Tilt up. Hamish preparing avocado on toast. To camera. GFX super: |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: So the argument goes that young Aussies are spending way too much
of money on expensive avocado on toast and that’s why we can’t afford to buy
a house. But in truth, we all know it is much more complicated than that. |
00:00 |
Hamish in yard to camera. Reveal house auction |
Whether you’re
young or old, retired or working, borrowing for the first time or already up
to your ears in debt that old Aussie dream of owning your own home now seems
harder to achieve than ever. Don’t even bother turning up here unless you’ve
got a couple of spare million rattling around in your pocket. But the point
is Australia is not alone. We’re now part of a global phenomenon, where
housing affordability is reaching crisis point. So, tonight we’re taking you
on a journey, a global journey in search of some solutions. |
00:15 |
GFX Monopoly board. London/New York/Sydney TITLE: THE
HOME SHOW |
Music |
00:45 |
Cities montage |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: We all know there’s a problem. What we can’t agree on is exactly
what causes it, or how to fix it. |
01:09 |
James Murray 100% |
JAMES
MURRAY: “There’s no silver bullet”. |
01:17 |
Housing GV |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Tonight, hopefully, some answers from around the world. |
01:18 |
Murray 100% |
JAMES
MURRAY: “There isn’t a simple fix”. |
01:22 |
Demonstration |
HAMISH MACDONALD:
How are people overseas confronting the challenge of housing affordability? |
01:23 |
James 100% |
JAMES
MURRAY: “And there isn’t a quick fix either”. |
01:27 |
James and Hamish |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Okay, okay we get it. |
01:28 |
|
JAMES
MURRAY: “There’s no magic answer which will fix everything”. |
01:30 |
GFX: Australian politicians Monopoly board |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Tonight we ask, do Aussie politicians really have all the ideas or
are there bigger, bolder options out there?” |
01:32 |
Hamish and Kim |
KIM
LOUDRUP: “Forget the politicians! Forget them!” |
01:39 |
Episode Teaser |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: We’re lining up some surprising solutions from the Big Apple,
patrolling the beat with Barcelona’s property cops, and in Britain, we’ll
explore a property market with some real bite. From the Japanese, to those
clever Scandinavians, we’ll look to the future of housing and ask: Can we
afford it? And I promise, living in a floating shipping container probably
isn’t as bad as you think! |
01:41 |
Kim and Hamish on deck |
KIM
LOUDRUP: “It’s one of the solutions, it’s not the solution”. |
02:10 |
City montage |
Music |
02:12 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: The world’s mega-cities are growing. The race to buy property in
them is fierce and if you think you don’t get much for your money in
Australian property, |
02:16 |
Hamish walking down street. GFX super: HAMISH MACDONALD |
well we’re
about to visit a place that might put things in perspective. |
02:25 |
20 Britten St. GFX super: THE SMALLEST HOUSE IN LONDON |
Advertised
as “the smallest house in London”, it’s real estate |
02:28 |
Hamish visits Robin Swailes |
speak for
sure, but 20 Britten Street ain’t big. “Robin!” ROBIN
SWAILES: “Hi Hamish, how are you?” HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Very nice to meet you! So this is it?” ROBIN
SWAILES: “This is it. This is my littlest bolthole”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “It’s not a lot more than that”. ROBIN SWAILES:
“It shouldn’t take too long to look around”. |
02:33 |
Britten St interiors |
|
02:48 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: For 26 square metres Robin Swailes forked out £700,000 - that’s a
little over 1.2 million Aussie. |
02:51 |
Robin and Hamish in house |
ROBIN
SWAILES: “We paid well £2.50 per square centimetre”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So for… (shows size)”. ROBIN
SWAILES: “For yeah, a square centimetre, £2.50. About that yeah, about that!”
(laughs). |
02:59 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “For this space, what have you, what have you paid?” ROBIN
SWAILES: “I think the, I think the shower room alone is $60,000 Aussie
dollars, yeah”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Right. Wow”. ROBIN
SWAILES: “Yeah it’s frightening, isn’t it!” |
03:10 |
Hamish and Robin up stairs |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Don’t worry though, it’s not a total rip off. There’s an upstairs. |
03:21 |
|
(walking up
the small staircase) “You have to breathe in, to get up here. |
03:24 |
Robin and Hamish looking out window |
It’s a nice
view, for a small place it’s got a big view”. ROBIN
SWAILES: “It is kind of tiny but this is… it’s lovely”. |
03:29 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “You like small houses. You’re kind of obsessed with them”. ROBIN
SWAILES: “Yeah I like the management of space. I like doing really clever
things in small spaces”. |
03:33 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Lovely as the view here is, it’s expensive. People working in the
key |
03:41 |
London city streets |
sectors
can’t afford the rent and can’t get the deposit together to buy. They’re
being priced out of London. |
03:45 |
GFX Monopoly board |
Music |
03:53 |
Jazz band playing on street at market |
|
04:00 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Home to almost 8.7 million
people, 300 different languages are spoken in local schools here. This is the
very definition of a ‘global city’. |
04:05 |
|
And here in
the East End, things are changing. Once working class suburbs are now
populated by hipsters, and high income families. These days most ordinary
Londoners don’t have a hope of buying into the places you’d find on the old
Monopoly board. |
04:21 |
High rise residential |
They’re
being pushed further out of the centre and for many, |
04:36 |
Canal boats |
the
situation is so desperate, they’re being pushed off dry land
altogether. |
04:43 |
|
Music |
04:47 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Canal boat living has more than doubled in London in the past five
years. |
04:54 |
Hamish visit Miila on canal boat. Dog barks at Hamish |
So I’m on
my way out to meet Miila and her charming pet Doberman. “Hi Miila,
are you there?” |
04:59 |
Miila pumping water |
MIILA: “Ooh
la la. Works like magic”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: Today is a cleaning day on deck. Miila Only recently moved on to
the canal. |
05:05 |
|
MIILA:
“About a month, a month and a half. So everything is a bit of a chaos. Oh
yeah guys, it’s working!” HAMISH
MACDONALD: The engine bay needs cleaning out. |
05:14 |
|
MIILA: “My
dad was an engineer. It’s really dirty and you want to get it out, but you
don’t want to get it in the river so you use the bottle and a bucket”. |
05:24 |
Canal boat GVs |
HAMISH MACDONALD:
Life on the water does take some adjustment, but it has its advantages. |
05:35 |
Miila pumping water |
MIILA: “If
you really hate your neighbour you don’t have to complain, you just
go”. |
05:39 |
Canal boats |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Canal boating is more a symptom of London’s housing crisis than a
solution. Most need to move moorings every fortnight, |
05:44 |
Miila and Hamish on canal boat |
but
compared with escalating rental costs, the price here is right. |
05:52 |
|
MIILA: “A
grand and a half”. HAMISH MACDONALD:
“Oh wow that’s really cheap”. MIILA: “The
same size as that one and that’s twenty six”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “That’s a bargain!” MIILA: “I
know”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “That’s cheaper than a flat down the road”. MIILA: “For
a month and I’ve got it for life. Hey, you can’t beat that!” |
05:57 |
Miila’s canal boat |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Much like in Australia, people in this city are giving up on home
ownership. The canal boats offer an alternative. |
06:13 |
Hamish and Miila on canal boat |
MIILA:
“It’s marvellous. I’m a property owner”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “First time?” MIILA:
