to think that elderly people living alone in 3/4 bed council houses should not have a choice about whether they want to stay there?

[BlessYouToo]

In fact, they should be moved into one bedroom accommodation as soon as the kids leave home (this should have happened years ago of course). Having a 'spare' bedroom in case the grandchildren come to stay should not be an option when they are in state owned properties.

I have today been to view a council property with a friend of mine who has been homeless for 3 years (in temp accommodation) after finally getting to the top of the bidding queue! She was called to see a 4 bedroom house and it was absolutely rank, the smell made me want to heave. Plaster was hanging off the wall and the whole place was damp as the previous tenant either, did not or could not, heat and ventilate it properly Apparently the house was in a much worse than the state we saw it in today but the council had done some remedial work on it to make it safe so it was a bit better. The garden was also just a sea of brambles.

We were told that an elderly person had been living there and had just been moved into a nursing home. T

I was shocked that the council could rent out a property in this state. I would have expected that they would have made sure the property was up to a decent, clean standard before renting it out as any other landlord would have to do (all my friend will get is a paint allowance if she is eligible) but I am even more shocked that this elderly tenant was allowed to let the property get into this condition. Why do councils not carry out inspections to ensure their properties don't get into this state? Obviously the house was too much for the previous tenant to cope with and surely they would have been better off with a smaller property that they could keep clean?

We were told that many of the properties coming available after elderly tenants have either died, or gone into alternative accommodation, are left in a similar state. How many families with young children are left crammed into tiny flats while elderly people are living in houses much too large for their needs, letting them decay around them? I find it unbelievable that this has been happening.

I feel gutted for my friend as she has been desperate to get a stable home for her DCs and will now be going into a total shithole without even carpets on the floor, just cement. It's a bloody disgrace! AIBU?

Oops just seen how old this is - sorry

Yes the thread was dug up. How nobody can see the warning in big red letters is beyond me.

Social housing was not invented for people in desperate need/no job and what have you.. just like it's nothing to do with welfare.

Why should people who own their houses be exempt from a kicking? I'm sure there's money to be made there as well.

I would be happy with the right to buy being abolished as long as the buy to let is abolished as well.

Erm, I can't see a warning in big red letters.

There is no Zombie Thread Alert in the posting box either.

*Erm, I can't see a warning in big red letters.

There is no Zombie Thread Alert in the posting box either.*

Me either - I'm on phone so not sure if that makes a difference?

I'm on my laptop.

Social housing was not invented for people in desperate need/no job and what have you.. just like it's nothing to do with welfare.

What is it for then?

I can't see the usual zombie warning either

Mintyy Doesn't the warning disappear if several people post after the thread is resurrected?

it's not a forever home But it was originally and was so, when a lot of these older people took out their tenancies. It's not these people's fault that so much social housing was sold off and no more was built. And where are all these smaller flats/houses that the displaced old people are going to be moving to?

It is very sad how little actual people matter. Lived in a house for 30 or 40 years; all your support network around you; not what you signed up for when you took on the tenancy? Tough.

Politically speaking, you are expendable. And you will not be regarded as an individual by anonymous posters on a talk site - you are just a statistic and as such, can be shunted about at will to suit whatever agenda is currently being promoted.

Ah, does it? Didn't know that. I'm still wondering about the warning in big red letters that gamerchick refers to.

Tbh it isn't even the cheap rent that keeps me in council accommodation it's the security. If private was guaranteed that then I would more than happily have less each month to spend so I can pay more for rent. But unfortunately that's a rarity. My parents have up there 3 bedroom house and lived to a 2 bedroom flat. I live literally 5 seconds away and they've moved a family in with 2 teenagers (opposite sex I think ). I just feel that a big 3 bedroom house with a huge garden would've been better appreciated by a family with more younger kids ,the teenagers will probably move out soon. I'm in a 3 bedroom with 2 kids ,a boy and a girl and will downsize when my kids grow older and move out ; I have 4 stepchildren round 50/50 so we do make good use of the space around us.

Right first of all its total rubbish to say that pensioners are not affected by the cuts, care home fees have rocketed especially for those forced to sell their homes to pay for them, meals on wheels 121 care have all been cut day centres are closing down, Hospital care for the elderly is a disgrace, pensioners are routinely being denied medical care and operations due to their age (although its never admitted by the NHS it happens my Nan was affected by it)

As far as I have read, care home costs have been made more generous not less (although, the scheme has changed so some people will lose out). As for NHS problems, well that's true for a lot of people, not just the old.

As for bus passes, it should be means tested.

Working class people like my Grandparents and Parents never even got the chance to go to university free or otherwise, in fact my Sister was the first of our family to actually do so don't blame pensioners for young people having to pay for something that they never even had the chance of getting when they were young.

Why didn't they have a chance? Until the late 90s tuition was free.

As for housing me and DH would never have got the chance to buy our own property ( or at least the one we got) without the help of my DHs parents and grandparents who themselves never had a chance to own their own homes.

So your parents had enough to help you?

About blaming our generation and younger "blaming" older people: that's not the point really. Young people are really getting hit hard. they will likely have little access to right to buy. and if they did, they might not be able to afford it on account of all the student debt they are bearing.

None of the "heartless" people here are suggesting putting them out on the street, just forced to downsize or stump up, like everyone else.

The warning message goes after a few posts.

