Is there any chance of a single woman getting a 2 bed housing association house ?

[loandbeholdd]

I'm 35 and I'm currently in a 1 bed flat on band 3 (general needs )
I've been on housing list for 7 years now (same housing list my flats with )
I'm bidding on 2 bed houses and getting up to 20th position
Sometimes 15th ish
Do you think I'm wasting my time ?
What's the chances of me getting a 2 bed house ?

So that makes the OP unworthy?

I was responding to your unpleasant comment

This whole thread has been full of unpleasant comments and attitudes towards the OP and people in social housing.

I really hope you get that house, OP, you deserve it. Ignore the posters on here telling you otherwise.

@MaidOfSteel Yes, I agree. I think we need to remember that social housing associations are still a business model, even if they are not for profit. They need to rent properties out as soon as they are void to enable the development of new homes and the maintenance of those already standing.

Generally yes, the attitude can appear entitled but if you're not in the position to save for a deposit, then owning a house can not only seem but also be out of reach for many. Yes it is there to serve a purpose but let's not forget that if we want to place blame then let's place that in the hands of our government/bank of England who put no limit on private rentals and are allowing our interest rates to rise exponentially which is why there are so many in TA and homeless.

Councils, who are in charge of homelessness, will generally swipe a proportion of social housing to allocate before the rest is placed on a common housing register for bidding. Homeless families will be bidding for those within their banding and other properties will be given to a banding that others are able to bid in.

The OP has one bedroom, the same as two people in a two bed have one bedroom each. She is no more or less worthy than a woman and child in a two bed, they are each worthy of a bedroom to sleep in.

I don't think you should!

you deserve it

Why?

@Comedycook why don't I deserve a nice place to live ?
I'm paying for it
It's not free
Someone has to live in it
Why not me
They are getting the same rent from me than anyone else

I didn't say you don't deserve a nice place to live

Why does anybody deserve it? What has somebody with a child/children done to 'deserve it'?

OP is paying rent, full rent. The decision will be made by the housing team who have a list of people (with or without children). Everybody deserves a decent place to live and that's all there is to it really. I'm unsurprised that it needs saying on this site though, it's really not what it was.

You said the I'm deserved it. I was just wondering what particularly made you say that?

*they

I do think this where people can just wait on a list and be offered a place eventually, when they've got a place of an appropriate size etc already, should stop TBH. Because surely there are people who genuinely don't have a home, through no fault of their own, who will be waiting in temporary accomodation longer because this goes on. Or people whose housing is more inappropriate.

But on the other hand I'm happy for OP as an individual of course.

Everyone deserves a nice place to live, yes. The sad fact is that in the vast majority of places, there is a shortage of affordable, good quality housing. Most people in most areas will only be eligible for social housing if they are in "priority need" (ie if they have children, or have an illness or disability, or if they are fleeing violence/abuse, etc) and if they cannot afford to rent privately. In my area private rented housing is very expensive and demand for social housing far outstrips supply so the criteria are limited. OP wouldn't get a 1 bed in my area let alone a 2 bed; I do think it is rare and lucky to be able to get a 2 bed in this situation.

Plenty of other single people who also deserve a nice place to live will be renting privately, paying many times more what the OP is paying, with less housing security and probably poorer quality housing.

As with many public services, it seems to be a postcode lottery. It's not a race to the bottom, but I can see that some people might find it hard to be happy for the OP sharing photos of her lovely new 2 bed place at bargain rent if they themselves are struggling with overcrowding and/or unaffordable rent.

The OP deserves a nice one bedroom place. If everyone deserves a spare room should a family of four be housed in a five bedroom house?

Yes I agree...people in social housing deserve decent homes. But decent doesn't mean extra bedrooms you don't need.

those living in HA where their family has long flown the nest but feel like they need spare bedrooms. The whole system is a joke, we don't need to build more houses, we need a good reshuffle

Social housing tenants arent chess pieces. I have a disabled DH We live in a one bedroom flat We have to sleep seperately DH sleeps in the living room.

But where i differ is i dont blame this situation on other tenants. I blame it on developers who tear down social housing and replace it with luxury housing.

Exhibit A.

The Elephant and Castle neighbourhood is being physically, socially and ethnically transformed. This started with the demolition of the Heygate estate, a classic for stigmatised perceptions of council housing and the people who live in it. As the local 35% Campaign has meticulously documented, a succession of promises to Heygate residents were broken to arrive at a situation where 1,214 council homes were demolished, to be replaced with 2,704 new homes, of which only 82 (3%) are for social rent. The HA partner was London and Quadrant. To be eligible for the cheapest one-bedroom home built by them on the Heygate site, people needed a minimum household income of £57,500. The average household income in that part of Southwark is £24,324

She’s paying full social housing rent, but not market value, every single person in social housing pays full social housing rent, be it through benefits, employment or both.

its not about deserving,its about entitlement. Everyone should be entitled to a decent place to live if they cannot afford to house themselves. But if you have a system that allows a single person to have a property with a spare room, when families live in cramped conditions , with their kids sharing, or parents sleeping in the living room,because of a place in the queue, then many folks would argue the op should not have a spare room and those most in need should get the house.

For the simple fact there is a huge shortage, nearly 300 folks bidding on this property, for me when in a shortage situation it should be given to those most in need,

Because social housing is in shortage and is designed for those who cannot afford to house themselves. Due to that shortage there will be many people who are sleeping on their living rooms, kids cramped into bedrooms , whilst due to a queue ,you get a spare room.

tell me how that’s fair,

With my housing association they do direct allocations from the actual council
They have properties every week which go straight to those most in need without ever being up for bidding on.
The rest go on the website for bidding.

@Janieforever it's a system my housing association have ,not every house is up for bidding
Those in most need get direct allocation
Everyone else has to wait their turn
It's the way it is

Also if anyone in band 1 or 2 had bid on this property they would have went ahead of me as I'm in band 3
Clearly they didn't
So everyone in band 3 bid -and we all had the same general need

I hope you get your 2bed OP.

and most people don't have spare rooms

Which didnt stop the Covid zealots moaning at us for not having a room to self isolate in 🤔