High cost of living forces ex-couples to keep living together
The trend is particularly prevalent among younger couples
2 min
Almost one in five Australians have continued living with a former romantic partner because they couldn’t afford to move out, a new survey has found. The trend is strongest among younger Australians, with 33 percent of Gen Zs having remained in a shared home with an ex-partner due to restricted finances. This compares to 11 percent of Gen Xers and 5 percent of Baby Boomers.
Finder surveyed 1,049 Australians last month and found that 17 percent had remained living with an ex-partner after breaking up at some stage in their lives. Four percent, which is the equivalent of more than 800,000 people on a population basis, are currently living with an ex-partner for financial reasons. A further 13 percent said they had made this choice in the past but had since moved out.
The cost of housing is significantly higher for people who want to live alone. Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, said: “Thousands of Australians decide to separate but remain living together for a prolonged period because they can’t afford to go their separate ways. Living together as a separated couple could be very difficult unless you are on really good terms.”
The cost of moving and living alone in a rented or owned property is not the only challenge. “It’s also incredibly difficult to find suitable accommodation in some parts of Australia right now so staying together under one roof might be the most realistic option in the short-term,” Mr Cooke said.
It is particularly difficult for renters to find a new home quickly in today’s market. Vacancy rates around the country remain very low due to a lack of supply of homes for Australia’s growing population. According to SQM Research, rental vacancy rates are below 1 percent in Adelaide, Perth and Darwin and between 1 and 2 percent in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart. In Canberra, the vacancy rate is 2.2 percent. A balanced market has a 3 percent vacancy rate.
Mr Cooke recommended that people set up a personal emergency savings account to help them cope with a relationship breakdown. “During the honeymoon period of a new relationship very few people are imagining a time when they are no longer compatible. An emergency fund helps people to be financially prepared for the good and the bad,” Mr Cooke said. A separate Finder survey found eight percent of Australians, or 1.6 million people, have a secret bank account for various reasons.
Mr Cooke added that some people who owned a property with their ex-partner felt uncomfortable about potentially moving out. “Some homeowners worry that they will lose out if they leave the family home before any financial settlement but moving out doesn’t diminish your legal rights,” he said.
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The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
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