“First time in my life”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “And how does that feel?” MIILA:
“Amazing. A little bit scary. I’m turning into a posh person now”. |
06:20 |
People walking along river past canal boats |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: So, just how big is the problem here? And how are they trying to
solve it? |
06:24 |
Tower Bridge GV/London skyline/People on street |
Interestingly,
Labour controlled London and the Conservative national government are working
together to find and fund solutions. I’m going to City Hall, |
06:41 |
Hamish goes to City Hall to see James Murray |
‘The
Beehive’ as it’s known or as one mayor called it, ‘the Glass Gonad’. |
06:50 |
James Murray on balcony. GFX super: |
James
Murray is the man responsible. 3.1 billion pounds has been pledged – that’s
around 5.2 billion Australian dollars. |
06:56 |
London building sites. GFX super: By 2021 they will have started
building 90,000 affordable homes in this city |
By 2021
they will have started building 90,000 new affordable homes in this city
alone. “Is there a
simple fix?” |
07:05 |
James and Hamish on balcony |
JAMES
MURRAY: “No (laughs) and I think that’s the one thing everyone agrees on,
that there isn’t a simple fix and there isn’t a quick fix either. There’s no
silver bullet and there’s nothing that’s going to fix the housing crisis
overnight. Now what we need to do is start moving in a better direction. We
need to turn the, turn the ship round and start point in a better direction”. |
07:12 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: And that, of course, means boosting supply. JAMES
MURRAY: “The only solution to London’s housing crisis is building a lot more
homes. |
07:30 |
|
And when we
say building more homes is important, not only do we mean the overall number
is important, but in order to get to that number we need to build all sorts
of different homes. And that means you can have big home builders, small home
builders, institutional investors, market level, affordable housing, buying,
renting, everything needs to come on stream”. |
07:37 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Supply is the catchcry for Australia’s government, too. |
07:54 |
|
JAMES
MURRAY: “There’s a huge amount of capacity in East London to build out
there”. |
07:58 |
London skyline. GFX super: |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: New rules in London mean that if a developer meets a target of 35%
affordable housing within a new development |
08:01 |
GFX super: Fast track approvals |
they’re
promised a fast track approval process. |
08:10 |
GFX super: |
London gets
more new homes quickly and developers get less red tape. |
08:12 |
London street |
Housing is
a huge problem and a huge political issue here too. What does stand out
though is that at local and national level there is at least some
collaboration across party lines. “Is that
needed |
08:18 |
James and Hamish on balcony |
though,
some degree of consensus in order to fix this housing problem?” JAMES
MURRAY: “I think you need consensus and stability to help try and fix the
housing crisis. I think when you talk to the development industry, what they
crave is stability and certainty to try and make long term goals”. |
08:30 |
GFX: So what do we mean by housing affordability? 19% in the last year alone |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Australia, like much of the world, is grappling with this issue.
So, what exactly does ‘housing affordability’ mean? In our two biggest cities
prices jumped as much as 19% in the last year alone. |
08:46 |
Salary/House price GFX |
We earn
nearly 10 times more than we did 40 years ago, but house prices are now
nearly 30 times higher than they were back then. |
09:00 |
Animation: Economists are divided |
Economists
though are divided on whether soaring prices are the problem or interest
rates. Back in 1990 interest rates were 17% compared to just over 4% now
which makes it much cheaper for us to service that debt currently. That is of
course until interest rates go up. |
09:09 |
GFX: Australian house prices in
relation to other countries |
The cost of
housing is an issue in many countries, but Australia is a stand out. We’ve
overtaken Britain, America, Canada and most of Europe in a race to the bottom
on affordable housing. |
09:27 |
London street |
In London,
just like in Australia, often the big challenge is getting a deposit
together. |
09:41 |
Alex walking on street |
ALEX BELL:
“It felt like every time I got to a point where, oh maybe just another few
months and I’ll be able to do it, the prices went up. And it kept going
further and further”. |
09:49 |
Alex on to train/ home to Brixton apartment |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Alex Bell is 32. She moved here from Australia just over a decade
ago. She’s a qualified accountant, works in a hedge-fund and earns a decent, above
average wage and saves. Even still, buying wasn’t easy. |
10:03 |
|
ALEX BELL:
“You’ve got to be able to get a deposit together and this is while you’re
also paying rent, which… rent is expensive and it’s getting more and more
expensive”. |
10:17 |
Hamish visits Alex in apartment |
“Hey!” HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Hi Alex, how are you?” ALEX BELL:
“Good. How are you? Come in”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Nice to see you. Thank you very much. I’m very excited about
seeing your place”. Alex didn’t
have enough deposit to purchase this home outright, but she managed to buy it
anyway, using a financial structure you won’t find in Australia. |
10:30 |
Alex shows Hamish apartment |
ALEX BELL:
“So this is the kitchen and living room”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “This is pretty big. ALEX BELL:
“It’s very big”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “It’s big for a London flat”. ALEX BELL:
“It’s very big for a London flat actually. I love it. I love the area”. |
10:46 |
GFX: Shared ownership |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: It’s called shared ownership. Alex had enough deposit to buy 60%
of this flat. The Housing Association, effectively a not for profit developer
often with government subsidies, retained ownership of the remaining 40%
which Alex then rented from them at a discounted rate. |
10:56 |
GFX: |
Initially,
the mortgage was £800 a month, the rent £400 a month, with a service charge
on top. |
11:15 |
Alex 10)% |
ALEX BELL:
“If you look at a two-bedroom in this area and you think about what you would
be paying on rent for that alone, it’s just a no brainer that you would want
to live in a nice home, you know with lots of space, that’s all mine!” |
11:22 |
Brixton streets |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: That was for the first three years, but Brixton prices have gone
up and so too the value of Alex’s share which means the bank let her borrow
more to buy outright. ALEX BELL:
“It’s worked out very well |
11:37 |
Alex 100% |
for me and
if you think that if I hadn’t done that, you know, I would have missed out on
that 30% growth on the equity that I did own, and that’s helped me buy the
rest of it”. |
11:49 |
Alex at home |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Shared ownership has its critics too – and it comes with strings
attached – including a salary cap to qualify. But it does deal with an acute
issue |
11:58 |
Alex and Hamish sitting at table |
for young
people – getting enough deposit together while prices continue rising. It’s
meant Alex has done something most of her friends haven’t yet managed. |
12:06 |
|
ALEX BELL:
“I would say, you know, the only one who has done it - maybe because of my
accountancy background I’ve always been very focused on saving and I’ve also
been…” HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So you’re a penny pincher?” ALEX BELL:
“Yeah I am! I am. I like to call it frugal rather than tight. |
12:17 |
|
I don’t
know how anyone else will do it without help from family or, you know, being
as frugal as I am”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Would you be annoying at the pub?” ALEX BELL:
“I always get the rounds in. Too much actually. I’ll show you my receipts”.
