To think that there is a misunderstanding about social housing.

Where I live there is a mix of housing association properties & privately owned. Some of the privately owned properties are rented out by the owners.

The housing association rent is just under £600 per month

The privately rented identical properties are £1100 +

It's a sought after town in the South East .

Nothing wrong with social housing, open to all. The problem is that Right to Buy fucked our post war housing stock and there’s so little left. And created this situation with landlording as a job. So in reality you have to be willing to wait a long time, be very desperate or in very dire circumstances to access it. Which is right for the latter two, that’s who I want it to go to first. But for genuine socialised housing there needs to be enough available for everyone who would desire to be accommodated in that way. I’m left-wing with little inherent desire to own property and would have gladly rented a home in this way, but in my London borough since graduating university I’ve never been eligible to even get on the list. As a result I spent ten years renting privately until I could buy and it was crippling (then- and it’s got worse in the ten years since we bought).

Because market rents are too high. Housing accounts have to wash their own face. Council housing rents cover the real cost without a profit.

People can't wrap their heads around a model that pays in a circle. They can't understand how they're not paying out of their own pockets for people to live in SH. It doesn't make sense to them, so therefore they 'just do, ok!!

Then they come out with benefits like people in private rents don't claim housing benefit.

It's weird. It brings out strange people.

It’s still subsidised thought regardless of your personal opinion about private rents

Private rentals are inflated though. Social housing rent is what it should be.

It is subsidised though? For example, United Welsh say they charge £600 for a 3 bed house - that’s much cheaper than a private rental.

Some people on UC will also have all of their rent covered even if they do work

Indeed. When my youngest sibling hit 18, all 3 of were still living with my parents. 5 adults in a one bed.... yeah, ok.

This happens on every thread about social housing... banging on that it is subsidised. It isn't.

Yep, inflated market rents should not be treated as the "right" amount.

Yeah "happy 18th my child, now here's your bags packed and off you go, we've got no room for you now we're being forced into a 1 bed flat"..what kind of world do you live in where you think that making an 18 year old's life more difficult than it needs to be is ok? Most 1 bed flats don't have room for 2 adults let alone 3...or are you of the opinion that everyone in social housing is a single parent?

People think of subsidised as having to fork out of their pockets for others .

Market rents are the problem. That needs to be brought under control. It's. Pisstake.

It is actually subsidised in that the rent is set at between 50% and 80% of market rents for the area depending on which council you are with.

Where i live council housing at social rent is a third of the comparable market rent, its heavily subsidised.

Waiting lists are incredibly long and based on need, in reality you don't get a lot of families with adults working full time getting high enough up the list because others are more in need.

This is where the stereotype comes from.

Not everyone lives there though. There is a huge shortage of 1 bed places where I live.

Every time I look at property on the housing register for Ashford Kent there's loads of 1 beds

My stepdad stayed in the 3 bedroom ha house after my mum died. You could fit a family of 5 in it

And the people who don't or can't work? Where should they be housed? Those who are working but can't afford private rents are probably entitled to a universal credit top up to be fair.

I have a friend paying £800 per month for a three bed in a desirable outer London borough. Single person, grown up children have left home. Lifetime tenancy. Private rental in the area for a similar property would be £2,500 a month minimum.

I'd love to move into a one bed flat. Unfortunately I can't afford the private rent even one beds and the SH ones are ring fenced for care & prison leavers or those otherwise deemed vulnerable, mental health issues, recovering (or not always) drug addicts. I'm not in any of those categories so can't.
But it'd be cheaper and better for me, so you find me one I qualify for and I'll be in it.

I was brought up in Council Housing with working parents.

Couple of points though, of course it is subsidised. The whole Housing Department at the Council is funded by tax payers one way or another, the income from rent won't cover the cost of managing all the properties.

I remember our house (and the whole estate) being totally gutted and brought up to modern standards in 1980's. We were all decanted out to alternative accommodation for about 3 months. The cost much have eaten up at least 5 years of the rent paid by my parents if not more.

I do feel that Council Housing should only be a 10 year tenancy though. Then renewed if you still require a house that size and have not breached anti-social laws etc. It's not right that someone can get a 3 or 4 bedroom house in their 20's and remain there for 70 years. (Using an example from our local area here, little old lady who had a big family now rattling round in a 4 bedroom plus dining room 'bedroom', been living there for over 50 years).

Where are all these one bed properties that everyone should downsize to?
Why should council tenants have to live in a flat if they've always lived in a house? Council tenants are not less than.
I was brought up in social housing and was lucky enough to get a council flat with my dh and then a 3 bed house, but it was 40 years ago.
We then bought a house which had been a council house but was private when we bought it. We have now sold that and downsized to a park home.
I doubt anyone could do it the way we did now. Not enough social housing and everything far too expensive.

Also, you would have the 18 year old then sharing a room with their parents?
I didn't move out until I was mid 20s. My parents are in a council house.

What one bed flats? I have known single people be on the housing register for coming up to a decade now.

I very strongly feel that council housing should be minimal and temporary. As soon as your youngest is 18 you move into a one bed flat.

Completely agree. Families are in b&bs waiting for houses to come up. Its not right. It needs to change