BBC show on council housing now - 21:00 4th May

Jimmy_31

ninky wrote: »

so are you in a council home out of interest? you're not a single mum are you?

No i dont live in a council house, i would be quite happy to live in one whilst saving for a house deposit but as i am a single working man with no children i would never stand a chance of being housed by my local council

catkins

Jimmy_31 wrote: »

No i dont live in a council house, i would be quite happy to live in one whilst saving for a house deposit but as i am a single working man with no children i would never stand a chance of being housed by my local council

We are a married couple with no children. We rent a house as we cannot afford the deposit to buy anywhere. Our rent is almost £1,000 a month (the going rate where I live) and last year when my husband was out of work for a while we struggled to pay this (well in fact we fell behind with the rent but luckily our landlord has been pretty ok about it!). We rang the council and some housing associations but were more or less laughed at! Oh yes of course we have both worked since we were 17 full time paid tax and national insurance and have no children - of course we would not be entitled to housing!

abaxas

catkins wrote: »

We are a married couple with no children. We rent a house as we cannot afford the deposit to buy anywhere. Our rent is almost £1,000 a month (the going rate where I live) and last year when my husband was out of work for a while we struggled to pay this (well in fact we fell behind with the rent but luckily our landlord has been pretty ok about it!). We rang the council and some housing associations but were more or less laughed at! Oh yes of course we have both worked since we were 17 full time paid tax and national insurance and have no children - of course we would not be entitled to housing!

Welcome to the real world.

Anyone who is self sufficient and hard working is rammed up the !!!.

wymondham

catkins wrote: »

Most of the properties go to single mums, people on benefits and immigrants (most of who do not work, cannot speak english and have been in this country a very short time). He reckoned about 75% of the properties were given to immigrants.

The presenter went to great lengths to say this is not the case - the steroetypical view. Was the programme not giving out accurate information?

dori2o

We used to live in council accommodation, but used it as a springboard to buy the house we have now.

My wife had to leave her parents house because of abuse by her mother. She lived at a friends house for 6 months sleeping on the living room floor on a camp bed.

Got a 1 bedroom flat in a less desirable area of town, but took it as the option of staying on the floor or sleeping in a bed was a no brainer.

I moved in and we were at that time both working. Wife became pregnant and had our child 9 months later.

We were moved into a 2 bed house on the same estate.

Continued to save and then bought our curent house 12 months later.

Ideally that would be the norm, with tennants staying a short time whilst saving for their own house/finding the ideal private rent.

However, the costs of private rents at the minute are scandalous, and mortgages are still hard to come by, even with healthy deposits.

The house accross from us is smaller and of similar value yet the rent is £70 more per month than our mortgage.

When we left our council house the rent was £60.25 per week (2002), which included our water rates. The equivalent rent for a 2 bed private rent was £95 at that time, which is why we didn't bother looking for one.

The whole system (not just council housing but the whole lettings industry) needs looking at, with fixed term tennancies brought in to stop people from living in properties that are far too big for their needs for their whole lives.

There should be limits to the rent that can be charged (maximum) and council properties should reflect the cost of the average rent for the area. There should also be greater protection for tennants of private rents. Many people refuse to go from council to private because of the 6 month tennany agreements. Who really wants to (potentialy) be moving every 6 months? There is no time to set root in an area before being forced to move on. A minimum TA of 2 years should be the standard.

The benefits argument however was bound to creep into this argument.

We do need to limit the amount of children a person can receive benefits for. UNLESS they have a 3rd/4th etc child that has a disability.

If people are unemployed, then there should be (compulsary) schemes in the immediate area to keep these people active. Groundwork initiatives, even something as easy as clearing rubbish, or helping the elderly. Anything to keep the area attractive and to improve the whole community. This was one of the reasons why we were desperate to get out, there was no sense of community, just the local yobs thinking they owned the place.

Finally, they should stop the right to buy scheme. The councils of this country need more housing, not less. They should also CP and housing in the area that has been left without occupier for a period of more than 2/3 years, do them up to living standard and add them to their social housing. Not only willit increase the rents for the area, but also get rid of so many boarded properties that are not only an eyesore, but cause problems for those that live next to/in the same street as the boarded up properties due to squatters/kids getting into them.