(laughing) |
12:33 |
GFX: What’s driving prices up? |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: So what exactly drives prices up in Australia? For many negative
gearing is the chief culprit – the tax incentive offered to property
investors. |
12:48 |
[continues] |
If they pay
more on the loan than they get in rent, the difference is taken off their
income so they pay less tax. This means that many young Australians are
competing, and often losing, against these cashed up investors when they try
to buy their first property. |
12:58 |
Monopoly board graphic. GFX super: |
But other
countries without negative gearing, like the UK, also have housing
affordability problems. So the federal government says this isn’t actually to
blame. |
13:14 |
GFX Graph: |
Instead,
they reckon it’s supply. We should just build more housing. Lots of new
properties to flood the market, ease demand and put a lid on price
growth. |
13:24 |
Monopoly board graphic. GFX supers: |
Realistically,
there are other factors too like the discounts offered on capital gains tax,
there’s foreign investment and demographic trends. All of which means there
is no simple solution. |
13:36 |
Monopoly board GFX: Tokyo |
But if
supply is the big thing, how does that work in practice? |
13:49 |
Shibuya crossing Tokyo. Rachel Mealey on crossing |
RACHEL
MEALEY (ABC Reporter, Tokyo): Japan’s capital Tokyo is a city of extremes,
but extreme house prices is one thing it doesn’t have. ROBIN
HARDING: “There’s a constant supply of housing in the centre of Tokyo and it
expands every year. |
13:56 |
Robin Harding and Rachel on street |
In fact
there’s more housing starts in the city of Tokyo in the average year than
there are in the entire country of England”. |
14:17 |
GFX super: |
RACHEL
MEALEY: Robin Harding is a former banker turned journalist. |
14:22 |
|
He’s lived
here for 15 years. |
14:25 |
Tokyo vista |
Tokyo real
estate is one of his pet subjects. ROBIN
HARDING: “Tokyo is a great example |
14:28 |
Robing and Rachel on street |
of a city
where people are allowed to build”. |
14:33 |
Time lapse Tokyo building site/Tokyo GVs |
RACHEL
MEALEY: When the ‘80s property bubble burst in Japan, major banks were left
holding bad debt and developers had unwanted office buildings. So the
government eased planning regulations in commercial districts to allow the
land to be used for any purpose. And the result was a steady supply of new
homes. |
14:35 |
Robin and Rachel on street |
ROBIN
HARDING: “The nature of the Japanese system means that each plot of land is
treated just like that, it’s a plot of land. There’s no planning, no one
says, |
15:06 |
Tokyo residential |
you know,
the street should look like this and all the houses should have this kind of
windows and they should be this high, which is what you get in London”. |
15:15 |
Tokyo streets |
RACHEL
MEALEY: While the rest of Japan’s population is declining, Tokyo is bucking
the trend, the city’s now nudging 35 million. But despite this growth, there
hasn’t been the upward pressure on prices experienced by other big
cities. |
15:23 |
Rachel walking down narrow residential street |
ROBIN
HARDING: “Tokyo is the biggest, one of the most densely populated cities on
earth. So it’s not cheap, |
15:43 |
Robin on street |
it’s never
going to be cheap, there’s a limited amount of land for 35 million people.
What you haven’t seen |
15:50 |
Residential streets |
in the last
20 or 30 years is any of the price increases that you’ve seen in cities like
San Francisco, in London, in Sydney, where supply is much more constrained.
So personally I think there’s very little doubt that the higher supply in
Tokyo has kept a lid on prices”. |
15:55 |
Rachel to camera walking down street |
RACHEL
MEALEY: “This street is a good example of the sometimes crazy mix of
buildings you can find on any one street. We’ve got some apartment blocks,
next to that is a family home, next to that is a building someone’s decided
to paint pink and next to that is a castle!” |
16:14 |
Residential GVs |
Some
Aussies might see their home as their castle, but in Japan there isn’t an
emphasis on owning at all costs. |
16:32 |
Robin on street |
ROBIN
HARDING: “They don’t feel this pressure, that pressure that you feel in a
city like London or Sydney, ‘I must buy now or my life will be blighted’. You
just don’t get that. House prices are not a subject at dinner party
conversation in Tokyo because they just don’t change very much. I think
that’s great!” RACHEL
MEALEY: “What are people talking about if not the property prices?” ROBIN
HARDING: “North Korea”. |
16:42 |
GFX side wipe: Teaser. Copenhagen |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Still to come tonight, a country where they do things very
differently. |
17:05 |
Kim with Hamish in small apartment |
KIM LOUDRUP:
“This is a 25 square metre student apartment with a sea view”. |
17:09 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Where there are more bikes than cars and some very big
ideas. |
17:13 |
GFS side wipe. End teaser. |
|
17:17 |
London residential. GVs |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: One of the big questions about housing affordability is who’s
responsible for fixing it? Is it government, is it developers? |
17:21 |
Hamish enters house. GFX super: |
This is a
pocket house in central London. Basically, it’s aimed at young people who
fall in the gap. They earn too much for social housing, but too little to buy
their own home. They pay 20% less than the market average for a flat that’s
20% smaller. |
17:29 |
Hamish and Lucien in house |
“Why on
earth are you not just sort of making these and selling them for as much
money as you can get to whoever wants it?” LUCIEN
SMITHERS: “It’s certainly harder than any other form of housing because you
don’t have the margin, you don’t have the upside”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So why do it?” |
17:46 |
|
LUCIEN
SMITHERS: “We think that it’s a lower margin product that is going to serve a
certain segment of the audience and it could be a global product”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So, if some developers are willing |
18:01 |
Hamish on bed to camera |
to help
solve this problem, what then is the role of government? In some countries
they’re reluctant to get too involved, but in other places there’s a
radically interventionist approach”. |
18:11 |
GFX Monopoly board Barcelona |
Music |
18:23 |
Barcelona GVs |
|
18:31 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: It’s one of the world’s most
popular cities, a magnet for tourists, expats and retirees. With its
sun-drenched beaches, stunning architecture, world famous food and never
ending festivals, Barcelona is hard to beat. Who wouldn’t want to come here?
