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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be pissed off at people's attitude towards "poor people"?

111 replies

WriterofDreams · 01/06/2011 21:42

We are in the process of buying a house and of course we've been chatting about it with a few people. I'm from Ireland and I haven't lived here long so people don't know me that well. I've lost count of the number of times that people have warned me off different areas because "it's near a council estate" or "they are ex-council houses." What they don't realise is that I grew up on a council estate and my family was quite poor. The way they warn me you would think people in council or ex-council houses have a contagious disease (perhaps called "poverty"??) and that they should be avoided at all costs. Naturally this makes me feel like shit, as though if they knew where I came from they wouldn't consider me good enough.

The reason it really surprises me is that living in a council estate isn't a source of shame where I'm from. I went to school with people whose parents were millionaires, people whose parents were professionals and people who were from council estates like me. People don't tend to be segregated according to how much money they have.

As it turns out we're in the process of buying a very nice ex council house that is about twice the size of the houses in "better" areas and costs less than half the price. So I'm happy about that :) but disappointed that my "friends" clearly don't think the area I'll be living in is suitable for them :(

Is this just a southern thing?

OP posts:
NettoSuperstar · 01/06/2011 22:56

I don't understand.
I really don't.

I wasn't being serious with my last post and am a bit Hmm that I've had to say that.

Have people really been rude to you because you're poor?

I live in a town of two halves. It's small, and gossipy and judgemental.
Yet, no one has been nasty to me in the posh Deli, nor has anyone in FarmFoods.

In fact, no one has been rude to me, for no reason.

I hear that the 'posh' people look down on the poor people, but I've never seen it happen.

I sometimes think it's the poor people who have a chip on their shoulder that are the problem.
I'm poor, but I have no problem with anyone based on income.
Anyone who does I'd class, and judge as an arse.

Thingumy · 01/06/2011 22:57

maybe we should have 'council estate dweller' tattooed on our wrists Usual?

Hmm Grin

DillyDaydreaming · 01/06/2011 22:58

I live in a HA home but when I was privately renting a few years ago, the estate agent showed me round a very nice flat near here but made several comments about "social housing down the road" where by happy coincidence I have recently been housed. Would love to go back and tell him that I am now a social housing tenant, I pay my own rent and my neighbours are lovely.

usualsuspect · 01/06/2011 23:00

Maybe we should Thingumy Grin
or wear high vis jackets when we are allowed off the estate in case we have to mix with the normal people

Thingumy · 01/06/2011 23:03
Law0 · 01/06/2011 23:07

My DH and I were born in council houses rented by grandparents and spent a number of years growing up there. Both sets of parents were eager to move and own non-council housing to move to a better area. They worked bloody hard. We live in the north east of England.

I live as far from the nearest council estate as I can. The council estates in my region have terrible reputations. I would be scared living there. We don't have the gang problems up here, but lots of petty crime/anti-social behaviour.

Of course the social problems aren't just limited to the council areas - oh no. The private landlords have seen to that. They have rented their houses out to benefit scrounging druggies and folks who don't give two hoots and once nice areas have been decimated. These were pleasant street (terraced) houses where I certainly now wouldnt leave my car.

Where have all the standards, morals and decency gone?

That being said, some of our villages have a handful of council properties which are nice. Probably because old people are living in them who own a lawn mower and put weedol in their front garden.

Different areas around the country are going to have different levels of issues in their social housing areas and there are lots of good decent people living in council houses, but I bet they put up with some crap off toe-rags.

MenaZovut · 01/06/2011 23:08

chic, different estates in Hackney, Walthamstow, Leyton, Leytonstone and Dagenham. I must admit I actively looked for non-council looking flats when I bought my first place. I seemed to be stuck in a land of mindless vandalism, loud music and drugs personally. Not hugely rough, just depressing and on top of each other.

MenaZovut · 01/06/2011 23:10

I'm probab;y your classic 'chip on the shoulder' in terms of not liking the area, but I'd never judge the people. Largely decent (bar anyone who happened to live in the flat below me each time...)

Thingumy · 01/06/2011 23:11

'That being said, some of our villages have a handful of council properties which are nice. Probably because old people are living in them who own a lawn mower and put weedol in their front garden.'

So it's about appearances then?

SNOB.

montmartre · 01/06/2011 23:12

Perhaps they were concerned that it may be a poor investment, because a house near social housing may not have a good resell value in the future? In many areas large council-owned estates have a reputation for being crime-ridden, which will affect your house insurance, car insurance, possibly even mortgage availability.