Written I will say this once again most working class people did NOT get the chance of going to university not unless you were very bright and went to a grammar school it doesn't matter if it was free or not

Yes my parents in law helped us to buy a house, DH and I could have afforded a flat - no problem but due to other circumstances and a really nice house being offered for private sale we went for a house and NO actually they didn't have enough to help us not out of their savings and as I said they didn't have a house to sell or remortgage FIL cashed in a plan that was supposed to come in fruition when he retired just so we could get something he never had a chance to have him self a 3 bed house of our own - we are so grateful to him and MIL they should have had the money to spend now when they are retired but gave it to us. (we are paying them back BTW)

You are totally wrong about the NHS as well, yes lots of people cant get treatment, but younger people are not routinely denied procedures that are deemed to expensive due to their age, they are not left in their own waste, starved, bullied etc Older people (not in all Hospitals I agree) are not treated very well at all unless they have younger relatives speaking up for them

Don't tell ME what young people have or don't have I am a young person myself don't forget

You know what only my Sister went to uni - I didn't and none of my cousins did either, that's my cousins who are - an estate agent, a plumber and a landscape gardener all under 30, all with well paid jobs and all of them have or are in the process of buying their own homes. so get a bit fed up when people harp on about tuition fees, don't want to pay them don't go to uni - simple

Even my DH who has a good job as a civilian worker with the navy started off in a store room with no qualifications

I am very ashamed and sickened at some people my own age with their me me me attitude and I haven't got it or may not get it so why should other people have it mentality

Older people HAVE stumped up time and time and time again- leave them alone

euthanasia - its the key

MrsDavid: Written I will say this once again most working class people did NOT get the chance of going to university not unless you were very bright and went to a grammar school it doesn't matter if it was free or not

of course, not everyone goes to university and benefits from subsidized fees. but those who don't benefit from state subsidies to university directly, may benefit from other state subsidies (housing benefit etc).

if the old are being treated poorly in hospitals that is of course appalling. I am not advocating that should be done and it is hardly official policy to starve the old in hospitals. Where it is being done (and I am not sure it is), it should be stopped.

You may be fed up with people harping about fees, but I am sure you are aware that the people who get put off by high fees are people on the cusp of not being able to afford them (i.e. many working class people). It's going to hurt Britain in the future not to have an educated workforce and high fees may have that effect. So you may not think it's a big deal, but it is.

I don't have a me me me attitude. I am not young (I am not old either), so I am not saying this out of self interest. I too am ashamed and sickened at how people treat the young and talk about how selfish and lazy they are, when they have few job prospects, high fees and no chance at buying a home.

I am young and I have NO problem about the way I am treated by the older people on posts like these

You don't speak for me, you don't speak for my cousins all of who are under 30 all of who have got on very well without a degree, my sister is different she wanted to be a forensic scientist so needed a degree

If the young people you mention have no job prospects, high fees and no chance of buying a home, tell me why me and my cousins are so different, we have jobs, we have homes and we have no fees. Maybe its because we have a better attitude

if its been their family home for the last 40 years,you still think they should be turfed out!

Yes!! What has that got to do with it? There are too few houses to be sentimental over memories, and beside, memories are in our heads, not in between brick walls.

If I default on my rent or mortgage, the landlords/mortgage lenders won't be letting me stay because I have raised my family here. There is no time or room for sentiment with the housing situation the way it is.

Families need those homes & if suitable housing can be found for single people, they should be made to swap.

OP - you speak of families with children crammed into into tiny flats. There's case for saying they shouldn't have more children than their accommodation can support comfortably.

That's terribly short sighted, how about those who have lost their homes through redundancy etc?

I have just been given a 2 bed housing association flat for my family...me, DH and 2 DC...there is a tiny garden and some lovely neighbours....and no OP I don't agree with you. Why should my needs come above someone elderly who has only known one home?? I can wait...I am glad we have an affordable and secure home for as long as we want it. People expect the bloody earth!

I could rent a privately owned house with a garden...but then I'd be paying out 300 more a month than I will be in my flat. I have what I can afford and what is available. The houses which are offered here have gone to those with more children. It's not for me to judge who has how many children and why....I am happy to get what we have been given and I think we're very lucky indeed when I see the way people in London wait for years.

I'm wondering if the OP is still on MN.I would really like to know how her friend has coped.

I have recently sold my 5 bedroom family home because frankly it was too big for me. Both my DC are firmly entrenched in their own homes and I still work 4 days a week.

I will admit that it took me 6 months to declutter and with the help of my DS (who helped me see that I didn't need to hang on to 20 pair of bedsheets etc. etc.).

The charity shop became my best friend and I became excited about my purchasing a new 2 bedroom townhouse with a manageable garden.

I really feel reborn with all the clutter gone from my life and I know I will never allow it to build up again.

The first time my 3 year old DGS visited, he stopped abruptly at the front door and said "This isn't Grandma"s home". The second time he just raced in and said "I'm so glad we're at Grandma's home".

Not to sound morbid but it is also really great to know that when I die, my DC won't have to spend endless hours going through all my belongs trying to decide what to do with them. They already have what is important to them.

I only wish I could persuade my DM to do the same thing.

I think the government should have no choice but to build affordable housing for all who need it, instead of slinging people out of the homes they have lived in all their lives.

It can happen if we choose not to buy into divide and rule tactics and demand it.

Elfhame where are they going to build all this affordable housing - we are a small island and there isn't the space to keep building and building.

Clearly the housing shortage is an emergency and takes precedence over the wants and needs of individuals. That's why the government is bringing in the requirement for all home owners to either downsize or take in a benefit recipient selected by their local council.

I think most home owners will welcome the new law as there has been much concern on MN about under occupied property.

If you need a live-in carer the law states that the carer must have a separate bedroom and bathroom for their sole use. Even if this is just for respite or to cover respite for a relative.

There are hardly any one bedroom council properties available so until that is addressed I am not sure what the answer is.

It costs around £900 per week to keep an elderly person in a care home.

Somehow we need to look at investing money in a more timely and sensible fashion.