And that’s the problem. |
18:40 |
Campbell in square to camera. Super: |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: “Well this is what used to be called ‘the off season’. But these
days it doesn’t matter if it’s the height of summer or the depths of winter,
every day the centre of Barcelona is under occupation by foreign visitors or
as the locals call them, ‘guiris’. And what does that have to do with
housing? Well, if you’re a landlord in Barcelona you’re not going to want to
rent or even sell your apartment to poor locals, if you can make much more
money out of ‘guiris’.” |
19:05 |
Tourist shops |
Residents
are paying more and more to compete with tourists, expats and foreign
investors. |
19:35 |
Housing protest/Ada Colau at protest |
But
Barcelona is fighting back. The mayor, Ada Colau is a former housing
activist. She’s directed the council to clamp down on foreign rental sites
like Airbnb. |
19:43 |
Council inspectors at apartment |
She’s even
sending out inspectors to hunt down illegal rentals. |
19:58 |
|
APARTMENT
OCCUPANT: “Who is it?” HOME
INSPECTOR: “Inspector from Barcelona City Council”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: More on what happens behind the door later. |
20:02 |
Barcelona recreation GVs |
[accordion
music] |
20:17 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Visit any public square and
it looks like locals are living the good life. I’ve come here to meet two old
friends, |
20:20 |
Anita and Jordi with Eric at outdoor table |
Anita and
Jordi. They’ve always been proud of Barcelona’s reputation as Spain’s most international
city. But it’s wearing thin. |
20:27 |
|
ANITA:
“Yes, way too international”. JORDI: “I
consider tourism a kind of pollution”. |
20:38 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Food and wine might still be cheap, but Spanish wages just can’t
match what foreigners pay for housing. |
20:44 |
|
JORDI:
“It’s a city full of old people who have lived here all their lives and they have
their flat – and tourists”. |
20:53 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: “So what’s it like for young people here? What’s their future?” JORDI:
“Their future is spending a period of their life |
21:01 |
|
sharing a
room with other flatmates and afterwards they move 20 kilometres, 50
kilometres, from the city centre”. |
21:07 |
Barcelona residential streets. |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Moving 20 kilometres away might not sound much by Sydney or
Melbourne standards, but Barcelona is not a suburban city. People live on top
of each other in neighbourhoods, with their own schools, corner stores, bars
and cafes. Leaving your neighbourhood means losing your community. And right
now entire buildings are being emptied to make way for foreigners. |
21:21 |
Santi in apartment. Super: SANTI |
Santi Mas
De Xaxas has just learned his three year lease won’t be renewed. |
21:46 |
Santi and Eric |
SANTI MAS
DE XAXAS: “Right now I am facing the problem that all these buildings are
being turned now to apartments for tourists. So they are not renewing any
longer the lease to our tenants, so I have already been told that we have to
leave the apartment”. |
21:53 |
Santi’s apartment interiors |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: His one bedroom flat will be renovated for short term tourist
stays. SANTI MAS
DE XAXAS: “I’m paying 600. |
22:10 |
Santi |
There’s no
way I can afford this anywhere in the area. So I’m going to have to move
further out of Barcelona to a farther away neighbourhood from the centre”. |
22:17 |
Airbnb website |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Critics blame the so-called ‘sharing economy’ for fuelling the
crisis. Online reservation sites like Airbnb allow tourists to book rooms in
apartments. The number has exploded since 2008 and these are just the ones
the city council knows about. |
22:31 |
Council housing inspectors on street |
Thousands
more operate without a licence. Many of them have become illegal hotels run
by agents where the tourists never even meet the owner. But they might just
meet these women - Barcelona Council’s home inspectors. Don’t let the mild
manners fool you, they’re the city’s secret weapon against illegal
renting. |
22:50 |
Inspectors walk with Eric |
HOME
INSPECTOR: “We’ve got a list of flats that we have to check because we
suspect they are illegal apartments, tourist apartments”. |
23:14 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: “Carolina Perez and Ivette Hidalgo can inspect dozens of apartments
a day. For each area, they cross check a list of licensed rental properties
with what’s being advertised. |
23:25 |
|
HOME
INSPECTOR: “50% of the apartments are illegal now. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “50% are illegal?” HOME
INSPECTOR: “Or more, yeah, yeah, yeah”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “Wow”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Yeah, it’s amazing”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “That’s a huge problem”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Exactly, so we have to stop it”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “And what’s that doing to rents |
23:36 |
[continues] |
here?” HOME
INSPECTOR: “The rent prices go up…. in two years 50% more”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “Wow in this… in this touristy area here, yeah”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Yes. It’s crazy”. |
23:50 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: “So we foreigners are ruining Barcelona, are we?” HOME
INSPECTOR: “Hmm, hmmm (laughs) |
24:01 |
Inspectors at apartment |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: To prove an illegal rental, they simply buzz on the door and talk
their way in. Then it’s a matter of seeing who is in the apartment and who
they’re paying. HOME
INSPECTOR: “It’s very weird, no? Suddenly, you are a tourist, and you have
having holidays and someone knock on the door and tell you that.. starts
asking questions. I understand this”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: At this flat, a somewhat startled German gives them all they need
to prosecute the landlord. |
24:06 |
Inspectors talk with occupant |
HOME
INSPECTOR: “Don’t worry, we are from the City Council…” HOME
INSPECTOR: “You pay in cash… or by card?” GERMAN
TOURIST: “Yeah, by card – via the Airbnb. |
24:42 |
|
HOME
INSPECTOR: “You like Barcelona? GERMAN
TOURIST: Yeah, very much. HOME
INSPECTOR: First time?” GERMAN
TOURIST: “Yes, first time”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for your cooperation”. |
24:56 |
Inspectors on street, explain to Eric |
“They are
tourists. Three young people. And they staying for less than one week. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Four nights”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “And they pay through the platform Airbnb. So it’s done. It’s
perfect”. |
25:12 |
