1.5 million people on housing waiting lists

robin_banks

lynz, not all apllicants have to be on the council housing list but priority is given to those in council/housing association properties. There is also a mimumum/maximum income limit, to ensure those applying can afford to live in them and also to ensure that 'high-earners' aren't jumping the queue over those with a greater housing need.

Speaking from experience the whole shared ownership issue as in reality a bit of a farce.

My partner and I live in a 1-bed local authority flat, with one boy aged 2 and another on the way, we are not classed as overcrowded and despite my earning a decent salary there is no way in a million years we would ever be able to buy outright where we live (North West London where a 2 bed ex council flat is a quarter of a million pounds - I kid you not).

Shared ownership was the only way we would ever be able to get on the housing ladder ,also according to the 1985 Housing Act 2 adults and 2 children under 5 in a 1 bed council flat does not count as overcrowding, so our council would not offer a 2 bed flat to us.

Some 2 bed flats became available under shared ownership, we applied and were given priority. We applied for the mortgage and was approved subject to valuation, this is the crux, our lender valued the property over £30,000 less than the valuation, and Housing Associations are very very stubborn when it comes to asking prices.

Shared ownership properties are massively overvalued by housing associations and as such they do not sell quickly. We are desperate to move from our flat and our council are keen for us to move, the Housing Association however know full well the property is not worth the asking price - (for the record the property has been empty for over a year.) yet they still refuse to accept a realistic and reasonable offer for the property.

We are over £1,000 out of pocket as a result of thier actions, all this from an organisation that has 30 charity shops !!!!

moanymoany

confused31 wrote: »

Quote:


Pot calling kettle black

Why dont you get a job then pickled? your unskilled, instead of sitting on your fat arxe in you high rise claining benefits.

heres pickled:rotfl:

www.drinkstuff.com/productimg/23125_large.jpg




confused

Oh dear, oh dear! Maybe your time would be better spent re-reading your joke book!

moanymoany

Social housing is important. There are many people who will never have any chance of owning or buying their own house. Secure and reasonably priced housing should be a priority.

robin_banks

Of course it should be, it is a core element of a civilised society that people live in decent accomodation.

The whole furuore surrounding the 'council house' makes me pmsl some otherwise reasonable posters appear to go ballisitic when the words are mentioned and produce an ill-informed rant

You know who you are and I have a little test for you;

What are the differences between;

1) Local Authority/ Housing Association housing
2) Temporary Accomodation
3) Emergency Accomodation

When you have understood these differences it may temper your answers, and you will have learnt something instead of spewing bile against druggies, layabouts, asylum seekers getting 7 bed homes in Knightsbridge paid for by the taxpayer etc....

PasturesNew

moanymoany wrote: »

Social housing is important. There are many people who will never have any chance of owning or buying their own house. Secure and reasonably priced housing should be a priority.

I've spent most of my life completely skint because there was no affordable social housing available to me (single). Yet couples (TWO incomes) used to be ahead of me in the queue for any.

Not having spare income and having to protect your position means it really clouds and limits your decisions and risks, and your options available.

With cheaper housing available, my life would have been different as I'd have been able to choose different jobs along the way and had spare money over for courses etc. Everything gets eaten up in overheads.

Generali

adr0ck wrote: »

i disagree

we need a massive population increase to pay for our ageing population

I'm not anti-immigration (in fact I was an immigrant to France once and plan to be an immigrant in Australia before Christmas) but it is unlikely that enough migrants are likely to come to the UK to pay the bill for unfunded pension liabilities.

The total unfunded liability is estimated (probably guestimated) at £1,000,000,000,000. That is an awful lot of extra tax that'll need to be paid.

I'm not sure that a tenable solution to the pensions problem is an ever increasing population. The only solution I can see is that we:

1. Face the problem
2. Accept that everyone is going to have to give a little. Taxpayers will have to pay more tax, workers will have to work longer, pensioners may have to accept cuts in their pension.
3. Actually save for pensions in the future in individual pension savings accounts.

This needs to happen pronto. Each month this is put off increases the bill substantially.

Catwoman1975

The housing market has also added to the social housing shortage as people are simply not moving out when circumstances change. We have a good household income and would have moved out of our 3 bed HA house years ago to buy if it was not for the over inflated house prices. I know of several couples who still live in HA properties despite a household income above £25k but simply can’t afford to buy.



When I moved here 11 years ago the rent we paid would have been less than a mortgage on the same house. Now a mortgage on the same house would be double the rent easily, if not more.


I feel guilty sometimes taking up a home when we could afford to rent privately, but I do not want to lose my families security.

adr0ck

Generali wrote: »

I'm not sure that a tenable solution to the pensions problem is an ever increasing population. The only solution I can see is that we:

1. Face the problem
2. Accept that everyone is going to have to give a little. Taxpayers will have to pay more tax, workers will have to work longer, pensioners may have to accept cuts in their pension.
3. Actually save for pensions in the future in individual pension savings accounts.

This needs to happen pronto. Each month this is put off increases the bill substantially.

i agree gen

i just think the problem is so big that every little helps

anyone under 35 already gets a bum deal with regards to pensions compared to their parents

i'm not sure how much it can be pushed

(for this reason i plan to join you in oz - in the not to distant future)

Onslowette

One of the major problems that there is, is the number of people actually living in houses too big for them and the council lets them. Let me give you an example.

An elderly lady lives opposite me alone in her 2 bedroom council house. She is unable to use the stairs so the 2 beds and the bathroom have not been used in the 4 years we have lived opposite. She lives & sleeps in her living room and washes in the kitchen sink. She should be made to move.
Next street down. 1st house single man in 3 bedroom house - his wife and children left him 3 years ago. So he has 3 bedrooms, and 2 receptions rooms all to himself
Next to him is an elderly lady who lives next door to her sister......they both have 3 bebroom properties. They spend all day together in 1 house and then one sister goes to her house to sleep in the evening! Opposite them is a lady in her 50s, her husband died 10 years ago and her 2 children (in their 30s) left home years ago. She has a 3 bed to herself. These are ALL council tenants!

This is just a couple of examples in part of one street. How many other people are there up and down the country that are being allowed to occupy homes that are too big for them......
Its so frustrating as we are all crammed into a 1 bed property and yet not classed as overcrowded..

ianian99

dervish wrote: »

Population is a MASSIVE problem.

We must cut (or even stop) immigration.

The lazy and unskilled must be made to work in this country instead of just importing in cheap foreign labour.

See thats the whole point CHEAP LABOUR. These people will work for less and for longer hours etc and as a result all the employers are employing them as a form of slave labour. Now there aren't ANY jobs whats going to happen to the millions that are made redundant because of the credit cruch? Will they too be classed as layabout dole scroungers because they cant get a job?