventory, the number of foreclosures initiated by banks (called foreclosure starts) and the percentage of home sales that involved distressed properties, which include bank-seized properties and those in some stage of foreclosure.

In a report released Monday, "Election 2012 Housing Health Check," RealtyTrac said unemployment rates are higher in 90 percent of all counties involved in the study and that "the foreclosure picture is mixed, with slightly more than half of all counties documenting lower foreclosure inventory and fewer foreclosure starts compared to four years ago."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/201...#ixzz2A5hj0Aiq

Banks holdin' back housing market recovery...

Bernanke blames banks for holding back housing market
15 November 2012 - Mr Bernanke gave no hints about future Fed policy

Ben Bernanke has said that the overly stringent lending requirements of banks are hurting the US housing recovery. In a speech, he said the housing market showed signs of recovery but was "far from being out of the woods".

The Federal Reserve chairman said "the pendulum has swung too far" from the easy lending days of the housing boom. While mortgage interest rates have fallen to record lows, he said many borrowers, especially minorities and low earners, could not get a loan.

Mr Bernanke was addressing a summit in Atlanta held by Operation Hope, a charity that provides financial advice to American citizens on middle and low incomes.

'Missing piston'

Granny says it gonna be harder fer `em to get FHA insurance `cause the gov't. program losin' money...

Government’s Home Loan Insurance Agency $16.3 Billion in the Red
November 20, 2012 – An independent audit of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) shows that the government’s home loan insurance agency will end fiscal year 2012 $16.3 billion in the red after taking an estimated $46.6 billion loss.

The report, required by Congress, estimates that the agency will have completely exhausted its capital reserves. FHA is required to keep a capital reserve balance of two percent of the value of its mortgage insurance business – currently valued at $1.1 trillion. However, the actuarial report released Friday showed that that balance will be -1.44 percent, meaning that the FHA will not have sufficient fund to cover future losses.

The report also showed that the FHA continues to operate at a loss, failing to earn enough in premium revenue to offset losses from its insurance business. If FHA were a private company, it would effectively be insolvent and could face a government takeover or bailout like insurance giant AIG did in 2008. However, FHA has unlimited authority to draw funds from the Treasury, so if it needs to, it can simply bail itself out – something that has never happened in the agency’s 78-year history.

No decision has been made yet on whether or not FHA will use its bailout authority. That decision won’t be made until President Obama drafts his 2013 budget next year. To return the agency to fiscal solvency, the administration may decide to increase the fees FHA charges lenders to insure loans, increasing its premium revenue in an attempt to keep its capital reserves out of the red. Last year, FHA’s capital reserve ratio stood at 0.24 percent as the agency posted a net worth of just $2.6 billion despite insuring $1.1 trillion in home loans.

FHA does not make home loans directly. It insures banks and other lenders against losses, allowing them to take as little as a 3.5 percent down payment. In the report, the auditors pointed to three factors driving FHA’s deteriorating financial conditions: losses stemming from FHA’s expansion during the housing crisis, continued low interest rates, and changes to how the actuary estimates losses on FHA’s business.

MORE

In California most latinos live in poverty. They can't afford the cost of living. They work so hard that they don't have time to raise their children to be good people. That's how the gangs get hold of the kids. The boys become gangsters and the girls become putas. Then the kids grow up themselves, have kids, and raise a new generation of gangsters and putas.

Someone on this thread called the author of the OP a racist. The mods go berserk when that happens. I did that once and got an immediate infraction from Mak. Same thing will probably happen in this case.

Housing market still strugglin'...

US Home Sales Fell in December
January 22, 2013 - U.S. home sales declined in December, but were still well above the same period one year ago.

Tuesday's report from the National Association of Realtors shows December's sales of previously-owned homes fell by one percent from the previous month. If homes sold at December's rate for a full year, slightly more than 4.9 million homes would change owners.

Experts say December is an exception to a generally improving trend in the housing market, which is bolstered by record-low mortgage rates and improving employment. Severe problems in the U.S. housing market played a key role in the financial crisis.

The gradual healing of the housing market may be one reason that Americans are growing less pessimistic about the economy. A report from the Gallup public opinion polling agency says economic confidence has improved over the last few weeks, after falling amid worries about political bickering in Washington.

http://www.voanews.com/content/us_ho...r/1588849.html