A message of hope for all! Watch the link. The Government need to act now!

Scousebird_2

I just wanted to humble people on this subject and show you the state of UK housing-this is heartbreaking-watch all 8 parts (about 1hr). I have been crying, was so hard to watch-I have been there as a child and I never realised how bad it was-now I am grown up I could never go through that. I am literally dripping wet with tears-so sad. The link is at the bottom of my post.

I'd give those kids my spare room for the night if it just meant they could have a normal family life if just for one day.

There are people living in these conditions for god's sake-what can our taxes and our governments do to help these children and their families stay together.

Next time our wonderful Prime Minister goes to Central London for a meal with his peers, and his uses the Governments expenses pot to pay for it, I hope they can all digest their meals by thinking of the children in this Documentary and furthermore, if the polititians put the money they SHOULD pay in congestion charges, that gets waivered, into a goverment run agency for helping with the state of housing in this country-rather than putting pressure on the local authorities and their council tax budget to overstreach and HOPE there's enough for everyone-set up an agency for long term homeless cases or cases involving one or more children like the ones in the documentary.

So why can't we have a National Homeless Housing Agency-so that the backlog can be dealt with centrally by dedicated advisers who work with the homeless to find accommodation.

I have seen so many council houses boarded up in regeneration areas-and even in other places-what's wrong with making these available for rehousing and treating these areas a priority in terms of repair and renovation.

When I was homeless 5 years ago-I walked the streets to find somewhere to live, trying to hold down a full time job and looking for a landlord who would be prepared to allow a 17/18yr old girl to sign a tenanacy agreement and then have to find full deposits. And all this whilst being on the PRIORITY list for housing.

I found a place in a hostel eventually-off my own back. I informed the council that I had found a room through a private housing association-and they had the cheek to send me a letter after I had informed them of my circumstances that they were happy that they had provided me with assistance and that I was no longer priority as THEY had found me housing! I was enraged as they had NOTHING to do with it-but they saw me informing them as an opportunity to close my case and take the credit for it-and use me as a statistic on their annual figures to the Government. I was happy that someone else would be further up the list from me coming off but it was the fact that they insinuated they had found me housing-when I had done it all on my own-so they can report one more in the figures for the bloomin Government-discusting. Ever since then I have had two homes-all through private landlords but I look at my childhood and I look at how life was in B&B's with my Mum and I see these kids on the documentary and I know that was my brothers & sisters and it it hard to watch.

My Mum had a council house when I was 11-but her abusive husband beat us and my Mum and we had to run away because we were frightened. We were put in a safe house and my Gran moved me with her-but my other brothers and sisters were put in a B&B with Prostitutes and Drug Addicts-and my stepdad was a druggie so we were trying to get away from that and they put us back in that environment. My Mum lived there for over a year in one room before she eventually got Private Housing through an agency because she couldn't take anymore in the B&B. But apart from Breakfast, which was the only hot meal the kids had, there was no washing facilities so it was Launderette, and my disabled sister had to go into care because there were no facilities available-and my sister is blind (she was 2 at the time) so this was very distressing for her being taken away from my Mum. And it was hard-but it was about 8 years ago and NOTHING has got better by the sounds of things, and now more than ever people are being forced in homelessness with reposessions and rentals rising etc.

So I ended up living with my Nan until I was 16-and then once I got my GCSE results my Nan moved away and I was forced to go back to my Mum's-after everything that happened in my Mum's life it left her an addict and an alcoholic-and I couldn't watch her destroy her life, I was getting sick and mentally I was under a lot of stress and trauma, and still trying to hold down a job at 16-full time, so I had no choice but to leave. On Xmas Eve 2003 my Mum was admitted to hospital and almost died-I couldn't watch her practically dying in front of me so I had to go-plus there was no room for me to live with my Mum and because she was on benefits, I was told by the local council that if I moved in permenent, my Mum would lose housing benefit and I would have to pay the rent on the house for her and the kids. at £395pcm when I took home £700pcm as a 16yr old child being expected to support her mother and 5 children-with the emotional stresses and a very fragile relationship with my Mum-I had to go.

Social services would not help me because I was 16-the council wouldn't house me because there was nowhere to put me and I was on my own.

I am not saying that everyone has an automatic right to council housing, don't get me wrong people don't. It should be means tested and done on affordability. And I just wish that there was more that could be done.

This is just a fraction of my story-but watch this documentary because I do have a happy ending.