Inspectors at second building with neighbour |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: And at the next building they get even luckier. A disgruntled
neighbour points them to a tourist apartment they weren’t even aware of. |
25:24 |
Inspectors with occupant |
HOME INSPECTOR: So can you answer a few questions for us? OCCUPANT: We are tourists, so… HOME
INSPECTOR: Yeah, yeah. |
25:36 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL: If it’s unlicensed, the owner will face a potentially ruinous
fine. |
25:43 |
Eric and inspectors outside apartment |
“Right, so
neighbours are telling on people if they hear foreigners stayed the in
apartment”. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Yeah. You have to ask, because sometimes they are annoyed,
because of the situation”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “So if it does turn out to be illegal, they could be facing a
60,000 Euro fine?” HOME
INSPECTOR: “Yes. It’s quite a lot. For four nights”. ERIC
CAMPBELL: “For four nights rent, a 60,000 Euro fine. Where I come from in
Australia that’s $100,000. That’s a lot of money. HOME
INSPECTOR: “Yes. It’s a big business.” |
25:47 |
Outdoor café/Tourists walking |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: The city government has also levied big fines on the home sharing
corporations. In November, Airbnb and HomeAway were slugged nearly a million
dollars each. In 2015, the council froze applications for tourist rental
apartments. |
26:18 |
Eric with Vanesa on roof |
Now it’s
giving licences again, but under strict conditions. Vanessa Valino heads the
council’s affordable housing unit. |
26:36 |
|
VANESA
VALINO: “That’s why it’s important to set limits. |
26:45 |
Vanesa interview in office |
We say yes
to tourist apartments but not everything can be tourist apartments because
the neighbourhoods also need apartments for neighbours”. |
26:49 |
Barcelona GVs |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: And the council hasn’t been scared to hit banks where it hurts
either. It found many were just sitting on properties they had repossessed,
waiting for their value to rise so they could sell them to foreigners. VANESA
VALINO: “The negotiation with the banks, |
27:02 |
Vanesa interview in office |
along with
the legal measures, we have begun to impose fines of up to 300,000 euros has
enabled the transfer of 250 homes from banks to the City Council to put them
in social rent”. |
27:15 |
Protest outside Town Hall |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Any conversation here is punctuated with the sound of protest. Just
opposite the Town Hall is a square where citizens come to air their
grievances. Many want the council to be even tougher on foreign renters and
investors. |
27:38 |
Eric at protest |
“Barcelona
has a pretty militant history of revolution and anarchy and civil war and every
two or three days there are big protests like this here about housing and
unemployment and low salaries. And in this town, politicians ignore these
problems at their peril. |
27:59 |
Protest |
Foreign
visitors may be unaware of the pressures they’re putting on Barcelona’s
community. For many, an angry protest is just one more opportunity for an
exotic selfie. |
28:19 |
Tourist GVs |
But does it
make sense to crack down on one of the only industries bringing in much
needed money? Terrorist attacks in Paris and London have seen a surge of
visitors to northern Spain. Last year this city of 1.3 million hosted more
than nine million tourists. |
28:32 |
|
VANESA
VALINO: “The city needs tourism, tourism creates employment, tourism is
wealth - |
28:51 |
Vanesa interview in office |
is knowing
other cultures. But tourism without boundaries devastates the area, puts an
end to local commerce, and puts an end to housing for the neighbours of the
city”. |
28:56 |
Santi at home playing records |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: Santi is already nostalgic
for the city he grew up in, a place where rich and poor lived side by side
and artists, writers and musicians could afford to live in its heart. |
29:09 |
|
SANTI MAS
DE XAXAS: “This is what Barcelona used to be. You know, a good mixture of
foreign influences and a strong local flavour”. SONG
LYRICS: Close your eyes and I’ll kiss
you, tomorrow I’ll miss you, remember I’ll always be true, and then while I’m
away, I’ll write home every day and I’ll send all my loving to you. |
29:25 |
Barcelona street life |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: But even as he’s losing his own apartment, he’s looking on the
bright side. SANTI MAS
DE XAXAS: “If you talk to the people that are close to the neighbourhoods, |
29:54 |
Santi on rooftop/Protest |
you will
see a lot of people fighting back, you know, a lot of people trying to the
speculators, to work for our health. So yeah this is the history of this city
since the beginning of the century and even before, that’s why I’m
optimistic. And you see daily victories, that’s where you get your hope
from”. |
30:02 |
Eric on tourist bus |
ERIC
CAMPBELL: So far the crackdown on tourist rentals hasn’t stopped people
coming. The streets can still be clogged with sightseeing buses. |
30:24 |
Eric to camera on bus |
“Of course a lot of people who come to
Barcelona do come just to see the buildings and they are lovely, but you have
to wonder what’s going to happen if the only people who can afford to live in
them are rich foreigners. What happens to the city’s character, it’s life,
it’s grit, if it becomes a gentrified theme park? Is it still going to be the
sort of place you want to visit, the sort of place you want to live?” |
30:34 |
Side wipe to apartment interior |
Music |
31:02 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: One of the real issues with all of this also |
31:06 |
Hamish sitting on apartment stairs |
seems to be
managing expectations about how we live, how big we live and also where we
live. |
31:08 |
Hamish on to balcony of pod over car park |
Well they
say that location is important. Well, how about this one? These pods are
specifically designed to stand on stilts, above car parks. It’s one answer to
a really complex question, which is, how do you create spaces for people
working in the key sectors to afford to live in the big, busy and now really
expensive major cities? |
31:16 |
Monopoly board super: New York |
|
31:39 |
New York GVs |
CONOR DUFFY
(ABC reporter, Washington): New York, one of the world’s greatest cities and
one of the most expensive. Is there any point trying to make a home in the
Big Apple if you don’t have a million dollar salary? |
31:47 |
Conor walking to Co-op City. GFX super: Conor Duffy |
To find out
I’ve come to the Bronx, to visit a place they call Co-Op City. It’s the
biggest government backed co-operative housing project in America, possibly
the world. |
31:56 |
|
NOEL
ELLISON: “Co-Op City was built under what was called the Mitchell-Lama Program.
