The government made a new housing bond, you paid the money in to buy housing for the poor, they took care of the rest. We downsized just to pay into it and it was worth it, seeing the country rise instead of fall.
And it became the fashion in those times for the rich to buy homes for the poor. They got them cheap and the charities made them beautiful inside and out. The homes were then either donated or put into long trusts so they would always be homes for those who needed them. It was true investing, investing in what really matters to our nation, our kids and their parents. As for accumulating interest? It did. But it was the right sort of interest, that in the wellbeing of our hearts and the mending our our society. As things turn out, a "Housing act" can be an "Act" of generosity and nothing to do with the law. I guess it became part of our "lore" instead, part of our instinct for fairness and doing right by each other. We all cried from happiness. There were back to back renovation shows on the television showing the homes that were made so lovely and with such love. We watched the families move in, the relief only a sense of home and security can bring. I think we were born anew in those times, everyone of all faiths and backgrounds "mucking in." Those were good times, that transition. We got to feel good again and that had been missing for too long. Nobody cared about the "rich list" anymore, the only list anyone talked about was the "homes or land donated list" and they were new superstars in their own way - the ones who chose giving and showed that love was the more powerful force within them.
The Thatcher dream of a nation of homeowners was something we all wanted; we believed in it. Yet that was at odds with the free market, with others having the right to own many homes for rental incomes, then leveraging their values to buy more. The right to buy a holiday home in a rural location was at odds with the rights of those communities to have affordable homes for the young. So it was in 2020 that the government announced the green bonds for homes scheme.
The scheme was open to anyone, regardless of the number of properties owned. The home owner was issued green bonds, bonds that were dividend paying investments in environmentally and socially beneficial businesses. The aquired homes were sold by the government in waves to bring the housing market down in stages. Each new wave of properties lowered the asking prices in the country. By the end of the scheme people really did own their own homes and green innovations were driving the economy and research.
Before, the scheme there were five times the number of empty homes to homeless; after, there were no homeless. Any property that didn't sell the government kept to house those still in need, or make into a community centre, or youth cafe. My mother used to joke that every right wing needs a left wing to fly - that it was only when people from all ways of thinking joined up that the solutions came.
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