Honestly, do you judge people who live in council estates?

[Dotcheck]

So, I live in my own home on a council estate. I’m well educated, and have always worked in a job which requires a degree + a post graduate qualification, but is poorly paid.
I’m grateful I own my own home. I’m divorced, never remarried so moving hasn’t been an option.
After my divorce, I bought my ex husband out, but qualified for a mortgage by the skin of my teeth. I believe I’m really lucky- many people can’t afford to buy their own home, and in many places in the world, people live in awful conditions.
However, I recently changed jobs and I’m now in a place which has more ‘middle class’ people. I hate those sorts of designations but there we are.
I’ve heard so many people make off handed comments about council estates and the people who live there. Although I do feel grateful to have my own home, I’m heartbroken/ furious that my children may be judged for where they come from.
So- do you judge? Or have you had those experiences?

You’re one person to be fair. I assume most people in life judge or make assumptions. It’s human nature to do this.

What do you mean by getting it all for free?

If I heard that someone lived on a council estate, I would have no strong judgement either way, but would probably assume they had a bit more resilience and down-to-earth experience of life than picket fence people

Free you having a fucking laugh.

Yes most will be judging you unfortunately. We are riddled with a class system in Britain. If you are well educated and living in a council house you will be judged by poorer people for taking away council houses that they may have benefited from. Or you will be judged by richer for being a benefit scrounger. You can't win so best ignore.

I obviously missed a memo somewhere because I've just paid my own gas and electric bill. Where can I get the HA to pay it for me? Fair enough we get our rent paid through UC but I'd rather dh be able to work instead of having to stay home for our disabled dc. Swings and roundabouts, really.

@AHeadForHeights I hope you bought some feed for the goat too! 😏

What gets you far in life is studying and working hard, nor having everything handed to you on a plate, being decent and not arrogant. I don't think you can be naive to the fact there are social problems on council estates, but they have nothing to do with you, so I wouldn't concern yourself with their comments. As an attitude I don't particularly like it, but it is quite a British thing and to do with our housing history.

That's such a weird comment. Do "picket fence" people not have lives? Why is there always this assumption, seen often on the private Vs state school threads that if you're not really struggling and living hand to mouth it's somehow not "real life" and that you're somehow less resilient or worthy.
I've read the first couple of pages and it seems to me there's a bit of disengenousness on here. Individually, no, someone living in a council estate means nothing, but to deny that there ARE problem estates or areas of them with anti-social behaviour etc is ridiculous. About a decade ago, one v near me was a no go area for the police and notorious. They got it in hand and its ok now but "they're from x estate" is still short-hand for describing someone who is causing trouble, dodgy etc.

I've recently had a new boiler fitted in my mortgaged house it was £4000. My neighbour in council property will be having a new boiler & back door fitted this week with no charge.
I don't judge but admit that I'm envious.

It's normally the cheapest they can find.

I judge some of the people who live near me. I live in an ex council house. The area's ok but I do have my opinions on them. As they no doubt have opinions on me. Police are regular visitors to certain houses. I feel for some of the children living in some of the homes.

But there are people from all kinds of backgrounds living near me. So I don't judge unless I see what's going on.

That's such a weird comment. Do "picket fence" people not have lives? Why is there always this assumption, seen often on the private Vs state school threads that if you're not really struggling and living hand to mouth it's somehow not "real life" and that you're somehow less resilient or worthy.

You are projecting extra stuff into what I said. Nowhere did I say picket fence people are less worthy. Neither did I talk about 'real life'.

However - and I say this as a picket fence person whose child goes to private school, if you are lucky enough NOT to be struggling financially or living in a socially deprived area, you ARE privileged in this way, and part of that privilege is making it possible to be less in touch with these kind of challenges. I would also contend that resilience is born through struggle - so yes, if people have struggled less in life they may be less resilient.

And no, I'm not saying that nobody who is financially comfortable has ever suffered, or cannot be resilient. But I was answering the question- that if I had any judgement of people living on council estates it would be to make a general guess that they would be down to earth and a bit more resilient than average because they are often exposed to extra challenges.

Who gets it for free?
Some people are getting extra support.
But who gets it free?

That's the same for someone renting.

At the end of the day, if you own a home, you have an asset. That can be passed down / will gain in value (probably)

I know of some pretty terrifying 'no go' estates in the big Northern city near where I live but I judge the society that has created such extreme inequality and deprivation of opportunity more than I judge anyone who lives there. Having worked in the education system, I've seen a very depressing pipeline that some children are funnelled along which has got so much worse since Cameron and Osborne inflicted their austerity programme, destroying the progress Labour were making in early years and education. Our condemnation should be reserved for the grasping, greedy, callous rich men like them (and those who vote for them) because they're the ones responsible.

I live on a council estate which is now a mix of privately owned, privately rented and council homes. The street is in a fantastic location, and I wouldn't choose to move away. Socially, there's a bit of a mix, and the middle class households and working class households tended to be more neighbourly with the households similar to them, although that isn't always the case, particularly with the elderly residents. The street is on the border between two school catchment areas and at one point all the working class kids went to one school and the middle class kids to the other, but that's changed a bit now.

I don't think that anyone judges me for where I live, and if they do, I don't particularly care. I live in a house I love, in a great location in an expensive city, and it meant we could afford to have a SAHP for most of our children's childhoods and still have the mortgage paid off in our early forties.

I do feel bad that there aren't more council houses available though. Someone I work with recently moved into a very nice council flat and it was such a weight off his shoulders to know he had stable housing near his support networks. I just wish that more people could have that.

Weird thing to be envious of.l are you envious of all renters when their landlords provide something or just SH?

But your neighbour has paid and will continue to do so. They pay to rent the boiler and the back door as part of the house. They're paying for it to be in good repair and useable, and it's the LL who decides if/when it needs replacing and with what. You don't just fancy a new door or boiler as a tenant and get it done and paid for by someone else.

Why is it that renting is the only service where people resent/are envious/jealous of someone else paying for a service and actually getting it? Anything else and it's standard that you expect to get what you're paying for - renting and nope, people are envious if you actually get what you pay for. Somehow see it as unfair.

this is what my area is like I live on a "council" estate most are privately owned, most of the village are the same type council houses estates were put up after the war houses were pulled down and replaced. so that's where we are at "council estate" surrounded by new builds. I think people need to get a grip and stop being snobs about other peoples houses.

I do feel bad that there aren't more council houses available though. Someone I work with recently moved into a very nice council flat and it was such a weight off his shoulders to know he had stable housing near his support networks. I just wish that more people could have that.

My brother lives in a council house. I didn't realise you're entitled to it for the rest of your life and he's able to pass it on to his son after that. I assumed there'd be periodic checks at some point to see if you still 'qualified' or whether there were others in more financial need on the waiting list.

I can see it brings stability but it presumably also contributes to the shortage of social housing?

full life tenancies are rare now if your nephew moves out @sep135 he can't have his dads house I mean it's not an inheritance!

My colleague's disabilities mean that he is unlikely to ever be able to work full-time without significant damage to his health, so unless a future government gets even harsher towards vulnerable people or there are dramatic medical advances, he's likely to have his home long term, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing.

No, not at all. I would judge the person who judges someone living in the council house more than i judge the person in the council house
I mean, who lives their life in such a way that they gauge a person on where they live.

I do y judge council housing, I do judge those able to work who choose not to (or worse still work on the sly) don't know anyone where I currently live but where I used to live it was common knowledge who they were, and who got caught was all over Facebook etc. Got told by one person they couldn't understand why I worked despite a chronic condition (fibromyalgia)