It was a program that was designed to keep the middle class from leaving New
York City and moving into other areas, that was about 50 years ago”. |
32:14 |
Noel. GFX super: Noel The Boss |
CONOR
DUFFY: Noel Ellison is the General Manager of Co-op City. He’s the man to see
to get your hands on the cheapest apartment in NYC. |
32:27 |
Conor with Noel in apartment |
“Wow it’s
really big!” NOEL
ELLISON: “Yeah this is one of our three bedroom apartments in the tower
building and we’re on the 32nd floor”. |
32:37 |
GFX supers: |
CONOR
DUFFY: Buying this is just $30,000, then a monthly maintenance fee of around
1400 dollars. |
32:47 |
$700,000 to buy one bedroom |
This is
three bedrooms, for one in Manhattan, it’s about $700,000. |
32:55 |
Conor with Noel |
“So the
goal of the program was to make sure there are enough middle income workers
staying in the city, has that happened? Do most people commute into the city
for work?” NOEL ELLISON:
“Yes.” |
33:01 |
|
“At least
from Co-Op City’s standpoint, this is a success story. We have people who
work in hospitals, people who work for the Board of Education, teachers and
what not and then we have a bunch of people who do business on their own,
probably small business owners throughout the city”. |
33:099 |
|
CONOR
DUFFY: “How long is the waiting list to get in here?” |
33:26 |
|
NOEL
ELLISON: “Oh the waiting list is about five years at this point in
time”. CONOR
DUFFY: “Wow”. |
33:28 |
Conor and Noel survey views from rooftop |
Outside you
get a true sense of the scale of the place – it’s enormous. NOEL
ELLISON: “The one factor we know we have is 15,372 units, makes us what I
believe is the largest housing development in the world. In addition to that,
I guess we’ve got, anywhere from 35 to 50,000 residents”. |
33:31 |
Exercise dance class |
CONOR
DUFFY: These guys are the Bartow Swingers, they meet a couple of times a
week. In this place they want the oldies to hang around as long as possible. And
you can’t make a profit when you sell. People tend to stay – and that includes 104
year old Miss Louise. DANCE
TEACHER: “After we do the first dance, |
34:00 |
|
we’re then
going to invite Conor in, and he’s going to participate with us okay?” |
34:28 |
Conor and Noel in dance class |
CONOR
DUFFY: Noel and I soon find out dancing is harder than it looks – at any age…
Our instructor is teaching me something called ‘the wobble’… |
34:36 |
Dance class |
|
35:09 |
|
After two
long minutes it’s over. And apparently I’m not that great at this. I’m
diplomatically told it’s not how you dance but that you tried that’s
important. |
35:26 |
Co-op City skyline |
For the
people who can’t get a start in places like Co-Op City, New York can be a
hard place to set up home. |
35:40 |
Nicholas walking by river |
Nicholas
Dagen Bloom writes about this. He’s concerned about the next generation of
middle income workers - how will they afford to live here? NICHOLAS
DAGEN BLOOM: “They face |
35:52 |
Nicholas sits by river |
a very
difficult situation because they will not be covered under rent stabilisation,
so the rent can increase very rapidly and I think that very often they end up
for instance purchasing market rate apartments which are beyond what they can
really sustain”. |
36:01 |
NY GVs |
CONOR
DUFFY: No big surprise, there are real knock on effects from over
extending. NICHOLAS
DAGEN BLOOM: “Well that means you have less money |
36:20 |
Nicholas sits by river |
for higher
education for your kids, for retirement, other needs. So we do we know that
not only the very poor people in the city, but also a lot of the middle class
are what we call either rent burdened or very high mortgages, |
36:27 |
NY Traffic/Streets |
so they’re
not in a good situation either”. CONOR
DUFFY: For a big city like New York the businesses that run it demand that
government keep space in the cities for key workers including low income
earners. So New York City’s administrators have an ambitious plan for 200,000
affordable apartments to be made available over the next decade. |
36:40 |
Dave and Eva. GFX super: |
Back at
Co-Op City, Eva and Dave are long-standing residents and beneficiaries of
subsidised apartment living. DAVE: “My
wife left and when her husband left we kind of got together at that
point”. EVA: “He
gave me a year”. (laughs) CONOR
DUFFY: Both raised families here and now |
37:04 |
Family photos in frames |
have
grandkids. Eva remembers |
37:24 |
Eva and Conor in kitchen |
the
original advertising campaign to get people to move to the complex. EVA: “People
were encouraged to come to this fantastic middle income housing rainbow, with
a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And people flocked here”. |
37:26 |
Conor helps Eva with coffee making |
CONOR
DUFFY: “Can I give you a hand, Eva?” EVA: “Okay.
You can open this drawer and in the front row of silverware…” CONOR
DUFFY: For them, the system that underpins Co-Op City, has more |
37:40 |
Conor has coffee with Eva and Dave |
than
fulfilled its promise. |
37:51 |
|
“People
would be very interested to know how it is to live here, what’s it like?” DAVE: “It’s |
37:53 |
|
good
housing that’s affordable. In a Mitchell-Lama Co-Op, that’s the name of the
law in New York State, the state subsidises part of the cost so you’re paying
a fixed share rate per room. And that equity is the same when you leave as
when you put in. You can’t make a profit, but in return you’re getting really
a reduced rate. We feel that we’re living in a beautiful apartment in New
York City for probably half or more of what the market rate would be”. |
37:58 |
|
CONOR
DUFFY: “So given that there’s not much new housing stock like this coming on
line, do you guys worry at all about the future for your grandkids?” |
38:34 |
Co-op City skyline |
DAVE: “I
think housing affordability will always be an issue. |
38:41 |
Conor with Eva and Dave in apartment |
Some people
claim that New York City is going to price |
38:44 |
New York residential |
its way out
of the middle income market completely, that Manhattan will be reserved for
only rich people. But I don’t believe that. I believe that there is a
balance. We are hopeful. But at the same time, I don’t know. I really don’t
know what’s going to happen”. |
38:47 |
GFX Monopoly board: Copenhagen |
Music |
39:06 |
Copenhagen residential |
|
39:13 |
Cyclists |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Denmark. Officially the happiest country on earth. Nine out of ten
Danes have a bicycle - just four out of ten have a car. The country has high
population growth targets. |
39:18 |
Hamish riding around city |
In under a
decade Copenhagen hopes to be the world’s first carbon neutral capital– and
all of this while maintaining a triple A credit rating. The Danes certainly
seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to living. Even still, they’ve
got their own issues with housing affordability. |
39:33 |
Hamish to camera riding bike |
“The thing
you notice in a city like this is that it just functions differently to the
way our cities do. People work differently, they get around differently and
they live differently. And so that means that when it comes to solving big
challenges like this, well they’re thinking about how to do that differently,
too”. |
39:54 |
Copenhagen GVs |
Music |
40:14 |
Hamish gets on ferry with bike |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Here, like in Australia,
the problem particularly affects young people. In less than ten years
Copenhagen needs another 45,000 homes. They need in the order of 10,000 more
just for students and that’s led to some creative solutions. |
40:19 |
Shipping container student housing |
Right next
to the university, developers are building an entire village out of shipping
containers. |
40:38 |
Agent showing accommodation to students |
AGENT:
“This is the second demo and as you can see, it’s… it’s a bit more rustic…” HAMISH
MACDONALD: These students are getting their first look.
