Where do you live?

Last Sunday's Gospel reading mentioned the question Andrew, brother of Peter asked Jesus: "Where do you live, Master?" The question starts a train of thought, not in the biblical or religious sense, but in a mundane sense. Just for the purpose of this exercise.

Put this question to couples of different ages and of different social standing. The answers provoke different connotations. A middle-aged couple show you a house that is actually a home. What makes a house a home? It is an abode that is lived in, which is evidently comfortable and at least within the family's financial means. It is a house where the couple with their children show respect for each other. Where love and unity are evident.

They do not have any worries about ways and means of settling outstanding debts incurred initially in furnishing their house. The spouses have time for each other. They had and still have time to look properly after their children. And maybe for their grandchildren as well.

Archbishop's advice

The Archbishop in his homily during the Mass he celebrated for newly-weds yesterday week touched on relations between spouses. He criticised the current manner of couples who absolutely want to move into a spacious house with all commodities and furnished 'luxuriously'.

The expenses involved in all this are so heavy that both spouses must have more then two jobs between them to enable them to lessen their heavy burden. The result is that they have very little time for each other when they return home tired. They start being impatient. They have allowed consumerism to get a tight hold of them.

A Christian marriage makes the couple one. Consumerism makes them two individuals sometimes at loggerheads. When this situation repeats itself often, they start falling apart. This is against their marriage vows. They had promised to respect each other "for better and for worse." This situation may, unfortunately, lead to legal separation.

Looking for or building a house

Nowadays as soon as a couple think of getting engaged they start looking for a house The rent of a newly built house is in most cases rather too high to be affordable. Maybe they prefer to find a plot of land in a favourite locality. Yet land is at a heavy premium. Still, they may opt to build their own house rather than pay an exorbitant rent. Being young and ambitious they would want a well appointed house with all modern amenities.

Realising the high cost involved they strive for jobs with an adequate salary. In time they find out that to cope they will need more than one job each. This invariably means that at the end of the day they are both too tired to be pleasant to each other in a loving way. Rather they start lamenting how difficult it is to settle accounts in a reasonably short time.

Sooner said than done. Apart from repaying the bank loan in instalments there will be added interest. The couple will have to pay professional fees to the architect and notary according to the stages of construction.

This is not all. They will have to have a computer, television, mobile phones and all the other paraphernalia that go with a well furnished house. All this and perhaps a car to enable them to go from one job to the other only add to the amount of bills to be paid.

The Archbishop warned them against succumbing to consumerism. This will rob them of the time the spouses should have for each other. The question that is really at the root of all the trouble is the unavailability of houses to be leased. In effect it is not that there are not empty houses, especially thosebuilt before the war.

Social problem

The fact that there are few houses for lease is in itself a social problem. The problem is now more than half a century old. Ever since the last rent laws were enacted low rents have resulted in owners realising that it is not economically feasible to repair old hoiuses.

Houses do need maintenance. Even if the house is new it needs maintenance. Rents at pre-war levels do not encourage landowners to lease their houses. In effect there are hundreds of vacant houses.

The problem appears to be insoluble. And yet it is not impossible. The solution of some problems in this country depends on the blessed vote. No party dares change rent laws for fear of losing votes. All it really needs is some common sense and less pique. Only then will consensus be possible and the problem solved.