Britain's Hidden Housing Crisis

Errata

So what did the producers want us to see?
A chav family, no better than they ought to be and deserved their homelessness.
A businessman whose life went knees up when his successful business failedand he shouldn't have wasted his money on two cars and ski-ing holidays and deserved his homelessness.
A woman with cancer who could find no acceptable help.
A refugeebanker from America who was rehomed in short order.
Seems to be a fairly balanced program. Plenty to despise, plenty of heartstrings tugged, viewing figures acceptable and talk of the internet.
Job done.

SailorSam

The Panorama programme last night was centered on London where people are losing their homes whether that be rented or owned 'cos of the high cost of property (although there are evictions all over the Uk) but isn't the real problem too many people living in the SE. Wouldn't the problem be solved if the Govt encouraged or even forced employers to open up in the NW; NE. or the Welsh Valleys. Perhaps start by moving Parliament to Birmingham. Think how much could be saved on MPs expenses who'd need to travel less.

redhotbrit

It is hard not to sympathise with those involved in the stories but it appears one sided and gives no background around how they got themselves into this predicament in the first place. For example there is no detail around possible supports or options that may have been available.

The lady in Dagenham had a large amount of equity in her home and could have sold it or rented it out instead of allowing the situation to progress to eviction.

By the same token the large Redbridge property could have been rented out. They are hardly on the breadline with two fancy cars.

If selling or renting was not an option it still begs the questions, are some people in this type of situtation placing themselves in a self impossed position of homelessness in order to be eligable for housing benefits and other related benefits.

BigAunty

redhotbrit wrote: »

...

The lady in Dagenham had a large amount of equity in her home and could have sold it or rented it out instead of allowing the situation to progress to eviction.

...

Nobody knows if she had any equity in it or if she was in negative equity. If the bank has equity in it after the debts and costs are sold, she would get it but repossessed properties sell very low.

Also, we can't be certain that she didn't try to sell it but with so many repossessed properties and distressed sellers on the market with few buyers, perhaps it didn't shift.

There is a considerable difference in the original and final valuation but perhaps she remortgaged to buy out her ex. Perhaps it wasn't feasible for the bank to let a woman who perhaps only has the likelihood of low paid employment have a mortgage on a property for perhaps 100-160k when she only has about 10 years of her working life left before pension.

I think we saw in this programme that 'denial' isn't just a river in Africa. Perhaps by the time she took her head out the sand about how hopeless keeping it would be, the bank was really far along in the possession process and she would not have been able to market it.

However, I thought there was a scheme for those on sickness/disability benefits whereby a social housing landlord would buy the property and give the vulnerable tenant a social housing tenancy there. I wonder if the scheme is still running, if she knew about it, if she would have qualified.

redhotbrit wrote: »

...

By the same token the large Redbridge property could have been rented out. They are hardly on the breadline with two fancy cars.

...

They may have been in negative equity - even with low equity, the lender will not give permission for it to be rented out. The market rent may not have paid anywhere near the mortage. If the tenants didn't pay or there were void periods, it would be repossessed. The family may not have qualified for HB elsewhere so how could they afford the rent?

dasophster

I used to live in Dagenham we owned a house there but ended up being forced to sell it for what we bought it for and had to pay 5k, our savings and borrowed from family, for the sale to go through. We were very lucky to sell when we did as the market is dead there now as there are no longer any Nigerians with 120% mortgages from Northern Rock around. It's extremely hard to sell in that area and though they say the house is worth 180k in that area buyers will always offer far less than the asking price and no-one is willing to pay full price. Also I know the road where she lives as its off our old street, in that area most of the housing is still council or housing association and there are high levels of unemployment and people on benefits. The council really don't maintain that area well and there are weeds growing through the pavements and rubbish everywhere at times, so its not the number one neighbourhood for most people looking to buy, believe me.

The family in Redbridge live in our postcode and their house would only rent out for around 1300-1500 around here as one and two beds are really expensive but after that rents don't increase that much even for a large detached property that still leaves a significant shortfall.

Better_Days

What shocked me most was the 4 children who weren't in school. Parents didn't seem to care or have any concept of the damage they were doing to their children's education and social development. It seems madness to me to have bored children at home all the time.

Had the children been in school the moves would have been upsetting, but not as bad as being there when the bailiffs came to the door and dragging out all your worldly possessions in bin bags. The parents attitude made it much worse that it need to have been, especially the mother. Unfortunately the children are suffering as a result of their parents past financial irresponsibility.

I did feel sorry for the single man on his own. My late Dad struggled for many years get housing. For years he lived in a caravan with no running water and it was so cold in the winter. Finally his health broke down and he was sectioned. He lost his caravan and all his possessions while he was in hospital. When he came out of hospital he was very lucky to be helped out by a local charity, but I doubt he would be so lucky now.

studio_two

mr_white_cant_dance wrote: »

They sold one car but the money went on christmas presents.

That's what they said, but the husband and wife drove off in separate cars at the end of the show.

studio_two

ceecee1 wrote: »

I couldn't understand why the lady with cancer hadn't sold her property prior to the repossession. I am sure that they said at the beginning of the programme that she had bought it for £54k and that it was now valued at £180k....unless I misheard.

Hmm.

I'm assuming she is still married. It was stated that her husband left three years previously (and she had a daughter-in-law taking her to cancer treatment). Would it be hers to sell?

msalih90

i didnt know people discussed this kind of thing on mse..i went on the bbc website wanting to see other peoples opinions.


with kevin, i did really feel bad for him. unless im mistaken im sure it said he was ploughing his own money into a failing business which i understand if its yours. im sure a lot of people have done that.
he looked like he was truly trying to get himself out of the mess he's in.

the lady with cancer i felt really bad for. i hope her kids help her out as she obviously does a lot for them, though i dont understand why she didnt sell the house. im not an expert so cant judge too much

the family with 500k house..i know there are next to no jobs out there but 2k a month between 2 adults is doable. selling a car and spending money on xmas is silly.

the family with 6 kids. i felt next to no sympathy. they seemed to have enough money with phones and xbox's, they all had coffees when they went out. i mean even if those coffees are free they had still left a kid at home with people coming to kick them out.
the father seemed ok as taking a bus job 6 days a week is tough.
but the mum seemed like a !!!!!. she should have just sent her kids to any random school and got herself a job. though something tells me even without the kids at home she still wouldnt work

melbury

Must say I felt the most sorry for Kevin because he had obviously been a grafter and intended to try and find work again, whereas the others just seemed to expect somewhere to live as their god given right.

I am so pleased that jh2009 explained in detail about the lady with cancer because I missed the beginning and just could not work out how a house that was bought so cheaply couldn't have a good deal of equity in it.

The family with all the kids were just well "Wayne and Waynetta" and totally undeserving.

The couple who lost their house obviously completely over-stretched themselves - even though they drove off in, I think, a Lexus?

Anyway good luck to Kevin, he was really appreciative of the help he was given and didn't just keep on whining about how hard done by he was:T