to think that people who choose to have more children whilst living in social housing shouldn't expect to be given a bigger place?

[balsamicfundamentalist]

I am a member of another pregnancy forum and there is a woman there who has just had her 5th child (by choice). Neither her nor her partner work and she is complaining that the council will not giver them a bigger house (she is in a 3 bed). All the other members are sympathising with her but I don't understand why. Surely if you choose to have a child when you know your home is not big enough, you shouldn't expect the council to give you a bigger one, especially when it is sought after subsidised housing?

I would honestly be amazed if the council doing the gardens thing is correct.

happymummy have you ever considered that it could be keyworkers homes? Still HA/council, but set aside for keyworkers

On our new build estate ( I have a copy of the plans) i can see houses built to be bought ( for those willing to get into debt with a mortgage), some for Keyworkers and, some social housing.

Happymummy-do you actually know these people?-just because they are foreign, it doesn't mean they don't work or could have been made redundant!
Do you actually see their flat screens through the windows?-even so maybe they saved up a long time trying to buy them?
Cars?-they are not free ,people still have to buy them and put petrol in them.
A lot of new builds are either rented by a paying tentant or a person on benefits had had to wait many years waiting to get them.
I know someone on benefits who waited 6 years for a house whilst living in and out of b&bs and friends houses-she didn't actually want to live like that but she could not get a job, through no want of trying but now she has met a man, he works and pays all the rent.
What im saying is, until you have been there or until you actually know a scrounger do not judge-not everyone takes benefits as a choice, it is the only way to survive

If you're buying a new TV, all you can get are the flat screens. You can only buy the older style second hand, via Loot or eBay etc.

What I mean is, a flat screen TV isn't the sign of wealth as it was some years ago.

Exactly Totem-good point flatscreen is the only tv available now whereas a 3D tv would be a better sign of wealth as most people including me cannot afford one

Don't speak English? How do you know..... They could be bi lingual?

Have you spoken to every resident?
Have you been in every single flat to inspect tv??

Colouring - sadly I'm pretty sure its the council doing their gardens - the gardener drives a council van and also does the nearby park.

There is a service charge payable.... Covers the gardener. Our HA are bidding on a handyman too. For general maintenance. We will have to pay extra to cover it.

oh apols to the full stop haterz..... oops

Councils don't do gardens. You are making that up.
My oh is home all day. He goes to work in the evenings. As I work part time and we live in an ex council property I have no doubt that you would assume we are both out of work and have agree house.
And you would be wrong about that too.
I also do not believe social housing is anymore or any less a privilege than owning your own big house.
Decent housing is a right.
If you chose to buy your owns Nd circumstances allow, good for you, but there have always been and Lways will be those who cannot or don't wish to.
Social housing is not free. The LA or the HA are landlords just like private ones. The fact they charge lower rents is to be commended.
Never have private rents been so unaffordable.

That should read....free house

Hence the current crackdown on benefits as its no longer a safety net but a lifestyle choice.
Actually, I think you'll find that the current crackdown on benefits is because it's an easy target. Some idiot in government reckoned the weak, the poor, the disabled, the vulnerable wouldn't be able to fight back. So, they gave, and continue to give the Daily Mail and others of a similar ilk, a load of old waffle, (frequently) wrong figures and stories about scroungers, in an effort to make it look as though the majority are either on the fiddle or have opted for benefits as a lifestyle choice. Look behind the combined government/Mail propaganda and there is a very different story, many of which you can read on here.

I wish I knew some real facts here. I can never made head nor tail of these posts. It's as if there are two universes out there - one inhabited entirely by unlucky victims of life and the other filled with lazy scroungers watching Jeremy Kyle. And they may or not be from the same universe.

ColouringIn - I don't begrudge people who fall on hard times AT ALL - indeed I am proud to live in a country that has a system to help people out.

But the OP was about a woman choosing to have a 5th child when she could not afford the 4 she already had - that is unreasonable.

I, like most other people here have been through some tough times so I get it. But I would not have a child if i couldn't afford to look after it. I know, some people get pregnant by mistake, some believe they can afford it and lose job/partner etc and we totally should help these families but people deliberately having children they can't afford is just ridiculous.

How come a lot of people assume that jus coz u live in a council house u are on benefits. My parents have lived in their council house for more than 30 years. My dad has always worked while my mum stayed at home and looked after us. There were a lot of us and we shared bedrooms like it was the norm. where does it say that a child will suffer if they have to share a bedroom.
I think the person who the OP is talking about should put up and shut up. They dont need a bigger house.

I am amazed by that Happymummy. However if they are flats it might be that the gardens are communal in which case tenants will pay a maintenance charge which would cover the work. I know some of the newer flats locally have enclosed gardens which appear private but which are for communal use.

I agree that if you are in a 3 bed house struggling with four children that having a fifth is bizarre. Obviously accidents happen but to plan it........the words "head" and "examining" come to mind!

The local authority will have a contracor, or its own team, to carry out grounds maintenance for parks and communal 'garden' areas on land it owns, unless it has a different arrangements with a resident's group, for example. HAs have a similar arrangement.

The council does not come and 'do' the gardens of individual householders - unless they run a gardening service for people who are elderly or infirm - and usually a charge is made for this.

I bored myself to tears with that last post. And clearly everyone else, too.

Some people do abuse the system though, don't they?

Some people - with "some" being the operative word. The issue I have is those who assume that social housing = people on benefits.

And I have NEVER known ANYWHERE that offers a free gardening service to those who can't be arsed. No council does that and anyone who thinks it IS the case needs to check their facts.

I cannot believe supposedly intelligent people post such stuff - Happymummy has a degree but falls into the trap of assuming that because she sees nice cars, flat screen TVs etc that the tenants are rolling in money - no thought that the tenants might actually be working full or part time. And the gardens thing is so far from fact it is laughable - these council places she talks of are apartments and therefore share communal gardens which the tenants will pay a service charge for the upkeep of (the council gardening can she sees going down the road). Although as a tenant I would be moaning if the grass got THAT high so that private owners like Happymummy assumed it was being neglected by me and my self entitled neighbours.

Sorry - a tad pissed off tonight with assumptions made by those intelligent enough to know better (around me in r/l) And apologies Hapoymumny but your posts on this thread are the epitome of what I mean by "assumptions". I suspect if you check with the council you will find your assumptions re the gardens ate very wrong.

nice cars - check
flat screens - check
expensive clothes - check
slatterns - check
Immigrants - HOUSE

Incredible isn't it? It is almost like the whole story was made up.

I believe every word though

Did that poster come back?
I'm really curious to know how she could see in the windows of the flat occupants, to know they had flat screen TV's.
I don't have one, and I'm a council tenant.
I do have a nice car though
Motability car which is free of course