Social Housing - Any point applying as a single male?

davilown

AdrianC said:

davilown said:

@AdrianC
Can you come and speak to the daughter living in my house please?  I tend to say what I mean and apparently I'm too blunt - perhaps if you said it, it would have the desired effect?  The word entitled comes to mine - apparently if I pay for her new place she'll move out...

I blame the parents.

I blame the mother 🤣

Haunted124

OP i don't know why you are getting a hard time . Not  everyone can get a better job house  etc. This is why we have doctors lawyers,  cleaners  etc.. We  all come from different backgrounds and most of us are a product of our upbringing.  I came from a very poor background but have managed to just about do well at . I work as a key worker senior position  and after years of renting privately was offered a property by housing association . I was surprised as at that time I was earning 3ka month. Stay on the waiting list,  keep improving yourself through courses and hopefully one day you will be in a position to  rent  or buy. 

yksi

Looper86 said:

wolfehouse said:

 There are help to buy schemes for those who can’t afford the whole purchase price

Unfortunately as someone earning minimum wage (£16,777 based on £8.72 and working full time) my expected amount of borrowing for a mortgage would only be £60,000, which unfortunately wouldn’t even put me close to a flat / house (I would say my area but I imagine that would rule out the majority of the country).

I bought a flat for less than that while earning less than that. Like I said, and with all due respect, lower your standards. If you don't want to move somewhere that you can afford a flat - and quite candidly, those of us on low wages can do similar work anywhere in the country - then you could consider renting. A good rule of thumb is to spend a third of your income on your housing.

yksi

And in terms of career progression, I think a lot of people have been sold the lie that formal education & university are everything. The reality is that most employers want people who know "how to do stuff". That means, you need the skills. I am in junior management and I got there by upskilling myself. Before this I had part time jobs as a cleaner and housekeeper and checkout worker, and used my eyes and ears to see what those up the food chain were doing. I offered to help my own colleagues and asked how to learn. I then went about searching for the training I needed to improve myself. That wasn't just in-house, that included doing a two free NVQ quals online (google them) to get myself knowledge in leadership and in business studies. And I learned interview techniques and prepared myself to ace the interview.

And now, around me, several of my direct reports want to progress but they're not doing a dang thing to actually turn themselves into the people others want. They actually watched me move up and think I got there just by, I don't know, luck or enjoying myself or asking nicely. When you ask them why they want to move up they say "it looks like a good job" or "better pay". But I guarantee, they aren't going anywhere.

You are multi-skilled. You say that in your own workplace there's not room for progression and I will take that as the truth. But there are workplaces out there which (1) pay more than minimum wage for what you are doing, and (2) have scope to broaden your skills and allow you to move up. As an example, we had a similar role in the hotel I worked at, and there will be places where you can also learn/do customer service and basic admin work. The more feathers in your bow, the more roles you can consider and the better your income can become.

AdrianC

yksi said:

And in terms of career progression, I think a lot of people have been sold the lie that formal education & university are everything. The reality is that most employers want people who know "how to do stuff". That means, you need the skills.

That's true... beyond a certain point.

When it comes to not even having the basics of GCSE English and Maths, that person is simply not going to get invited to interview in the first place. If you can't get your foot in the door, you can't show what you can do.

The OP is clearly at a dead-end with his current employer. There is no progression possible there. So... any progression is going to come from moving to another employer. And, yes, that might mean still being on MW to start with - but if there's a hope for progression and skill improvement there, then...

wannabe_a_saver

Looper86 said:

wannabe_a_saver said:

Maybe you need to look at moving to a cheaper area to gain your independence?  Is it hard with rents and house prices so high but I'm sure your parents never planned to have you live with them forever and it might be nice for them to get their home back too! 

This is an option, looking at general prices things seem more manageable around 50-60 miles further north where housing prices across the board are better situated against the national living wage.

I know that’s a slight dig, (I never planned to be here at my age either...) I am actively looking for somewhere and check both the social register and rightmove frequently in hope of something becoming available that’s within my earnings threshold.

It’s not a dig, but I do think there’s a bit of an assumption that parents of adult children are always a backup and fine with them living there, while no matter how much they love them and would never kick them out it’s hard on parents too as well as on the adult struggling to move out.

yksi

AdrianC said:

yksi said:

And in terms of career progression, I think a lot of people have been sold the lie that formal education & university are everything. The reality is that most employers want people who know "how to do stuff". That means, you need the skills.

That's true... beyond a certain point.

When it comes to not even having the basics of GCSE English and Maths, that person is simply not going to get invited to interview in the first place. If you can't get your foot in the door, you can't show what you can do.

