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Original poster

Lifetime Social Housing Tenancies

713 replies

RowsOfFlowers · 26/06/2025 07:46

Am I wrong or being unreasonable to think that this new policy that Labour are bringing in is very unfair?

I come from a poor-ish background (as in no one in my wider family has any money). However, my mum and Dad did fairly okay and managed to move up the property ladder (through sheer hard work and sacrifice). My dad died a few years ago and so now it’s just my mom. We never received any benefits - and now my DH and I live in a house and pay a high interest rate (thanks Truss) and I don’t know if we will ever pay off our house (if I am to have children and go part time), so we will need to downsize. We don’t qualify for any benefits either but we are in the squashed middle, so we really feel it when anything rises in cost and don’t get any help.

I feel really cross that someone can benefit from social housing for a lifetime, no matter how much they go on to earn, and then if they pass away, they can pass it down as an asset.

I have a friend who’s parents came to this country, got given social housing, their children paid it off (40% discount) and now they all get to keep a £650k house in London. It doesn’t seem fair to me at all. I feel really disillusioned living in the UK.

OP posts:
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Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 21:55

Frequency · 03/07/2025 20:53

https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/benefit-cap-amounts

This explains why it is made up pretty well.

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She may have been receiving other benefits that are exempt from the benefit cap though, e.g. PIP, DLA, Carers allowance etc.

OP posts:
LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 21:54

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 21:53

RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 21:50

That’s not conducive to this discussion. I just want to assure you that I’m not trying to argue with you here, I really just want to discuss and understand…

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Well then you need to UNDERSTAND that social housing is NOT subsidised, most social housing tenants pay tax, and most of them pay rent.

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 21:52

BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 21:28

Because the Telegraph has form for made up nonsense. And it’s taken the page down now, the link no longer works.

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Exactly this. But the social housing tenant haters will choose to believe this bollocks of course. 😆

Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 21:51

BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 21:50

The link doesn’t work - and I’m a subscriber.

If even the shadow housing minister is labouring under the illusion that social housing is subsidised we’re in deep shit.

Edited

The link is working fine for me?

OP posts:
Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 21:50

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 20:53

Because it's made up nonsense. Can't really make it any simpler for you I'm afraid.

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That’s not conducive to this discussion. I just want to assure you that I’m not trying to argue with you here, I really just want to discuss and understand…

OP posts:
BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 21:50

The link doesn’t work - and I’m a subscriber.

If even the shadow housing minister is labouring under the illusion that social housing is subsidised we’re in deep shit.

mylovedoesitgood · 03/07/2025 21:44

BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 21:28

Because the Telegraph has form for made up nonsense. And it’s taken the page down now, the link no longer works.

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The Telegraph is no more reliable than any other newspaper. But the figures are from English Housing Survey, which is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing.

And the link still works fine. It's a paywalled article, by the way.

From the article:

Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary, said: “With over a million households on the social housing waiting list, it’s impossible to justify high earners remaining in taxpayer-subsidised homes.

“Government subsidies should be focused on those in greatest need. Social housing exists as a safety net, and resources should be targeted at the poorest to ensure the system remains fair and effective.”

Too bloody right.

BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 21:28

mylovedoesitgood · 03/07/2025 20:57

But you could explain why. Except you can’t.

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Because the Telegraph has form for made up nonsense. And it’s taken the page down now, the link no longer works.

mylovedoesitgood · 03/07/2025 20:57

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 20:53

Because it's made up nonsense. Can't really make it any simpler for you I'm afraid.

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But you could explain why. Except you can’t.

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 20:53

RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 20:45

Can you explain why it’s made up nonsense?

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Because it's made up nonsense. Can't really make it any simpler for you I'm afraid.

SharkBaitOooHaha · 03/07/2025 20:51

It’s not a new thing it’s been the case for a long time. I agree it’s stupid, my husband’s parents are living in a four bedroom council house that they were given in 1975, it’s just the two of them living there now and they should have had to downsize when there children moved out 30 years ago.

Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 20:45

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 20:39

Well said. BUT.. You're wasting your time. The hatred, resentment, and vitriol for social housing tenants runs too deep with some people. They won't believe facts, because it suits them to believe bullshit that paints social housing tenants in a bad light.

Also @RowsOfFlowers that article you have put up (at 10am today) is a load of made up nonsense I'm afraid, no matter how much you would like it to be true. Wink

Show quote history

Can you explain why it’s made up nonsense?

OP posts:
LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 03/07/2025 20:39

Frequency · 03/07/2025 19:46

Social housing is NOT subsidized. I don't know how many more times this needs to be explained to you. There is no loss of income to the government because the money is ringfenced for social housing. The cost of buying and maintaining the homes comes from the rent paid by tenants, a lot of whom are taxpayers.

You can what if all you want about the potential loss of revenue from not being able to extort people the way private LL do. That's not the way it is, it is not the way it ever has been or ever will be.

And your link above proves why private rents are too high and the subsidies are going to LLs because the only way that woman is getting £4k a month in UC is if £2k of it goes towards paying someone's buy-to-let mortgage.

Well said. BUT.. You're wasting your time. The hatred, resentment, and vitriol for social housing tenants runs too deep with some people. They won't believe facts, because it suits them to believe bullshit that paints social housing tenants in a bad light.

