Gaining social housing when working.

miamoo

Some people who move into social housing then go on to get a job, or a better paid job, meet a partner, their children grow up and get jobs etc.
You can go from a single parent struggling to a 3 or 4 wage household, so not everyone in social housing is skint.
People (like us) who would then love to move on to their own property, and make this house available to someone who needs it, cant get a mortgage.
I dont see why everyone who has worked for say 5yrs, and has shown that they can keep monthly rent payments should be given a mortgage, it shouldnt be dependant on a credit check. At the end of the day the mortgage company have nothing to lose they can reposses the house. I know alot of people who work and are on good money, that live in social housing and wont move out because they cant get a mortgage.

pickpocketlocket

miamoo wrote: »

At the end of the day the mortgage company have nothing to lose they can reposses the house.

Have you not heard of negative equity?

marybelle01

samwich1979 wrote: »

Im not in anyway implying that unemployed people dont look after their gardens etc.

My point is that these people who have the cars and nice gardens etc must be getting good money from somewhere to have these things so how have they got social housing?
I always thought it was people who didnt have the money for private renting or who are on benefits got help with housing.

Obviously you cant be struggling for every penny if you can run a car? And as i said we cant even afford driving lessons never mind buy a car and run it!

And no im not jealous im just very curious as to how people use our social housing system.

You know nothing about the circumstances of those people - you are making assumptions based on what you think must be the case. How do you know those people haven't been in those houses for many decades? Are maybe pensioners who have lived there all their adult lives having worked hard and saved? Aren't disabled with mobility allowances and cars? Haven't bought their property under right to buy? Social housing hasn't always been in such short supply as it is now, and it hasn't always been for people who have no jobs/money. The current situation has been caused by demand outstripping supply. Just because someone is in social housing does not mean that they are or always have been out of work and played the system - once upon a time, and not that long ago, "decent, working citizens" could easily qualify for social housing, and many of them are still there! By the way, There are also "decent, non-working citizens" - being out of work doesn't mean you aren't "decent".

LL30

Council housing/social housing does come with it's drawbacks too. They are shells when you first move in: no carpets, no curtain rails, often exposed plaster/ drawing on the walls/ half ripped off paper, no white goods at all - you have to start from scratch and it's an expensive business. I am very grateful for my flat, but it's also very expensive at £112 a week - on par with the private sector! I do have security though, unless I really mess up, I'm not going to be turfed out any time soon - THAT is the biggest thing for me, piece of mind xx

pmlindyloo

Instead of bemoaning the fact that you will probably not get social housing you need to be more proactive.

Put your name down on the housing list - you never know if you will get somewhere unless you do it.

You are probably entitled to working tax credits as well as child tax credits(you need to be working for 24 hours a week)

Have you used the benefits calaculator on the link I gave you?

Tax credits will automatically be backdated for one month. This will give you a sum towards the money you need for your new rental place.

There are decent places out there and decent landlords - you just have to persevere.

Moaning about the rights and wrongs of the allocation of social housing won't improve your situation.

You haven't been claiming all that you are entitled to. Help is out there for people with low incomes so make sure you take advantage of it.

PippaGirl_2

LA's do run deposit/rent in advance schemes too and as you are receiving HB you would probably qualify samwhich. Obviously it needs to be paid back but they deduct it from your HB and if it gets you moved.

I have a council house, it was gutted when I moved in and in a terrible state. No one who saw it then could believe the council allowed anyone to live in it! I had to find money to carpet it and my children still moan about me selling their stuff to do so (trampoline particularly missed). Admittedly the 1920's kitchen has been replaced since I moved here and I was given a grant from the British Legion to cover labour costs of decorating as I am disabled, I paid for the materials myself but no one in the private sector would have rented this. However I know I am blessed to have it. You have no idea of the personal circumstances of anyone in any house or how they got there. Jealousy and anger will only harm you and help Cameron.

Mara69

samwich1979 wrote: »

It really doesnt pay to be a decent, working citizen does it?

I'll thank you to keep your jealous, bitter, stereotypying to yourself.

Both myself and my husband work, are decent working citizens and we live in social housing. We also run a car.

Complete a form for your local council, they will give you points and assuming they use a choice based letting system you'll be able to bid for a home.

My council currently have approximately 4,000 people on the register and only 800 homes available per year. Very, very few are houses, most are flats. Most are in a poor areas as the decents homes have been bought under RTB.

If you are allocated a home, it will be fairly basic and will not have carpets etc. How will you be able to afford carpets?

19lottie82

samwich1979 wrote: »

We are getting £11.60 Housing Benefit every 2 weeks and child benefit.
Thats it for us.

As someone has already pointed out, if you're getting any form of housing benefit, you should be entitled to Child Tax Credits.

How much does your husband earn a year?

BigAunty

samwich1979 wrote: »

...

It really doesnt pay to be a decent, working citizen does it?

Social housing landlords allocate according to need - this needs based assessment took over from the waiting list principle and councils own discretionary 'sons and daughters' policies decades ago. There's nothing new about most social housing being allocated to vulnerable groups and nothing new about how social housing tenants are demonised because people envy their security of tenure and cheap rents.

There is no obligation for social housing landlords to have mixed types of tenants - they are obliged by law to prioritise vulnerable groups like the homeless who are disabled or have dependents, and then whatever is left of their stock (not much) is allocated to lower priority tenants.

You appear to have one single low income wage between you yet you appear shocked and surprised that you have limited housing options?

Have you looked into child care (and the tax credits that can go with this) so your partner can work and therefore you can earn yourself out of poverty?

Or alternative child care scenarios such as your partner taking on evening/weekend work when you can look after your son or any relatives who could look after the kid for a couple of days a week? You getting a second job?

You can perform 'better off' calculations by modelling some scenarios in the Turn2us online benefit calculator, though sometimes it shows that when a couple with kids reduce their hours to 24, they are sometimes no worse off as the higher rate of benefits make up the loss of a few hours employment.

BigAunty

samwich1979 wrote: »

We were actually 2 days away from being made homeless last may and our council still refused to help us with housing so i doubt this would make one bit of difference!

Without knowing where you were in the homelessness application process or tenant/landlord notice/eviction process, I can't comment. The Shelter website does detail very clearly the tenants rights and the councils obligations.

But the council can't offer social housing to every tenant who is served notice by the landlord, for example, or is upset by a mouse or decor...