John Youdan, Ocean Shores
‘Increases to welfare payments under COVID-19 must be made permanent, so that all recipients can afford a decent place to live,’ according to Anglicare North Coast’s CEO, quoted in last week’s front page article in The Echo, by Paul Bibby.
To finance the COVID-19 business and community emergency assistance programs, the Federal Government has borrowed billions of dollars.
This assistance will be available and sustainable until all the funds are distributed.
When welfare payments return to normal, a ‘decent place to live’ will still be unaffordable in the Northern Rivers.
When we moved here over a decade ago, we felt it was desirable to acquire a property similar to that which we left in the Manning Valley.
As affordability was the top requirement, we moved to a location we could afford. Back to suburban living after fifty years.
Here are some realestate.com median rental prices for three bedroom properties:
Byron Bay: $850, Ocean Shores: $600, Banora Point: $520 Murwillumbah: $470, Taree: $340, Grafton: $355, Bathurst: $350.
No one knows how many future generations of Australian taxpayers we have saddled with repaying the massive loan.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