I really think it depends on the type of housing too- there is a world of difference between families in HA semis and a tower block full of crack addicts Wink

Also- in the Midlands (Birmingham) there has been a serious problem of social housing built in the 50s being of very low quality, and if you were to buy one of these you could potentially have a very expensive repair list.

Unfortunately people are prejudiced, and not just in London- they have conducted studies that showed people who gave their address on job applications as Chelmsley Wood (huge housing estate in Solihull) did not get contacted for interviews despite being fully qualified and experienced for a position, whereas people at other Solihull addresses did.

usualsuspect · 01/06/2011 23:13

Well I was calm Thingumy Grin

But now I'm not

Theres some fucking snobs on here

wubblybubbly · 01/06/2011 23:15

Oh that happened where i worked too montmartre. The same guy who chucked out all the applicants with foreign names Hmm

He almost had a fit when I interviewed a young woman in wheelchair. He was, at least, totally fair in his discrimination.

Law0 · 01/06/2011 23:25

"So it's about appearances then".

Most people, given the choice, all things being equal, would like to live somewhere that looks nice. Especially if you're making a huge financial investment to live there. Surely?

I'm not a snob if I'm talking from my own experiences.

Joolyjoolyjoo · 01/06/2011 23:39

Well, there are council estates and there are council estates (I'm in Scotland, so I'm thinking of the difference between the nice ex council house I owned vs The Scheme) Having said that, one of the reasons we did move from council estate was because we were fed up getting our car broken into (3 times in 2 months).

I don't think of it in terms of poverty, rather the people housed there. There are places near me where there seem to be lots of drug addicts. It's in the local paper every week, whether it is police raids/ kids finding needles in the playpark/ assaults/ murders/ men with machetes/ public disturbances. Those aren't the kind of things I want to live next to or have my children witness, but I don't see that that means I'm snobbish.

Original poster
WriterofDreams · 02/06/2011 07:04

I suppose what got to me was the assumption that all council estates are bad no matter what. I know some are terrible - there were some like this where I come from too - but to assume they're all terrible is very prejudiced IMO and gives me the sense that the fact that I'm from a council estate means I'm in some way "not good enough." I've never felt that way until I came here.

OP posts:
MotherSnacker · 02/06/2011 07:20

Welcome to England where lower incomed people live in ghettos and are despised.

cookcleanerchaufferetc · 02/06/2011 07:23

Location location location!

ccpccp · 02/06/2011 08:21

There are good council estates and bad ones.

It only takes a shit familiy or two to be moved in and the decline is rapid. Unfortunately the UK seems to specialise in producing disrespectful chavscum.

You wont get any respect for living in a council house. Its viewed as a form of benefits.

eekamouse2 · 02/06/2011 08:25

I wouldn't buy near a council estate tbh. We once went to look at a beautiful house with river frontage, couple of acres etc but just round the corner was a council estate with broken cars in the front garden etc and it just felt bad/threatening.

usualsuspect · 02/06/2011 08:34

I'm just Shock and Sadat the attitudes on this thread

montmartre · 02/06/2011 09:15

Council housing viewed as a form of benefit?
It is a form of benefit! Renting a home at a below market rate- how could that Not be a benefit to someone? The social housing in my area is in the main larger more spacious accommodation than that in the private sector too, though not all of it is in good condition. That said, some of the private rental market is horrific too.

I worked briefly in the repairs department of our Local Authority hosing dept. I have never seen anything like it!
The things people did to council property would have your eyes out on stalks... but the attitude of the staff to their clients was horrific.

ScousyFogarty · 02/06/2011 09:36

writer of dreams

A lot of English people have a snobbish attitue towards the poor. (A throwback to Victorian times, maybe)

I think we are arguably more harsh on poor people than the Scots or the welsh
Maggie Thatchers selling of council houses may have seemed a good idea. But now it is looking as though it helped to wreck the housing market.

Primalscream · 02/06/2011 09:46

There are some council estates I wouldn't even walk passed let alone live on - it's not a snob thing it's just reality. Some ( of course not all ) council estates are bloody awful places.

And I'm not sure if it's just a Southern thing? - I doubt it.

MrsTumbles · 02/06/2011 09:47

We live in the North near the biggest council estate in Europe and when DH and I were looking for a home we were advised to go for an ex-council house as you get 'more for your money' and the houses have been maintained by the council (they do repairs etc whilst they own them).

However like Tortu we couldn't get a mortgage on an ex-council property, which is why I thought that some people may be warning the OP that some property is ex-council?

usualsuspect · 02/06/2011 09:54

Its not a just a southern thing ,its a snob thing