Council house debate

19lottie82

FOURCANDLES wrote: »

I would also add I am unaware of anyone I mix with who lives in a HA on benefits and having drug problems and other moronic stereo type waffle and the like.

Maybe this was a bit harsh, but if you are a drug addict or an alcoholic, this is labeled as an illness and therefore gives you additional points thus moving you up the housing list, no?

elff

We have been on the council list for 2 years (not long i know) i bid on houses every 2 weeks sometimes if its a 'good' week there are 3 3 bed houses on their..... after the first day of bidding there was over 200 bids on each house (they run for 2 weeks) Houses always go to band A or B we are band C and have no chance at a council house. We have even been told we may as well remove ourselves from the list.

We cannot afford to rent a 3 bed house so are stuck in an expensive privatley owned 2 bed flat It cheap for the rent where we live but seems alot of money for what we get, as well as not being able to save for a deposit.

mutter

rxbishop wrote: »

Selling council houses was the worst thing thatcher did imo. Council Houses are part of the wealth of the country, people shouldn't've been allowed to buy them. It was terribly short sighted.

As Del BOy said when questioned by Rodney as to why he'd want to buy their council flat. "So we can sell it of course".

I have no problem in principle with people being able to buy their council homes, but what made the situation far worse is that the Thatcher goverment actively prevented the capital receipts being spent on new housing stock.

If they'd been allowed to, while it wouldn't have been enough to replace every lost home (due to the huge discounts and rising cost of land) the current situation might not be quite so dire.

michelle1506

Some people did extremely well out of buying up their council property, but since then, the building of them has been few and far between, and as we have seen there is nothing much left for others!

In London as far as I'm aware you have to register with the council BEFORE a HA will help you, and you need a heck of a lot of points to get help anytime soon with housing help.

My sympathy is with those that would like affordable housing, but it's far out of their reach.

mutter wrote: »

I have no problem in principle with people being able to buy their council homes, but what made the situation far worse is that the Thatcher goverment actively prevented the capital receipts being spent on new housing stock.

If they'd been allowed to, while it wouldn't have been enough to replace every lost home (due to the huge discounts and rising cost of land) the current situation might not be quite so dire.

seasonalbiz

Right to buy could never work, as government can change every 5yrs - there is no way of guarenteeing the money goes back into housing... they are best off just been left as council house stock... and if someone wants to buy they can do what everyone else does, go to the local estate agents and see whats for sale.

I lived on a council estate for 2years and while 98% of the people living around me were decent people, the 2% of scrounging scum bags made living there not very nice... its amazing how much trouble one or two families can cause. That place was incentive enough for me to work hard and save to buy. Unfortunatly, that wasn't the end of it... I suppose you'd call my place a 2 bed starter home, no frills. Out of the 24 houses in my street, one is occupied by a single mother who lives there because there are no council houses... social paying her rent. If there is ever any comotion in the street its her, late night racket its her, barking dog its hers... and so on.

Because of right to buy, private developers have to allocate a percentage of new build homes for affordable/social housing. A friend of mine went to look at a £200k town house on a new development, had a close call when he found out the opposite side of the street was earmaked for social housing... £1200 a month on a mortgage to potentially end up living opposite the Dingles, brilliant.

FOURCANDLES_2

seasonalbiz wrote: »

Right to buy could never work, as government can change every 5yrs - there is no way of guarenteeing the money goes back into housing... they are best off just been left as council house stock... and if someone wants to buy they can do what everyone else does, go to the local estate agents and see whats for sale.

I lived on a council estate for 2years and while 98% of the people living around me were decent people, the 2% of scrounging scum bags made living there not very nice... its amazing how much trouble one or two families can cause. That place was incentive enough for me to work hard and save to buy. Unfortunatly, that wasn't the end of it... I suppose you'd call my place a 2 bed starter home, no frills. Out of the 24 houses in my street, one is occupied by a single mother who lives there because there are no council houses... social paying her rent. If there is ever any comotion in the street its her, late night racket its her, barking dog its hers... and so on.

Because of right to buy, private developers have to allocate a percentage of new build homes for affordable/social housing. A friend of mine went to look at a £200k town house on a new development, had a close call when he found out the opposite side of the street was earmaked for social housing... £1200 a month on a mortgage to potentially end up living opposite the Dingles, brilliant.

I would assume some trouble can be found on the old style estates as I do not live on one I have no experience, however our HA evicts anyone who is arrested with regards drugs etc and nuisence in the town on the old council estates they are given a rough ride so behave.. With regards to the new development comment all new developments will have a mixture of HA properties on them and developers will not tell you where they are however any problem ones would be easier to deal with . I would also point out that neighbors from hell come from all quarters check out the statistics all the big ones which made headlines last year were private home owners all very interesting

michelle1506

Couldn't agree with your more!!


[QUOTE=seasonalbiz;43673818]Right to buy could never work, as government can change every 5yrs - there is no way of guarenteeing the money goes back into housing... they are best off just been left as council house stock... and if someone wants to buy they can do what everyone else does, go to the local estate agents and see whats for sale.

Tippytoes

squinty wrote: »

There are some facts and figures here if you are intererested..

http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/132030/Factsheet_Immigration_and_housing.pdf

I really had no intention of being drawn into this discussion again BUT.........as I am particularly interested.....Shelter is a very worthwhile organisation and I have a lot of admiration for the work they do. However, look at the sources of their information!!! There is none so blind as he who will not see. Think what you like. I know what I know.

katygeorge

i have recently had this rant with my mum, i am one of a group of 7 friends, all aged 25 now and i am th eonly one who has even had a job and doesnt have kids. i have had a very rough 6 month sof both me and my pertner losing our jobs and now our home is being repossesed. coucil wont help till i am homeless and even then they said they would put us in the local ymca till they can find me somewhere (this could take up to a year they said). my freinds often phone asking if i want to go clubbing and then moan when i say i cant ive no money, i finally snapped last month when they asked why and i told them its because im working to dam hard to pay for your home and for you to go clubbing every week. rewarded for never working and getting knocked up at 16

squinty

Tippytoes wrote: »

I really had no intention of being drawn into this discussion again BUT.........as I am particularly interested.....Shelter is a very worthwhile organisation and I have a lot of admiration for the work they do. However, look at the sources of their information!!! There is none so blind as he who will not see. Think what you like. I know what I know.

Ok - I have looked a the source of the information -these include - ONS (the office of National Statistics), the Home Office, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (one of the most respected research foundations in the country) CIH (The Chartered Institute of Housing), CORE (The Housing Industry Continuous Recording System, which was at that time run by St Andrews University) and the CLG (The Department of Communities and Local Government) - all excellent sources of good quality data and information.

However, as none of this fits your point of view you choose to dismiss this and produce not one piece of evidence to back your claim that " I am absolutely telling the truth when I say that immigrants (irrespective of working status, sponging status, babies, overcrowding blah blah blah) have priority when it comes to social housing. I know what I'm talking about"

Are you aware of the theory of reinforcment theory? - this is when people only take note of information that suits their existing beliefs and ignore facts. I suggest you read the shelter report and the information that WWH posted earlier and start to question what you hold true. Or at least point others in the direction of reliable statistics that prove your point.