Advice regarding council housing?

wavefunction

Does it take a long time to get a council apartment or a house? I asked someone and was told he waited for 2 years to move into a council place that he liked - that’s ridiculous?

Are housing associations and council housing not the same?

Isn’t council accommodation equivalent to the projects in the US? Bad neighbourhoods for low income families... kind of like a ghetto, no? Some of the council houses that I’ve seen looked quite decent.

Thanks!

freesha

It can take a very long time. Depends on your circs. Single person with a roof over their head - likely to wait forever. Single parent with kids, and nowhere else to go longterm - likely to be quicker.

McKneff

It can take years, maybe never at all if other ppeopke are more in need when they become available. 
And so it should be. 

freesha

wavefunction said:

he waited for 2 years to move into a council place that he liked - that’s ridiculous?

So was he offered others that he didn't like? If you're desperate, you can't afford to be too picky

McKneff

McKneff said:

It can take years, maybe never at all if other people are more in need when they become available. 
And so it should be. 

McKneff said:

It can take years, maybe never at all if other ppeopke are more in need when they become available. 
And so it should be. 

MaryNB

Have you asked the relevant council? Wait times vary depending on the council. In some London boroughs, he'd be very lucky to get a place in 2 years. Also depends on the band. Band 1 (for people with urgent need) will be prioritised over people in in Band 4 (no urgent nee); therefore, if he's in Band 4 he could be in for a very long wait. 

[Deleted User]

wavefunction said:

Does it take a long time to get a council apartment or a house? I asked someone and was told he waited for 2 years to move into a council place that he liked - that’s ridiculous?

Are housing associations and council housing not the same?

Isn’t council accommodation equivalent to the projects in the US? Bad neighbourhoods for low income families... kind of like a ghetto, no? Some of the council houses that I’ve seen looked quite decent.

Thanks!

2 years is considered quick.  Some people can wait on housing lists for a decade and still not be offered anything.  The Right to Buy programme hasn't helped as the council housing sold off hasn't been replaced at anything like the same rate.  Then there are people like your friend hoarding council properties that they don't need because they really live elsewhere. 

If you're basing council housing on what you've seen on shows like The Wire then no, it isn't kind of like a ghetto. 

caprikid1

If you are a single working male depending on the area you may never get up the ladder of eligibility.
If you can afford to privately rent a flat / room that would be your best option.

[Deleted User]

Two years isn't ridiculous, its the rare reality.  Most wait much longer. I was in emergency accommodation for two years before being offered permanent housing and I was very lucky.  I had two special needs children and was judged in housing need. I heard many stories of people in emergency housing for much longer.

Usually council's run bidding lists through which HAs and council housing can be offered up for bidding by those in need of housing.  Can find that only those in category A or B have much chance of winning the bidding game unless a property is in a really bad area.  But nowadays, you are lucky to be offered anything at all.  Often thousands able to bid, and there usually (in my case) would only be three or four (sometimes less) 3 bed properties being offered for bidding a month. I believe there are some properties offered directly to people in housing need though, they don't appear on the list.  I must have made myself a pain, because that's what happened to me.  That's why I say I was lucky and I kept writing polite but I'm not going anywhere when am I going to get suitable housing emails to my housing officer lol. What I was offered was slightly better than the emergency housing on one of the worst sink estates in the area.Its much much better than a project type property though.

Socially/crime wise every area has their bad parts and they can be LA housing (can also be private rentals as well though).  Only the really really bad ones will be similar to the projects.  But they do exist, its not the norm though.  Unless a council resident is lax about reporting repairs, they will usually be done so not normally in a bad state of repair.  Decor wise, that's up the to tenant.

Comms69

wavefunction said:

Does it take a long time to get a council apartment or a house? I asked someone and was told he waited for 2 years to move into a council place that he liked - that’s ridiculous?

Are housing associations and council housing not the same?

Isn’t council accommodation equivalent to the projects in the US? Bad neighbourhoods for low income families... kind of like a ghetto, no? Some of the council houses that I’ve seen looked quite decent.

Thanks!

2 years is optimistic, i'd say 4-5

TBagpuss

It varies depending on the area and what type of property is needed but 2 years is not unusual, and in some areas and for some types of property it can be much longer.

There can be a lot of snobbery about council housing but it isn't generally a ghetto. Like anything else, it can depend on the situation - if you have a very disadvantaged area, with high unemployment and no / underfunded public services and public spaces then of course you will get more crime and other issues than in other areas.

Unfortunately when councils were allowed to start selling off their housing stock through right to buy there were not appropriate requirements to replace the lost stock with new housing so what remains is in high demand. 

Allocating housing is done on a points based system intended to measure need, so (for instance) someone with young children and/ or with a disability will have a higher need that a single person  or an able bodied person, and councils will have differing amounts of housing suitable for different types of person - in my area, I believe that 3 bedroomed properties suitable for families are very scarce and once someone has a house like that they are likely to stay, so a person needing a property will wait a long time. On the other hand, a retired person needing a 1 bed flat may not wait as long as those properties become available more frequently.