Also @RowsOfFlowers that article you have put up (at 10am today) is a load of made up nonsense I'm afraid, no matter how much you would like it to be true. Wink

Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 20:31

Frequency · 03/07/2025 19:46

Social housing is NOT subsidized. I don't know how many more times this needs to be explained to you. There is no loss of income to the government because the money is ringfenced for social housing. The cost of buying and maintaining the homes comes from the rent paid by tenants, a lot of whom are taxpayers.

You can what if all you want about the potential loss of revenue from not being able to extort people the way private LL do. That's not the way it is, it is not the way it ever has been or ever will be.

And your link above proves why private rents are too high and the subsidies are going to LLs because the only way that woman is getting £4k a month in UC is if £2k of it goes towards paying someone's buy-to-let mortgage.

Yes, the funding for those homes is ring-fenced, but I’m pretty sure that the rent paid is not enough to fully maintain it. Housing associations usually use a cross-subsidy system to offer social and affordable homes.

“In 2010, funding for affordable housing was reduced by 60% as part of the drive to cut the deficit. Funding for new social rented housing stopped completely and an affordable rent tenure was introduced, where homes are rented at up to 80% of market rent. The government shifted its focus to supporting first time buyers, with investment in shared ownership homes and schemes like Help to Buy.
Although housing associations used their own funds to keep building some social rented homes, the reduction in funding since 2010 has meant that fewer social and affordable homes have been built. In 2010/11, nearly 36,000 social rented homes were started. The next year, after funding cuts, that number reduced to just over 3,000.
Today, it is widely accepted that England is facing a housing crisis. Homelessness is rising, private rents are unaffordable for many, and many people are priced out of buying a home. Social housing can provide the answer but there is nowhere near enough to meet demand. Researchcarried out for the National Housing Federation and Crisis shows that we need 90,000 new social rented homes every year but a lack of funding means only about 5,000 are being built.”

So, I do believe the answer could be to build more social housing, yes - but that does require funding. And as the country is in a deficit, here we have the funding and housing shortage issue. The crisis was created over a number of years of a shortfall in social housing being built. I guess this is another reason why I do not support right to buy or lifetime tenancies for social housing specifically.

If you live in affordable housing, then I think that’s different. But as social housing is specifically for lower earners and I guess the most in need, I think there needs to be a system where as a tenant, your circumstances are regularly reviewed, to see if you need to go up to affordable rent.

How about that?

Home | Shared Ownership

Shared Ownership

https://sharedownership.net/

OP posts:
BIossomtoes · 03/07/2025 20:06

I don’t know where this myth has come from but you’re right, however many times it’s explained it still persists.

CanOfMangoTango · 03/07/2025 20:03

Social housing is NOT subsidized. I don't know how many more times this needs to be explained to you

Infinite times on these boards and not just this thread. We're all shouting into the void on this issue I'm afraid!

Frequency · 03/07/2025 19:46

Social housing is NOT subsidized. I don't know how many more times this needs to be explained to you. There is no loss of income to the government because the money is ringfenced for social housing. The cost of buying and maintaining the homes comes from the rent paid by tenants, a lot of whom are taxpayers.

You can what if all you want about the potential loss of revenue from not being able to extort people the way private LL do. That's not the way it is, it is not the way it ever has been or ever will be.

And your link above proves why private rents are too high and the subsidies are going to LLs because the only way that woman is getting £4k a month in UC is if £2k of it goes towards paying someone's buy-to-let mortgage.

Original poster
RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 10:00

“Government subsidies should be focused on those in greatest need. Social housing exists as a safety net, and resources should be targeted at the poorest to ensure the system remains fair and effective.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/revealed-128000-families-social-housing-earn-over-71k/

Lifetime Social Housing Tenancies
OP posts:
Itsnothealthy · 03/07/2025 09:42

RowsOfFlowers · 03/07/2025 09:13

This is a terrible example of someone abusing the system:

https://apple.news/ALWEsVd-ERKun78AU25SQfg

Edited

Tiktok well it must better true then 👍

OP posts:
MaturingCheeseball · 29/06/2025 17:59

@JenniferBooth - another poster has kindly provided you with a link.

JenniferBooth · 29/06/2025 17:22

MaturingCheeseball · 29/06/2025 16:36

@JenniferBooth - please do not shout. I’m sure I could find a link if I could be bothered.

I rest my case

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 29/06/2025 17:16

Itsnothealthy · 29/06/2025 14:34

So a family in social housing. Working . Can pay their own rent due to be being lower than private rent ... the family start earning a bit more. get kicked out of social housing forced to private rent. Family now have to claim help for their rent as it's to much for them to manage.

  1. the tax payer is now helping with the rent .

  2. gold dust if a landlord will even accept the family.

  3. landlord decides to sell a few years later. They cant get another private rent due to landlord not accepting the family.

  4. family now made homeless in temporary accommodation for many years.

This. ^ Can't get it though to some people though. Shuffling people about and moving them out of their social housing property, as soon as the household income is 3 and a half pence over £30K a year fucking bonkers.

No good constantly repeating this though. Some people have so much deep rooted envy and anger towards people in social housing, and they feel so much vitriol towards them, that they are desperate to have people thrown under the bus, and to the wolves, and to be homeless. Their bitterness and hatred skews their views. No point in arguing with them really. Wink