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Original poster

High joint income and in social housing with no plans to buy. Celebrate or selfish?

780 replies

SocialHousedNHappy · 27/11/2023 21:57

I’ve been wondering about for some time and completely understand the dire and desperate situation that many people and families find themselves in. But… I hate the way that social housing is seen as only for the most desperate, when it was introduced as a housing option for all.

My household brings in a healthy income and we pay less than 10% to our monthly rent. This means we get enjoy a modest lifestyle and put some money aside for adult DC for when they’re older - they can then choose to buy whatever they fancy, car, house deposit, uni, whatever as will be their choice.

I hate that people seem to think that I should give up my secure tenancy and move into private rent. Looking on rightmove, a comparable house would be around 3x what I’m currently paying in rent, and to be honest, I wouldn’t move to private rented ever again. But why do people react as thought I’m doing something wrong, in the same way as they think of benefit cheats? I think the govt should be put under pressure to build more social housing - proper social housing, rather than the current situation where people are pit against each other and blaming each other for what is clearly a government failing.

I don’t want to sound like I’m gloating, because I’m not, but I don’t see why I should feel bad and not celebrate the life and comfort that my social housing has allowed me to enjoy.

I’m genuinely interested to hear if anyone agrees and feels the same.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
Nothankyou22 · 29/11/2023 22:29

My HA is the same price as a private rental 😭 but it provides a home I can make my own and gives me security for my future

Boomboom22 · 29/11/2023 22:35

The councils need to build flats themselves. Developers won't do it, they will squeeze the space for houses. It would be a good idea for labour to run with, special funding for 1 and 2 bed council flats with shared areas and gardens.

iverreacted · 29/11/2023 22:38

Boomboom22 · 29/11/2023 22:35

The councils need to build flats themselves. Developers won't do it, they will squeeze the space for houses. It would be a good idea for labour to run with, special funding for 1 and 2 bed council flats with shared areas and gardens.

Councils don't build houses. Housing associations do

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Benefits
JenniferBooth · 29/11/2023 22:39

The housing associations ARE the developers. I HAVE posted examples upthread

1975wasthebest · 29/11/2023 22:43

Can anyone cough up a link that categorically states that the taxpayer does not fund social housing?

XenoBitch · 29/11/2023 22:45

I can't believe you are still getting a lot of hate here OP. You were eligible when you applied for the housing, and you can stay on condition you pay the rent and are not antisocial. According to the rules, you are doing nothing wrong. So all this handwringing and nastiness over something that some people perceive to be wrong just smack to me of them applying their morals to others, with a bit of jealousy too. TBH, it makes life very hard to navigate when you have black and white thinking.

I am puzzled as to how many people think your rent is subsidised. Social housing rents are well below market rents, but are not subsidised rents. Any costs to do with social housing must come from the rents charged, and not from anywhere else (such as council tax etc).
A chap did a FOI request about this, which can be read about here...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/is_my_social_housing_rent_subsid

It is only subsidised if the tenant is claiming housing benefit, but that would also apply to private tenants too, meaning the taxpayer is paying for someone's mortgage.

My parents have only ever been in council housing and are now in their 60s, and will be paying rent until the day they die.

cakeorwine · 29/11/2023 22:53

JenniferBooth · 29/11/2023 22:39

The housing associations ARE the developers. I HAVE posted examples upthread

Seems they have a lot of debt to pay for these homes and the debt is funded somehow.

Can housing associations again keep development going as the rest of the market slows? | Housing Today

Do they get Government grants at all?
Is some of the rent they get covered by Housing Benefit?

All so they can provide decent, affordable housing.

geeta nanda resized

Can HAs keep development going as the rest of the market slows?

Thanks to subsidy, housing associations have typically carried on building through a downturn as the volume housebuilders slow down. But, there is now scepticism about whether they can do so this time around

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/can-has-keep-development-going-as-the-rest-of-the-market-slows/5120204.article

cakeorwine · 29/11/2023 22:57

XenoBitch · 29/11/2023 22:45

I can't believe you are still getting a lot of hate here OP. You were eligible when you applied for the housing, and you can stay on condition you pay the rent and are not antisocial. According to the rules, you are doing nothing wrong. So all this handwringing and nastiness over something that some people perceive to be wrong just smack to me of them applying their morals to others, with a bit of jealousy too. TBH, it makes life very hard to navigate when you have black and white thinking.

I am puzzled as to how many people think your rent is subsidised. Social housing rents are well below market rents, but are not subsidised rents. Any costs to do with social housing must come from the rents charged, and not from anywhere else (such as council tax etc).
A chap did a FOI request about this, which can be read about here...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/is_my_social_housing_rent_subsid

It is only subsidised if the tenant is claiming housing benefit, but that would also apply to private tenants too, meaning the taxpayer is paying for someone's mortgage.

My parents have only ever been in council housing and are now in their 60s, and will be paying rent until the day they die.

From that

" The Housing Revenue Account
(HRA), which is where all of the properties are accounted for if they are
owned by a local authority, is what is known as 'ring fenced', which means
all of the costs of providing the social housing need to be met from the
rental income received from them. "

Does all the costs include building the house, paying the debt on that borrowing?

Or is it the cost of running the service, the maintainance etc?

JenniferBooth · 29/11/2023 22:57

And. Once.More.With.Feeling.

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

1,214 social homes demolished and replaced with 82 social homes.

The HOUSING ASSOCIATION partner was London and Quadrant.

Fucking hell ive bolded this explained it and posted it several times.

I guess people find it hard to let go of what they WANT to believe.