The OP is clearly at a dead-end with his current employer. There is no progression possible there. So... any progression is going to come from moving to another employer. And, yes, that might mean still being on MW to start with - but if there's a hope for progression and skill improvement there, then...

I see where you're coming from, but I do think you do get to an age point where an employer doesn't even look for the GSCE results. As a foreigner, I don't have them. In fact I don't have any school-age achievements in my CV and we never looked for them when recruiting for big-but-now-dead-retailer (they took me on without them too, and were trying to get me into their accounting team, but I jumped rather than stay on a sinking ship). They become irrelevant once you have something above them you can list as a qualification, experience or skill. It probably also depends on what OP is interested in, but for example, if he can also demonstrate a good understanding of customer service, or great working knowledge of Excel, that is something GSCE doesn't really trump.

If he's aiming for formal education, or high-level white-collar work, then yes, there are prerequisites. But NVQ 2s shouldn't need any and would be a good (and free!) start.

AdrianC

yksi said:

I see where you're coming from, but I do think you do get to an age point where an employer doesn't even look for the GSCE results. As a foreigner, I don't have them. In fact I don't have any school-age achievements in my CV
...
They become irrelevant once you have something above them you can list as a qualification, experience or skill.

Well, quite. And therein lies the OP's issue.

Do you have any higher-level qualifications? Any direct professional qualifications or experience?
Were you applying for unskilled/low-skilled minimum wage roles?
GCSEs are the basic/age 16 qualifications. If somebody has more advanced/age 18, or degree-level, then age 16 is clearly a lot less relevant.

My other half does not have any age-16 maths qualification (pre-GCSE, it'd have been O-level). But she does have a degree and post-grad qualifications, as well as professional experience. She's still found some positions that have blanket rejected her for not having that maths qualification, though...

camden_kid

Looper86 said:

Bonniepurple said:

I would LOVE to know what the OP’s parents are thinking.  I suspect it’s something along the lines of “why did we make it too comfortable for him here?”.  OP, okay, it’s not a great time to be job hunting- but you’ve got a job.  Could you do something extra in the evenings/weekends to bring in more money?  It sounds like you have got jealous of people moving on around you but don’t actually want to grow up and have responsibilities and so you think that “someone else” should provide- be it your parents (as now) or the Government (social housing, Universal Credit etc).

You are adequately housed.  Priority is rightly given to those who are not.  That could be overcrowding, or unsuitable property (think someone who becomes physically disabled and lives in a top floor flat with no lift) or those who have been made homeless through no fault of their own.  Social housing, as with other forms of government support, are for those who need it, not those who want it.

Unfortunately we lost my brother when he was only aged 6 so I guess since then my Mum has always mothered me more than usual.

I lived with my ex-girlfriend for 3 years (28-31) but after the breakdown of the relationship and neither of us having income to continue our rental agreement we gave the property up and both ended up back at parents (the last place anyone wants to be).

It seems like there are a lot of aspersions and assumptions made here on this board, almost to a downright wild level too, no I’m not “jealous” of people moving on around me, I just want to do the same, like most people.

I haven’t come here with an overwhelming level of entitlement so I’m a little unsure why I have been greeted in such a way, definitely a strange way to build a community that on the surface looks like it’s her to offer support, advice and guidance (I’ve never once said I “deserve” a property over someone who is disable so I’m at a loss as to why this has continuously been presented to me...??).

Don't worry mate. There are some seriously nasty and unhelpful folk on this forum and that includes members with thousands of posts. I think they have nothing better to do with their time than pile in and say any kind of rubbish without a thought for the original poster. Ignore them.

Tokmon

Looper86 said:

elsien said:

It really does depend on where you live and what the general availability is. 
I got one (many years ago) because quite frankly it was a dump in an area that no-one else wanted to live in.
More recently a single twenty-something working friend of mine with no vulnerabilities or extra points managed to get a small one bedroom council flat. I suspect they would find it harder nowadays because of the bedroom tax and more people both wanting housing and needing to move to a smaller property. Even then, in London they would probably have had no chance. 
One year is a very short wait indeed though. You will be bottom of the list, you may never get anywhere, so is there a plan B?

General availability seems reasonable, a lot of properties cross the books each week, but due to my banding tier I’m someone that is seen as having no requirement for housing (I guess there will always be someone that needs social housing more than myself).
Currently “Plan-B” would be to continue in my current arrangement of living-with-parents, unfortunately I don’t have the capital to buy outright, financial capacity to mortgage and private rents are out of my affordability threshold.

Surely if you are living with parents then you must have quite a good amount of money saved up. Even if you had only saved £300 a month since you were 18 and assuming your over 31 now then you would have £45k in the bank for a house deposit.

Even if you had to move a bit further away to somewhere with cheaper housing it's definitely realistic that you could buy somewhere assuming you have been saving money.