Britain's Hidden Housing Crisis

[Deleted User]

Am going to watch it again tonight if it is still on iplayer??

Will be sending the link to my daughter as well as she wanted to watch it as she wants to volunteer for the outdoor soup kitchen over Christmas and I will do the same as she lives nearby

I just need to find out the actual address & contact details for whoever runs that soup kitchen round the corner from Tiger Tiger in Croydon? x

My daughter does a wicked chicken & pumpkin soup & she wanted to do a big catering pot which she has and take it round there for them if possible

Would love to get involved , not just for over Christmas and it is so good programs like this open our eyes to what is on our doorstep

Merry Christmas everyone & very warm wishes to all!! :xmassmile

There is interesting reading around in which studies have shown that being kind is actually good for your health as well as obviously good for the communities we live in ; http://www.readersdigest.ca/health/healthy-living/why-being-kind-is-good-you

System

What I took from this show was really the background to how we as a country and economy have ended up where we are.

The guy with the £500k house - I find it very hard to believe a guy owns a nice house, a Lexus 4x4 and has ski holidays yet never had enough to save for a deposit. Says it all really. Materialism clouded the mind of many of the population just like this guys for years and years. Anyone that relies on 1 client and spends like this is a fool.

Kevin - well again, success was merely just riding the wave of a peak. No more peak and he lives on the street. I know he invested heavily but end of the day it is a hugely bad judgement if you live in a park.

BigAunty

Walcott wrote: »

What I took from this show was really the background to how we as a country and economy have ended up where we are.

....

I've been critical of some aspects of the people that appeared in the show but on reflection, we as viewers have the benefit of wondering why they lacked insight because we see the aftermath, we aren't caught up in the maelstrom they are going through.

We like to think we are more rational, better at decision-making, more effective planners and we would have behaved less riskily and either not got into that situation in the first place or would have resolved it before it escalated further.

But homes are very emotional places - like the stockmarket or property market, people think there are objective systems and predicatable outcomes but the stockmarket has peaks and troughs based on emotion and hype, too - 'irrational exuberance' is the term used when people thought the market was always going to rise, people got intoxicated.

So perhaps it's true that we are all only 3 paydays away from homelessness but somehow think it can only apply to others. Probably what that programme showed is that we are just human and therefore flawed.

Errata

I think what the program showed was what the producers wanted to be seen. No mor and no less.

System

BigAunty wrote: »

I've been critical of some aspects of the people that appeared in the show but on reflection, we as viewers have the benefit of wondering why they lacked insight because we see the aftermath, we aren't caught up in the maelstrom they are going through.

We like to think we are more rational, better at decision-making, more effective planners and we would have behaved less riskily and either not got into that situation in the first place or would have resolved it before it escalated further.

But homes are very emotional places - like the stockmarket or property market, people think there are objective systems and predicatable outcomes but the stockmarket has peaks and troughs based on emotion and hype, too - 'irrational exuberance' is the term used when people thought the market was always going to rise, people got intoxicated.

So perhaps it's true that we are all only 3 paydays away from homelessness but somehow think it can only apply to others. Probably what that programme showed is that we are just human and therefore flawed.

That is fair enough. But IMHO that is no excuse. People should use foresight to plan what is ahead for them. I cannot see how anyone would think living it up on the back of one large client is justified. 100% mortgage? Fair enough but that should be followed up by serious savings to bring the mortgage down at least to a reasonable level as 100% mortgages plus luxury SUVs and expensive holidays just don't compute.

What was really telling was selling his other car for funding christmas. That says it all.

I could be 3 payslips away from homelessness too. But I probably earn as a household near enough or than the engineer yet live in a tiny 2 up 2 down and do not drive a Lexus SUV and take considered holidays because I am risk averse.

There are more people like me than that family in the show. Unfortunately it takes only a few to kill an economy's confidence.

BigAunty

Walcott wrote: »

....

What was really telling was selling his other car for funding christmas. That says it all.

I don't know if it's on this thread, but someone who spoke to a housing officer reported that they said this kind of behaviour is very common - the household knows that there is no way they can avoid repossession so have a last hurrah at xmas before the inevitable happens.

I guess it's human nature - they know if they poured that money into the mortgage, it's dead money as it simply wouldn't stay their eviction.

Debt is so common these days, it's such a shame that we live in such a consumer culture that households can't delay their gratification and save, they want everything now and absolutely embrace an affluent lifestyle where if they did some honest number crunching or risk assessment, they would know it's an unsustainable charade.

I went through this type of thing with a friend - massive blinkers about their true economic status, sticking their head in the sand rather than address their debts and absolutely unwilling to make lifestyle changes to reflect their reduced income. Very frustrating to see them treat themselves to long holidays in India, Australia and China when they can't meet their basic bills.