A friend of mine lost his house a few years ago when kids got into a boarded up house next door to his and set fire to it.

Wee_Willy_Harris

catkins wrote: »

My husband worked with variious housing associations in and around London for a number of years until he got sick of the whole setup. Most of the properties go to single mums, people on benefits and immigrants (most of who do not work, cannot speak english and have been in this country a very short time). He reckoned about 75% of the properties were given to immigrants.

All of the properties have very cheap rents regardless of how nice an area they are in - places in Chelsea for less than £200 a week rent! Still the tenants moan that the places are not big enough, not close enough to the shops, don't have nice enough kitchens - you name it they moan about it.

Husband used to be in charge of repairs etc - it's amazing what they get done for them. Want the living room decorated? No problem. New kitchens, new boilers, even washing machines, fridges etc. Hardly any of them want to pay for the slightest thing themselves.

Often when people were moving into a place they would demand new everything and every room decorated even when sometimes the previous tenant had lived there for maybe a year and everything had been new for them!

Also when they demanded new kitchen, washing machine or whatever the one already there (even if only a year or maybe less old) were thrown away! Is it any wonder he got sick of the job?

The only problem with the above is that it's all a load of tosh. It's rubbish. It doesn't happen. If that is what your husband presented to you, you married a liar!

sjaypink

catkins wrote: »

Most of the properties go to single mums, people on benefits and immigrants (most of who do not work, cannot speak english and have been in this country a very short time). He reckoned about 75% of the properties were given to immigrants.

Really? [*rolls eyes smiley*]

• New migrants to the UK over the last five years make up less than two per cent of the total of those in social housing.
• Some 11 per cent of new migrants have been allocated social housing.
• The comparable figure for UK born residents is 17 per cent, and for all foreign-born UK residents 18 per cent.
• Over 90 per cent of those in social housing are UK-born

Interesting. Page 18 & 19 in particular.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Jimmy_31 wrote: »

Thats the same type of things i see when im working on the estates, new full house of furniture for free and then 3 years later they get it all replaced for free again. All tenants having work done on "their " houses also get paid for the inconvenience, its usually around a £100 and is paid to them because their daily routine has been disturbed.

Jimmy, you're talking twaddle.

Wee_Willy_Harris

abaxas wrote: »

Welcome to the real world.

Anyone who is self sufficient and hard working is rammed up the !!!.

Your employment status is not a determinate factor in the allocation of social housing.

Jimmy_31

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Jimmy, you're talking twaddle.

What are you basing your comment on ?.

I am basing my comment on being surrounded by council estates for the last 31 years and knowing how it all works and also spending nearly ten years working on council properties.

I presume you think i am lying and i wish i was, but sadly what i have said is true.

This is how it works....

An immigrant family is given a council house.

The house gets new carpets and floor coverings fitted throughout.

The house is then redecorated even if it doesnt need to be.

The van turns up with, Bedroom furniture,beds,bedding,matresses,curtains,wardrobes,3 piece suite,dining room table and chairs,cooker,fridge,washing machine etc.

The house is then emptied of all the items i mentioned above because the new tenant is entitled to all new items.

The house is now filled back up with all the new items.

The van is then loaded back up with all the items that have been removed from the house which are the exact same items that have just been put into the house.

The old items are then given to a charity.

Existing british tenants surrounding said property then start whingeing about how hard done to they are because they havent got all new stuff to put in their free house.

Also regarding the payment the tenant gets for being disturbed is very true, the council tenant only gets this once works to "their" home have been completed.

When a tenant is told they will be having work done to "their" house they are then given all kinds of options regarding what they can have, if a new kitchen is to be fitted they get to choose what style and colour doors and worktops they want, and the same with floor coverings,wall tiles, and decorating of the kitchen.

If the tenant says i want to decorate the kitchen myself then they will recieve a voucher or money to pay for the materials required to do the job which 9 times out of ten never gets done because they spend the money on something else.

I can understand that some people do not believe that this goes on because i agree it is very shocking but it happens day in day out on housing estates right across the country.

If you know anybody who is involved with completing the works on council and housing association properties then ask them if its true.