Council's paying thousands per month in rent for substandard accommodation in London - is this fair to the tax payer and the fmaily?

[mids2019]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly21w7qewvo

Noticed this story in the news but what struck me as well as the ghastly toilet was the fact the council was paying 2,500 Linda in rent for the property. I love outside of London and a 1K mortgage seems on the high end of things in my local town. It seems bizarre that councils are paying such money to private landlords given their already squeezed finances but I guess there is no other option in London.

Could it be that is a fairer solution to offer accommodation outside the capital of rents are so high or should local councils try and minimise local emergency housing costs but be at the mercy of slum landlords?

@Amplepie

You make good points but doesn't economics and the market win in this?

Having a mixture of high quality social housing mixed with price sector housing in an area of high population density and high property prices may be in reality problematic. In a non communist state do you have someone who collects the bins living in the same type and location of flat as a magic circle lawyer.

I am in no way disparaging bin collection but I can see simple economic inconsistencies here that can't be brushed away.

If you have a housing market then is it right to try and mange the market through social policy?

private

Are you saying the person who collects the bins doesn't work as hard, or what?

Just because a "magic circle lawyer" is paid more doesn't mean they shouldn't have to live near [ugh] poor people (who work as hard as them if not harder!)

Erm, not sure where you live, but in central London it's completely normal for both lawyers and bin collectors to live in social housing. It's been that way all my lifetime and we're all very happy with it.

On my estate live just to name a few professions/etc.: teachers, artists, a filmmaker, a jazz musician, a doctor, a professor (biology), NHS admin staff, a plumber, a taxi driver, some graphic designers, supermarket staff (3 residents work in the local supermarket), a counsellor, a nurse, a caretaker, a care assistant, a few people with disabilities on benefits, an air hostess, a bus driver ...

Those are just neighbours whose employment status I know of. All are part of the community and we hold events together, lots sit outside talking in the summer, our children all play together.

Normal life in London.

A fairer solution would be to force private landlords to maintain properties properly and issue massive fines if they don't.
And collect those fines even if that means seizing the landlords rental property to pay them.

Right to buy was criminal.
The council block near me as a child is now almost all privately owned and smart looking now . Bloody Tories!
Housing benefits are a licence to print money and a disincentive to people to find work as it stops ( or did) .

Obviously bin collectors can be lawyers and vice versa (I have a cousin who has worked as a bin collector and as a top consultant in an energy company, for example) and these occupations can coexist in the same family too. Easier to be a lawyer than a bin collector (at least, when I was at university, the law degree modules were pretty easy, but I'd probably die after a day trying to lift bins), but both are possible.

Shocking. Poor woman. We. Need. More. Social. Housing. Greedy cunt of a private landlord charging over £2k a month for that literal shit hole. Piss take

People are quick to say "Don't live in London if you can't afford it," but London will always need cleaners, shop assistants, care staff etc. There needs to be safe, affordable housing for all. Councils and HAs need better funding to provide this, and the RTB policy needs to be repealed. It should never have been allowed in the first place. Thatcher wasn't trying g to get the working classes on the property ladder. She just wanted rid of council stock.

We've now got the situation where ex council properties are being used by Councils as temporary housing at an extortionate rate. So a council property which would have been late out at say £600 are now costing twice that. It's not right and makes my blood boil.

I hope Fouzia and her family get a safe, affordable property soon. It's a basic human right.

Because many times these properties were bought scandalously cheaply due to RTB.

I know of local authorities renting back properties that they owned prior to RTB. They are paying much more than they can charge in rent.

Don’t think the pp housingcrisis was referring to Rtb. She / he was referring to rich people on yachts and tax payers subsidising them.

Thats why I was asking them, particularly, what they were referring to.

In parts of SW London - certainly not the most expensive parts - you can easily pay £500k for a very ordinary 2 bed flat.

It’s not about ‘seeing one another’ so much as it is support, surely? Family provides emergency / regular childcare, emotional support, help people manage things they can’t (eg when people are disabled or knackered from working two or more jobs) etc.

Although lots of people have no choice but to leave expensive areas if they want to buy and can’t afford to live near friends and family.
We had to move away from everyone we knew.