They’re eager to get on the waiting list. |
40:44 |
Container housing |
One Danish
shipping company alone disposes of 200,000 containers each year so there’s a
surplus of these which means they come cheap. |
41:04 |
Agent showing accommodation to students |
AGENT: “So
this is the actual journey it’s been on over the ocean. Started in Montreal, then
been to Hong Kong, and Egypt”. |
41:14 |
Hamish with students outside of container house |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: These guys are all on the hunt for somewhere to live. |
41:27 |
|
IDA: “It’s
just gone in five minutes, literally, it’s gone. Even if you post, ‘Like hi
I’m Ida’, with perfect resume, everything, it’s just gone”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Is there something wrong with you, or is this…” |
41:31 |
|
IDA: “I
hope not. (laughing) HAMISH
MACDONALD: “It’s a problem that all young people are facing”. IDA: “No
it’s a problem that we all are facing, all of the persons I know at least”. |
41:44 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “You sound pretty desperate”. IDA: “I am.
I am desperate. It’s not fun to be almost homeless”. |
41:53 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: They’ve changed the zoning laws in Denmark to make this work.
Finding disused land, not yet zoned for development, they can quickly and
cheaply throw up a community. |
41:59 |
Hamish with students |
“I think
it’s fair to say most people, if you said to them, ‘You can go and live in a
shipping container’, they wouldn’t be all that excited about it”. GLEN: “No,
that’s true, and I also had somewhat of doubts. It seems… it seems pretty
nice actually and location wise it’s better than other places I could
imagine”. |
42:09 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “And the big question of course is would you live in this?” |
42:29 |
|
GLEN: “Yes,
definitely. Also applying… as soon as they open up, yeah!” HAMISH
MACDONALD: They’re willing to try it at least. |
42:31 |
Hamish on bike to Urban Rigger |
So I’m on
my way to meet someone who wants to sell this kind of idea to the
world. |
42:41 |
|
Music |
42:46 |
Hamish visits Kim |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Hi, I’m Hamish. KIM
LOUDRUP: Hello, Hamish. Nice to meet
you. Welcome to Denmark. HAMISH
MACDONALD: So this is it? What is it?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Well this is a floating structure called Urban Rigger |
42:54 |
Urban rigger |
and it’s 12
student houses on this floating concrete platform”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “And you want people to live in it?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Yeah, well |
43:05 |
Hamish and Kim beside Urban Rigger |
it’s nice
to wake up in the morning and look at the water, and have a sea view when you
are studying”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Yeah it’s not bad. Can we take a look?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Sure we can, come on in!” |
43:12 |
Kim and Hamish into Urban Rigger |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Kim Loudrup is the brains and the ball of energy behind the Urban
Rigger project. “Is it
actually finished?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Yes.” |
43:22 |
Inside Urban Rigger |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So this is it”. |
43:31 |
|
KIM LOUDRUP:
“This is 25 square metre student apartment with a sea view that will cost you
500, 600, 700 dollars a day in the…” HAMISH
MACDONALD: “A day?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“…in the hotel next to us”. |
43:35 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “And for this place?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Six hundred dollars a month”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Right”. |
43:48 |
|
KIM LOUDRUP:
“The floor heating’s working. It’s 29 degree here”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “It’s toasty in here”. KIM LOUDRUP:
“Isn’t that nice? The colour’s coming back in your face now and it looks
good”. |
43:52 |
Exterior. Urban Rigger |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: The concept for this design was born out of Kim’s need to find
affordable housing for his son, heading off to uni. |
43:59 |
Kim and Hamish by window |
KIM LOUDRUP:
“You know what does not work is these parents who say, ‘Oh, this is nothing.
When I was young, you know, I was living in a shoebox, eating my feet for
breakfast.’ You know? All of that”. |
44:06 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: And for this Dane, the benefits of container living go well beyond
the price. |
44:20 |
|
KIM LOUDRUP:
“All the young people that live here, they get a fishing rod. We have very
clean waters here and you pull out a cod”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Are you serious?” KIM LOUDRUP:
“Oh I’m dead serious. I mean you’ll see fishing all over the place here.
Fishing for their supper. It’s so clean this water. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “All right”. KIM LOUDRUP:
“Right, you pull out a cod and you throw it on the stove that gets the power
from the solar panels on the roof”. |
44:24 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “I’ll take your word for it on the cod”. KIM LOUDRUP:
“Cod, we have cod, we have herring, we have flatfish, we have |
44:47 |
Man fishing from pier |
trout…” |
44:54 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So where are we off to now?” |
44:49 |
Kim and Hamish down stairs of Urban Rigger to heating system |
KIM LOUDRUP:
“We’re going below sea level now - two and a half metres below sea level. And
this is the heart of the Urban Rigger. This is where everything goes on in
terms of heating. You can see here, the geothermal heating system
works”. |
45:00 |
|
HAMISH MACDONALD:
It’s hard to imagine anyone more passionate or daring when it comes to
solving the crisis in housing. Kim would probably give most of our
politicians a run for their money. KIM LOUDRUP:
“Forget the politicians. Forget them! They’re not going to help us. Not
because they don’t want to - they can’t. |
45:18 |
Copenhagen GVs |
We need to
sort out the shit that we’re in ourselves. The market of housing is driven by
|
45:36 |
Kim and Hamish on Urban Rigger |
economics.
It’s a financial question and the way we’re going now is that we’re pushing
the existing infrastructure out of the big cities, |
45:45 |
Copenhagen GVs |
I mean our
nurses and our taxi drivers and our students – all the small cogs in the big
machinery are being pushed out”. |
45:53 |
Kim and Hamish on Urban Rigger |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So what happens to those cities when the small cogs get pushed
out?” |
46:00 |
|
KIM LOUDRUP:
“Well I think that when the small cogs disappear, the big machinery stops.
