Social housing on new build estates

[pangeapanda]

I’m absolutely not looking for a bun fight on council housing tenants, we’re classed as living in affordable housing (shared ownership).

We live on a new build estate, it’s a mix of outright owned/mortgaged, shared ownership & social housing. From what I understand, a certain percentage of new homes have to be allocated for affordable housing or council housing. I imagine they’re moving away from building entirely socially housed ‘council estates’ now?

Half of the estate is houses, a line of part owned properties then quite a few blocks of social housing apartments. I guess my question is, why do they segregate the council tenants from the home owners? I thought they’d be more likely to pepper them throughout the estate now to avoid pockets of antisocial behaviour.

There’s a clear divide between the estate and one side is noticeably less nice. At the same time, some of the houses sell for nearly 500k so people might be apprehensive, rightly or wrongly, about buying where there may be a lot of turnover or perceived antisocial behaviour.

Is there a reason they lump all the affordable housing together then? And should it be considered a good thing?

You’ve answered your own question - antisocial behaviour. Why should it be peppered throughout everywhere? When people work hard to buy their homes they want quiet enjoyment of them. It would be much better to condense the antisocial behaviour together so they only bother each other.

Shared ownership is a wonderful tenure and often full of hardworking low earners who are ambitious and upwardly mobile.

but many homeowners are just as freaked out at the idea of living next to shared owners as OP is living next to social housing rented. We all need someone to hate, just depends who is below us in the pecking order doesn’t it?

Gosh, reading others’ experiences I feel really lucky that my SH block is so peaceful. People are generally friendly and are good neighbours.

Touch wood it lasts!

I think it's crazy to move into, say, East London, and want tranquility in an area with extreme deprivation. To the point that you want the locals to be put into little corners of the area where you can't see them.

Always worth remembering you can get appallingly badly behaved wealthy people too.

Most are 😁

My parents live on a new build estate. We have absolutely no idea which are the social housing properties and which aren’t!

I just think that some people need to be realistic about where they are in the world. You're in a flat in the inner city among the poor because you don't have detached house in Hampstead money.

But the peaceful law-abiding people in SH don’t deserve to be bothered either.

Round here social housing is being built out in developments in the suburbs /urban edge and bringing with it problems we didn't have before - knife crime, drug crime, assaults.

People buying in the new estates thought they were buying somewhere pleasant

For the moment, yes

Never a truer word spoken

Those problems always existed.

As ever, the worst snobs are the ones very close to being in social housing themselves, or often those who escaped it having grown up in it. As you say, imagine someone buying a flat in a desirable area having the luxury of rejecting it because they don’t like their neighbours 😭

if you’re having loads of problems in the social housing part of your estate you probably generally live in a bit of a tasty area anyway.

I have worked in a community based role for over 30 years inside a large city, travelling all over the city and visiting people in their homes. I have seen estates go through total demolition and redevelopment for SH. Lets not kid ourselves that many SH tenants are a total nightmare. These estates looked lovely when they were first built especially compared to the high rises they replaced, modern, fit for purpose and clean. Now years later so many of them are run down shit holes - anti social behaviour, rubbish dumped anywhere, fly tipping, over grown gardens, drug and alcohol problems - this is down to some of the tenants. Not a prayer would I pay good money to live in one of them. We all know these SH tenants exist, yes there are are many assholes who own their own houses but there are far far more SH tenants that are a nightmare for good honest folk to have to live side by side with. It is a shame for the lovely SH tenants who have no choice but to put up with it, no a prayer would I part with a penny to risk living near the bad ones.

I’m really sorry to say that I’m having a similar nightmare unfolding. I bought a new build over the road from the social housing area. I grew up in a council house, as did my parents before me. Everyone I know told me I was a fool to buy this house, I confidently and self-righteously told them they were snobs. Well, after nearly a year of living in a peaceful estate, the social housing neighbours have moved in and I just want to cry every day. The vile smell of weed, the noise, the rubbish. I feel like such a mug. I’m sure there are decent people in there as well as the low lives - as I say, I grew up on a council estate and we are decent folk as were all my neighbours. But it seems times have changed, and the awful ones are bad enough to spoil it for everyone.

This is in rural England btw, not some inner city area. I really didn’t think it would be this bad. I will be selling as soon as is feasible.

This is my experience as a shared owner. There are 5 outright social properties on our development and this minority manage to ruin the space for everyone... children stealing post, breaking into gardens, broken down vehicles, inconsiderate parking, littering, harrassment of pets...it's such a shame.

Those good, honest folks don't have enough money not to live there though. And they probably arent even local.

You know some of those people living in those rural SH houses are.people.from.inner cities who jave been forced into homes far away from.where they were raised.

Those good, honest folks don't have enough money not to live there though. And they probably arent even local.

Totally agree and what a bloody shame for them.

“I have seen estates go through total demolition and redevelopment for SH”

they would’ve already been social housing- no social housing provider can buy a private estate, bulldoze it and replace with SH 😂

regeneration is fantastic- but it’s replacing end of life social housing with new and modern social housing, not replacing private homes with SH.

Not a shame. Just the reality of their position. Champagne taste and lemonade money.

Not in our area. I have lived here 20 years and the change in the last 3 is palpable

I live in SH. At the end of my road is a house that sold for £650k - front garden is a tip, fence fallen in, smell of weed from their garden (their back garden is literally 3 away from mine) They shout at people standing outside their house at the bus stop. Who do I complain to about these entitled people with a mortgage ruining the nice calm feel of the roads for the rest of us who live in SH?