I now live with my fiance-I'm 21, I have a very good job in one of the largest companies in the world, I am engaged to be married (10th April 2010) and I have some of the best friends I could ever wish for, who have been by my side for the last 6 years-since I walked out of school on the Wednesday and started work on the Saturday.

I met my fiance by pure chance and he still lived at home until a year ago, by this time I was 20 and I had my own house which I found in the private ads of the newspaper in Greater Manchester (65 miles away from where I grew up but I had given up ever finding an affordable private place in Lancashire where I was renting a room for a year prior as it was all I could afford)-so we moved in together a year ago, I borrowed a couple of thousand from the bank to pay off debt accrued for furnishings I bought for my last house and now we are deeply in love and for the first time in 10 years, my life is complete. I have plans for a successful career and have no plans for children until I can give them a better life & childhood than what I have had-so we are both saving like mad to buy our first home (He is 31 so he has a headstart on me) and then in a couple of years have a child IF we are ready.

The kids in this documentary are similar to how my Brother's and Sister's were, and it is possible to make something of your life, even when you think that no-one can hear you screaming out for help. And it wasn't all miserable, I did have days where if I had a bed at my mates, or a sofa, a duvet and a hot meal-then I was grateful. And in my late teens-my mates always made me smile and I had money to buy things from my earnings.

I just wanted to highlight that the Government need to re-think their prorities. Stop giving disability benefits/incapacity benefits to alcoholics and drug addicts. Stop giving pollititians thousands of pounds in expenses for taxis and chauffeur services (get the train and the bus like the rest of us hard working folk) and step back to help the local authorities sort out the people who are crying for help.

My heart goes out to anyone faced with reposession or the possibility of losing their home because of debt worries. But this documentary humbled me, and made me remember the one saying that got me through the last 6 years.

''Remember when you look across the street, that every person you meet is probably fighting a harder battle than you are''

This documentary proves this saying. And to everyone faced with debt and uncertainty right now-never give up hope of reaching a goal. And there will always be a bright ending-it just may take a long time to get there!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U4jFrKvI1M

PS-Sorry this is long-had a lot to say-waited 8 years to say that! I am just grateful for the life I have now-and it's all down to my own belief that tomorrow will be a better day-and the genuine goodwill of people around me.

huntersc

Terrible. No one should be sleeping rough on the streets, no matter what their age. What makes me really angry is seeing the families with small kids at the crisis shelters during the winter period. Sure there are those that help, those that contribute but where the F*ck are the government?

This is one issue that really winds me up. The very fact that we have charities like Shelter/crisis NSPCC etc shows how badly we have failed as a society.

For some reason we seem to accept that charity has a place in our society. We shouldn’t. If any of us were in power, would we tolerate charities such as the NCPCC or Crisis or would we see it as a failure on our part to solve basic social issues? It’s gross negligence.

We could eradicate child poverty in the UK within 10 years by spending around £20 billion. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it?
Last year, the British spent £10.2billion on champagne. That puts it into context. I won’t even mention the war in Iraq....
Everyone deserves the right to a home. So why do we have thousands of children sleeping rough on the streets? How can we justify that?
The problem is I have no idea how to solve the problem. For some reason the general public tolerates this crap, they just accept homelessness. Why should even one person be cold and living in a shop doorway? I blame the general public for the laissez faire attitudes and the government for not taking the lead.

I wish I had the answer. In fact I do have the answers but unfortunately not enough support to implement the solution. I hope that by the time my little boy has grown up we don't still tolerate this crap but I think I'm making a wish too far.

mrs-puff

I think that the 'right to buy' thing.. probably has a lot to answer for.

When I was younger council housing was pretty much ( in my working class background ) available to anyone after a short(ish) depending on circumstances, wait on the list. I even remember there was an 'engaged couples' list !

It won't be long though, if reposessions go the way they are predicted to, that thousands of families are going to find themselves tagged as 'intentionally homeless' by councils, yet nowhere near creditworthy enough to rent privately. That's not even taking into account the 'no dss, no kids' choice private landlords make for insurance purposes.

They sadly, won't have anywhere to go... I'm not sure what's going to happen to those families, but I can see it coming and like your post, causing heartbreaking consequences.

susieh_2

Am heartbroken & cried so much, even oh took interest & turned TV off, this is a national disgrace when so much is being spent on other things abroad, (not saying they're not worthy, but charity begins at home springs to mind)

Susieh

clutton_2

scousebird - what a formidably strong and brilliant young woman you have turned into - in spite of so many awful problems to overcome in your young life - i would give you a HUGE hug if you were here - well done you for your courage, fortitude, talent and lack of fear .....

thank you for showing us all the high and utterly unacceptable cost of current housing policy - in all its misery

you should send this to your MP - and all MPS

margaretclare

Hello, scousebird, thanks and congratulations.