It’s as simple as that”. |
46:03 |
Denmark GVs |
Music |
46:08 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Denmark is thinking bigger about the |
46:12 |
Hamish visits Space 10 |
future of
housing than most places. This is Space 10, an innovation lab. It’s funded by
a very big and famous Scandinavian furniture company, but don’t worry,
there’s not a flat pack box or an Allen key in sight. |
46:14 |
Kaave. GFX super: |
Kaave is
the boss around here. At 27, he’s planning for your future and mine. |
46:33 |
Kaave and Hamish at Urban Farm hydroponics |
KAAVE:
“Welcome to the farm”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Okay. This is not the kind of farm I’m used to”. KAAVE: “No,
but this is what you call hydroponic farming. |
46:46 |
|
This is
micro greens, but we can grow almost everything”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “And is the idea that by growing this stuff in buildings where
people live and work, that you can then bring down the cost of the building
itself?” KAAVE: “We
could easily imagine a future where the |
46:55 |
|
house you
live in is not only where you sleep and where you eat, but also where the
food you eat are being grown. And that for me is super interesting for many
reasons - one is the price”. |
47:10 |
Copenhagen GVs |
Music |
47:21 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Here in Denmark it seems solving housing affordability is not just
about prices, tax policy or supply. KAAVE: “No
matter what, we will build more - because the world |
47:24 |
Kaave and Hamish at table |
will keep
on increasing with the population and we will soon, within the near future,
reach up to 9.7 billion people on this planet which is a huge increase in the
amount of people. So we will need to build more than a billion housing units
no matter what. The question is how we build them. The question is where we
build them and how those buildings function together”. |
47:34 |
|
Music |
47:56 |
Residential GVs |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: But Denmark is not just looking to the future, it’s also looking
to its past when life revolved around farming and a system that puts the
emphasis on buying to live rather than buying to profit. |
48:00 |
Mads on bike with Gustav. Siri on bike behind |
Mads is an
inner city dad. He’s picking up the kids from school today. Gustav is 3 and
Siri is 5… |
48:15 |
Children and Mads up on to roof garden |
And this is
their shared rooftop garden. |
48:25 |
Hamish with Mads and kids gardening |
MADS: “This
is actually our garbage shed we’re on top of”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Your kids are developing their very own technique for gardening
it seems”. MADS:
“Yeah, very efficient. Kill the strawberry plants”. (laughing) |
48:36 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: The garden is not the only thing Mads shares with the neighbours. |
48:49 |
Kids play in sandpit |
This block
has a uniquely Danish ownership structure. |
48:56 |
Mads. GFX super: |
MADS: “It’s
called Andelsbolig”. HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Which means?” MADS: “It
means share housing. So each of us has a share”. |
49:00 |
Apartment blocks. GFX supers: |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: Sixteen apartments, and sixteen shareholders. They buy into the
block, giving them the right to live there and rent a flat. MADS:
“Somehow it’s a mixture of |
49:09 |
Mads |
real estate
and for rent but I think it’s the best of two worlds that comes
together”. |
49:18 |
Apartment block. GFX supers: |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: The Andels apartment is a big phenomenon in Denmark. The prices
are pegged to inflation. You have to live in the property cutting out
speculation. |
49:23 |
GFX supers: No foreign buyers |
And this is
one example of how the Danes severely limit foreign buyers. |
49:32 |
Hamish and Mads in apartment |
“But it’s
not the same thing as a co-op, is it?” MADS: “No,
like in the farming, when Denmark had a lot of farms you would share like
where you do the milk. Like when you’re taking milk from the cow and you put it
in the diary, they would own it together. So it’s the same idea that you own
something together and you have access to it”. |
49:39 |
Mads and kids in apartment |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: It means thousands of people with ordinary jobs can afford a
decent four bedroom place like this in the centre of Copenhagen. “What would
be the difference |
50:02 |
Hamish and Mads |
in price
between an Andels apartment and the same sort of thing on the open market?” |
50:14 |
GFX super: |
MADS:
“Right now it’s at least double or more. I think the apartment - and this is
110 square metres - if you buy this it will cost in Danish krone it’s 1.7
million we paid for this. And if you are just on the other side of the block,
buy the same size would be five to six million. So it’s yeah…” HAMISH
MACDONALD: “Two or three times”. MADS: “Two
or three times the price, yeah”. |
50:19 |
Apartment interiors |
Music |
50:46 |
GFX supers |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: They have a word in Danish, ‘Hygge’. It doesn’t have a direct
translation but it means cosiness and togetherness, in good company. And
somehow that seems to have shaped the way they think about housing. MADS:
“Somehow we have made a world where average people |
50:51 |
Mads |
are not
able to buy a house and that’s… I think that’s wrong. It’s not that I am
against the market. I have my own business, of course I’m driven by selling
stuff. But for me, it doesn’t make sense that you cannot buy an apartment in
whatever city, if you’re not a billionaire”. |
51:08 |
Copenhagen GVs |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: In Denmark we’ve found a place with a genuinely different approach
to things. In Australia, we’re probably unlikely to ever adopt the Danish
way, but before I leave, I want to find out if there’s a lesson we can take
from them. |
51:24 |
Esben standing beside bike. GFX supers: |
Esben is a
political scientist. He’s thinking a lot about how cities can work in a
sustainable and affordable way. “Is it not
just about |
51:48 |
Esben interview |
how much it
costs but also how we live?” ESBEN:
“Definitely. I think it is, because I mean if you feel like you can live in a
city where you have a lot of options in terms of going out into the streets
and doing things, then you are also more inclined to live in a smaller
apartment and you are also just happier and maybe living in an apartment that
doesn’t meet all your requirement in terms of space, in terms of having a
balcony, in terms of having a garden, all these things, because you could go
outside and you get some of those needs in the city, on the streets”. |
52:06 |
|
HAMISH
MACDONALD: “So how do you get a point where there is the political will,
there is the societal will to fix these problems?” |
52:42 |
|
ESBEN:
“Danish politics, in general, has been characterised by a lot of
cross-sectional collaboration and a strong government, but a strong
government that has also been highly engaged in partnerships outside of
government. And that has created a culture of actually trying to fix these
solutions together, instead of fixing them in silos”. |
52:47 |
Bridge |
HAMISH
MACDONALD: So there you have it. We are all in this together. It might even
be |
53:17 |
Australian house auction |
time to
sort it out. |
53:22 |
Episode recap |
Music |
53:26 |
|
JAMES
MURRAY: It’s really important to emphasise there’s no silver bullet”. |
53:34 |
Credits start over episode recap |
Music |
53:44 |
|
KIM LOUDRUP:
“We are all in that same boat. We are on the same boat”. |
53:50 |
Outpoint after credits |
Music |
54:06 |
Reporters
HAMISH MACDONALD
RACHEL MEALEY
ERIC CAMPBELL
CONOR DUFFY
Camera
MATHEW MARSIC
JUN MATSUZONO
NATHAN BLUME
AARON RAIZENBERG
BRIETTA HAGUE
Field Producers
YUMI ASADA
BRIETTA HAGUE
LIN BUCKFIELD
Editors
MATTHEW WALKER
ANNA CRANEY
NIKKI STEVENS
LEAH DONOVAN
Researcher
KATELIN MEREDITH
Graphic Artist
ANDRES GOMEZ ISAZA
Producer
BRONWEN REED
Associate Producer
MICHAEL DOYLE
Executive Producer
MARIANNE LEITCH