Anyone watch George Clarke's Council House Scandal?

[cardamoncoffee]

And what are your thoughts? I would love to see more affordable social housing but not sure that 'homes for life' are the solution. The man in the programme who ended up becoming homeless because his eldest 2 dc moved out (I assume bedroom tax made the too large house unaffordable?) shows that homes for life do not work in the sense that houses are not being overturned in the way that would be needed.

The Austrian council housing looked amazing but I wonder if social housing operates there on the principle that it does in the UK, ie on a priority of needs? Again the Dawson Heights estate in Dulwich looks great, does anyone live there? Again I wonder if most homes are privately owned?

chdh I'm not sure if you are addressing me? I absolutely do think that everyone should have well maintained, adequate housing. Where I do see an issue is a person having a home, by their own free will adding to that family thereby causing overcrowding and going to local newspapers saying it is a scandal and the children are suffering when it was always clear that there is not enough housing stock to rehouse families as soon as they have another baby. There is definitely a lack of personal accountability that contributes to our increasing housing crisis. I see this on a daily basis.
I didn't have any issue with the Austrian housing, I thought it was great which was why I started the thread, but was thinking it might be too good to be true. I was reading today for example about the London estate that was shown and it is nearly all privately owned now, which George Clarke conveniently left out.

Stop judging people on the number of children they have when you are unaware of their circumstances.

Gilead, I am a SW, so I am aware of their circumstances. That isn't the main issue anyway, the main problem is that we do not have enough stock and especially in desirable places. The estates I work in and around have empty properties as no one wants to live there unless they have grown up there. They are run by the original families, rife with ASB, drugs and childhood neglect. One of them had a playpark that was destroyed and replaced many a times over the years. The parents say it's because the children have nothing to do; they don't see that their drug taking, drinking and neglect might have contributed to their dc's issues. The situation is much more complex than George Clarke's landscaping solutions and putting window boxes on balconies. The root issue needs to be tackled first, which Scandanavia have excelled at, I've no idea about Austria though.