Lifetime Social Housing Tenancies

Who are they giving them to?

Personally, I think that council house rents should be priced at market rates, but obviously with housing benefit support. Then those on low wages will still be heavily subsidised (as they would be in private rental) by HB, but those on high wages won't have a financial benefit to staying in and blocking a social home. And the extra money raised by the higher rent take from high earners could then be ploughed into providing more social housing. Effectively I'd like more emphasis on providing more secure housing, but not necessarily cheaper housing - as the cost of housing should be dealt with via HB, and I don't think a two tier system of cheap social housing v expensive private housing is fair.

I do think stability and security are important, and I do think that if there was a max earning cap that we could end up accidentally ghettoising social housing estates.

Yes. Right to buy. The killing of the goose that laid golden eggs.

No government will ever have such a generous policy again on social housing

Remove the right to buy and build more social housing.

Growing up, everyone I knew lived in council houses. There were maybe 3 or 4 people in my year at school who lived in a "bought house". When you got to 16 you put your name on the council list and would have a reasonably nice one bedroom flat by the time you were 20. No means testing, just a waiting list. Not so easy to then swap up to 2 or 3 bedroom but you had a good start.

If you wanted to relocate you private rented or bought. Security for those who wanted/needed it and choice for those who wanted something different.

And then everyone was buying their council houses for peanuts and we are where we are now.

I was in your position ... interest rates were 16%. I had a child and worked full time after taking full maternity leave ... it was that or have a poor lifestyle.

I don't think there is anything wrong with people living in a council house forever with a decent wage.
What is wrong is people who are renting that are stuck. We pay more than a mortgage and unable to save so are stuck renting forever. Council won't help as we are in an accomodation that we are managing to pay for. It's a vicious cycle.
I think more council house needs to be made available. Even if I paid half the rent I pay, it's more than a council house of the same spec in our area. It's bloody awful.

Crabs in a bucket mentality I'm afraid.

I'm worried about my future housing, so everyone else should be as well.

All it does is encourage the govt to make things less secure for people.

If there were more social housing, easier to obtain, in better condition then house builders and banks and house prices would reflect reality more than now.

But you choose to get a mortgage. Not saying you shouldn't some people don't have that choice . They can only private rent which it extremely expensive. Private renting is very difficult as well due to the expense and people on lower income who need help with the rent often can't private rent because they need a guarantor which they don't have.

Some people can only rent via social housing because they would not be accepted for private rent or mortgage.

Just make it clear I'm not hating. As I said my own mother lives in a council home and has her whole adult life, I love my mother but she DOES moan about stupid stuff like when the rent goes up (it is still less than half of what the same flat would be on Rightmove)

People paying loads on their mortgage/rent tend to find that frustrating it doesn't mean they hate anyone

But isn’t that true for anyone with a mortgage? It applies to me too. Yes it can be a strain, but this is life’s challenge for many of us.

Buying property pays off long term. That doesn’t mean it’s not a struggle to maintain it, or that’s easy

Everything about social housing is unfair.

If they charged market rate for renting it, there could be more of it to go round, but instead the state likes to favour a privileged few.

I remember a time where I was looked down on for having a council house, now I'm envied.

Having a secure home helps people improve their lives, it gives them a solid foundation and security.

If that would be taken away if they become the 'squeezed' middle they aren't going to be inclined to improve their lives (just to be worse off) at all.

I’m not having a go at you, but honestly, work, pay the mortgage, like many others do. I’m not saying it’s easy. But it pays off. If you don’t want the strain, sell the house. Rent. Then you have a different set of problems but maybe you’ve made some money on the property.

It used to be very hard to buy property or get a mortgage. No one has to buy a house.

The problem with this approach, is that you then have a block, or estate where only the poorest people live. Imagine what that looks like. The cut off for living there is likely to be very low, so only people that don't/can't work?

No one has incentive to work because they'd lose their home, although that would increase the number of people doing cash in hand work or making money from illegal activities.

Cut off should be higher? So you need to be on minimum wage? I'm afraid you'd have the same problem - any payrise or promotion or slightly better job and you'd lose your home and be significantly worse off than you were on min wage.

Successive governments have done a lot of things wrong when it comes to social housing. But lifetime tenancies isn't one of them.

I’m sorry, but that is not reasonable. No one is forced to buy a property. It’s a choice. You are comparing two different things.

Owning property has a cost. But it has benefits financially that social tenants will never have. If you want cash in your hand, then I agree that tying it up in property is not the way to go. But owning a property is a choice and one that pays off financially over time.

Exactly this. I was a social housing tenant for a long time. Always paid full rent, always also a tax payer.

Social housing rent is set at a level above its cost to the local authority. It's only 'subsidised' through housing benefit etc, which would also be the case for private tenancies - but in that case the money is going into the landlords pocket. Social housing is better all round, there's just not enough.