1975wasthebest · 29/11/2023 23:09

Looks like I’ll be waiting a while for an answer.

Sharkgirl14 · 29/11/2023 23:22

newwings · 27/11/2023 22:23

Social housing estates need families like yours? It's a healthy mix and tbh I think it's great for you, home owning isn't what it's always cracked up to be.

Don't feel bad you're not doing anything wrong.

'Social housing estates need families like yours...' because, why exactly?

BooneyBeautiful · 29/11/2023 23:25

obje · 27/11/2023 22:19

@berksandbeyond I honestly had no ode it worked this way. So as a single woman earning £80k+ a year, I could rock up to the local authority and ask them for a really really cheap (relatively speaking) property and they'd give me a property where I only need to pay 1/3rd of the market rate in rent?

Doesn't matter what I earn or what I have in the bank??

I'm gobsmacked if this is the case (probably as I've always been brought up to pay my own way as much as possible). But if this is right, my question is why aren't we all doing it? Why are some of us being complete mugs and paying the full whack?

Most local authorities these days won't let you go on the housing waiting list if your household has an income of more than a certain amount. In my area it used to be £40,000 a year. Not sure if that has increased more recently. If your income is too high, you are expected to rent privately or buy.

LaurieStrode · 29/11/2023 23:59

@Sharkgirl14

Why not? Households without children are as valid as those without, you know.

Gingerkittykat · 30/11/2023 00:14

Naptrappedmummy · 29/11/2023 15:10

How many elderly people pass away in their social housing versus children? It wouldn’t strangle the system to allow families to remain in their social houses without a tax because their child dies. It would strangle the system if every person who cared for an elderly parent was entitled to take over the house upon their parents death. Plus many elderly people live in sheltered housing which is in short supply. Would it be fair to let a 50 year old move in and take up one of the flats?

A person can only inherit a tenancy if they have lived in the house for over a year and the council has a record of them living there. You can't pass on a house to a child who lives elsewhere.

I know a young woman of 22 who lost her parents in quick succession, when she was around 23 she inherited the lovely 3 bed family home where she grew up. I'm in an area where social housing is relatively plentiful but it still seems unfair she wasn't offered a smaller home instead of having a larger home that she does not need.

Mamanyt · 30/11/2023 00:22

DO NOT come to the USA to live. Our social housing has strict income requirements, and rent is 30% of income. And you have to requalify annually.

JenniferBooth · 30/11/2023 00:22

That American Dream eh!

Goodornot · 30/11/2023 00:24

Mamanyt · 30/11/2023 00:22

DO NOT come to the USA to live. Our social housing has strict income requirements, and rent is 30% of income. And you have to requalify annually.

Worry not the USA is the last place I'd want to live.

No employment rights, no annual leave ( I get 35 days in UK), expensive medical care, guns guns guns and guns

And shitty social housing too it seems.

Frequency · 30/11/2023 00:25

@Gingerkittykat You would be in favour of forcibly removing a recently bereaved young woman from her family home, even though you say yourself that social housing in your area is plentiful?

I assume at some point this poor woman would like to start a family of her own and will fill the house.

JenniferBooth · 30/11/2023 00:25

And easier to get a gun over there than it is to get an abortion. Misogynistic third world shithole

Mamanyt · 30/11/2023 00:39

Goodornot · 30/11/2023 00:24

Worry not the USA is the last place I'd want to live.

No employment rights, no annual leave ( I get 35 days in UK), expensive medical care, guns guns guns and guns

And shitty social housing too it seems.

Show quote history

Yep. If I were younger, and had a marketable job (which I did when I was younger), I'd be seriously considering moving. Alas, that is not to be. I'll have to stay here and vote for sane people.

ShyMaryEllen · 30/11/2023 07:06

The attitude of some on here seems to be that people in social housing should know their place, not try to better themselves, stay single if they were when the housing was allocated and generally stagnate for the rest of their lives. Then they’ll complain that social tenants are feckless, idle and have no ambition.

I can see an argument for charging a percentage of household income, but none at all for forcing people to pay a landlord’s mortgage for them as soon as they earn enough to do so, and living with an insecure tenancy for themselves and their children.

Far better to have decent social housing for all, paid for with profit on rents - or even from a levy on money ‘earned’ by private landlords. Good luck to you, OP. The shame is in the fact that council houses were sold, not in you hanging onto you home.

Zebedee55 · 30/11/2023 08:23

I first moved into social housing in 1974. Social homes were available to most people then. My income has gone up and down, over decades, but I've never thought of giving up the secure tenancies I've had, nor going down the 'right to buy' route.

But, I pay my full rent which is £800 per month, no means tested top ups for me, in a London suburb. So, cheaper than most private rentals, but not this mythical "£90 per week" which often gets bandied about.🙄

Im a pensioner now, and have no intention of giving up a secure tenancy of a nice property.

Crack on, OP- you are doing nothing wrong. The shortage of social housing is down to various governments, not the tenants.👍

Zebedee55 · 30/11/2023 08:37

Ange1233556 · 29/11/2023 18:41

Forgive my ignorance but I thought you had to qualify for social housing so it’s means tested? So once you have access to social housing that’s if for life with no further assessment? Honestly doesn’t really seem fair to me.

I have never been eligible for social housing and before we bought our rent was 50% of our income. To only be paying 10% sounds crazy

Qualifying for social housing is not all about income. Health can also come into it.

Naptrappedmummy · 30/11/2023 09:01

Far better to have decent social housing for all, paid for with profit on rents - or even from a levy on money ‘earned’ by private landlords

Not this again. Do tell, how would we go about building social housing for ALL 67 million people in the U.K.?