My blood boils every time I see a thread on here about people wanting to make a fortune out of the BTL scheme. We had one on here not so long ago, from a person called sho_me_da_money, IIRC.

Originally after WWII when there was a desperate housing shortage (again!) people had to 'qualify' for a place on the waiting list for council houses. It was envisaged that the new estates being built would be nice places to live, with neighbourliness and people who had pride in their homes and gardens. People who, for the first time in their lives, had a loo indoors, a bathroom, a kitchen sink with running water. They were delighted to have all these amenities - they didn't whinge about their 'rights'.

Then the criteria were changed, to 'need'. Then came RTB, and next thing, asylum seekers who the council has a duty to house. I make no comment about any of these things.

There's a man who constantly writes letters to our local paper and he's always banging the drum about how we're a rich country and shouldn't grudge sending foreign aid e.g. to the African and Indian continents, you name it.

We're a rich country, he says. How then is the Government in so much debt? The concessions that were recently made - following the uproar about the 10% tax rate removal - were made on the back of increased borrowing. Alistair Darling admitted it - he couldn't have done it otherwise. We can't be such a rich country if we live in debt. And yet, what would any MSErs say to someone who lived in debt as a way of life yet gave away large sums to charity? Giving to foreign countries in charitable 'aid', when that money leaves your own country in debt?

I know about homelessness through my eldest GD. I have written about her before. I'm so proud of her. She was reduced to sleeping on the sofa in her uncle's 1-bed council flat and being exploited by him as his unpaid carer. She got a job - any job, it happened to be working in the office of a power provider and she had never considered office work because she's dyslexic. She worked there for a year then got rehoused, a 1-bed flat. Start of this year, she got her 'dream job' as a youth worker for the council where she lives. The young man in the thread about the pregnant 17-year old on here should have a fraction of her motivation - he says he'd be 'worse off working' or some such.

I struggled to keep a roof over my head in the early 1990s following redundancy and widowhood. I did a series of menial jobs to earn money. I had reactive depression and was in my late 50s, however, I couldn't go off sick because the GP said 'you're not as badly-off as the starving in Africa'. I am always having the 'starving in Africa' paraded before my eyes and yet, as you have shown, we have many problems on our very doorstep.

We need a government that puts our country first. A nationalist government, that would have to be, by definition. One that puts our problems before those of other countries and stops taking our taxes, and national debt, to shore up other countries' problems. And would have the courage to stop immigration, in a country which cannot house all its own citizens and is already overcrowded.

mpsavuk

Just proves that this so called Labour Government has abandoned working class people.

Do our country a big favour and never vote for them again.

Scousebird_2

I don't know which party to believe. I have never voted because I don't like liars and would never be seen to support one!

margaretclare

Scousebird wrote: »

I don't know which party to believe. I have never voted because I don't like liars and would never be seen to support one!

For me, it will have to be a nationalist party, as I said before.

SquatNow

<irony>These homeless people are irrelevant.... surely what matters is that property prices rise enabling the older generation to downsize and retire of their fat HPI profits, and that BTL landlords can expand their portfolios, and use their tennant deposits to fund their foreign holiday addiction...</irony>

Funny how the UK public ignored the social problems house price inflation created, just as long as it kept making them richer. Now prices are coming down, and people have stopped crowing about how rich their house has made them, people suddenly start to realise the damage their profits have done.

And the best bit? The older, wealthier part of the populaion... the people who created the problem and benefitted from it, won't be the ones paying to correct it, it will be the younger portion of the populace, the hard woring tax payer, ordered by their older, (often retired,) relatives, to work hard and pay more tax to help those less fortunate than themselves.

The younger generation is about to be asked to accept a life of poverty to pay for the mistakes of their parents and grandparents, who will live out their retirement in comfort.

The younger generations can't outvote the older generations who outnumber them. We're facing either an intergenerational civil war, or a generation forced into slavery by threat of physical violence. Either way, this isn't going to be pretty.

margaretclare

Some of us did not ask for the stupid inflation in house prices that have occurred in less than a decade. This little 2-bed bungalow is not worth the £190K that we're told it is worth. Even with the work that has been done on it over the years to bring it up to modern standards, it is not worth the extra £100K. And also, we lived through years of poverty and have worked for some 5 decades, usually in responsible and essential jobs but not often highly-paid.

I don't know who created this situation, but it certainly wasn't us.