To think: if you can fly first class, you shouldn't have a council house?

[Mexxo]

Facebook friends of mine (friends of RL friends really) making lots of comments this week about their impending holiday to Mauritius on which they'll be flying first class and staying in a 5 star hotel.

This couple have lived in a council house for many years (no kids yet), though this year so far she has got a new (not brand new, a year or two old but still v nice) BMW and he has a new Ducati.

One of their friends has commented on FB "Wow, did you win the lottery?!" and the wife replied "no we just saved a long time for our dream holiday".

First class flights to Mauritius are £4k each. A week in a 5 star hotel must be at least £2k and probably more. That's £10k for a week's holiday. AIBU to think that if people can squirrel away that much money for a holiday, they shouldn't be living in a bloody council house subsidised by taxes from the rest of us?

we are not talking about these peoples circumstances changing significantly here though Kim, the op thinks they should not be allowed to spend their savings any way they wish, their circumstances havent changed they just saved for a long time to go on holiday, that means they should give up their home according to the op and your posts have suggested you argee?

Then a Terra something comes along and sends me into utter state of confusion - someone needs to change their name!!! Please. Thank you kindly.

So stressed out with the heat from my onsie here in my lovely Council House..... and getting confused by names!!

I feel this thread should be deleted. I shall not report this to MNQH just sharing my thoughts.

Oh no not another agreeer!

I would then pay more yes. It's the security I love.

There is another Terra?
I used to be pissedrightoff but then someone called rightpissedoff came along.

Current username seemed appropriate when I suspected I was about to be sacked. (I was right) :(

I agree with you on that point Kim.
I would be fine with it being means tested or based on a percentage of annual income.

has anybody said what sort of holiday a person in a la house is able to have and what type of car they have to drive yet?

im still wondering

No Terra yours is fine it's just the Tantrum one confusing me and a few others... I am possibly over-heating here though. Feel free to ignore me and my ramblings.

Socknicking, still waiting on the definitive list of what us bottomfeeders are allowed to save for and where we are allowed to go.

I recently worked out a savings plan which will give me enough to take my children to Florida Disney when they are 8 & 10. I wonder if a random Facebook 'friend' will start a bitchy thread about me here?

i stand corrected, but im not sure i agree its should be means tested, i would think that if your circumstances changed significantly you would want to leave anyway

the downside of cheaper rent is the poor areas, the higher crime rates and social stigma you have to live with, to some ignorant people, living in a council house = you claim benefits and people like the op see you as second class citizens, i think thats means enough to make you want to leave if your fortunes change, i know there are the odd exceptions to that of course

VT I honestly didn't realise there was a social stigma and there was an assumption that you were a benefits scrounger if you rented from the council until I read this thread today.
I have had my eyes opened.

vinegar, im quite happy to be corrected if current figures surgest im wrong but whilst i worked within the justice system it was quite clear that socially deprived areas tended to have lower crime rates well at least with regard to certain types of crime.

i just asked a friend in a 3 bed council house what she pays in rent a week its £107 a week, a house 2 doors down excouncil same size is rented out privatly for £111 a week so not much difference at all in that area. another friend in la pays £103 some other la houses in the st are £1pw more expensive,private in the same st are about £110.

but neither of them have been on holiday for ages and when they did it was places like spain im guessing thats ok.

i have no idea what the figures are sock, i grew up on a private estate, and lived on a council estate for the first 20 yrs of my adult life were my drug dealing neighbours got raided by the police every month, my other neighbours grandson got stabbed outside my house and another neighbour go petrol bombed, and the sound of the police helicopter and screaming of stolen cars whizzing past was a regular occurrence, if the figures suggest otherwise i would be more than shocked

terra nobody has said council tenants are benefit scroungers and most don't "look down" on people. There is not the social stigma that you have read into it.

Most have agreed that security of tenure would be lovely and can understand why people don't want to lose that. However what a lot of us are saying is that whilst there are huge waiting lists (you can argue that more needs to be built) for people who are really in quite often desperate need, then when circumstances change significantly then they need to pay nearer market rate to release extra money for others to be rehoused or move and release a house.

Hardly anyone is saying there shouldn't be council housing, but they are saying that the scarce resources need to be allocated to those who need them most.

If people are receiving benefits then they are in need, as also are people on low or modest incomes. Lots of us do have a problem when it comes to extravagant holidays and lifestyles that the majority of people can't afford, be that their homes are council, privately rented or owned.

Of course people renting from the council are entitled to holidays but mauritius is not a "normal" holiday. The Op says it is one of many such holidays.

terra Your eyes have been opened but they are not seeing what most people are actually meaning.

there is a social stigma, i know i have lived through it, ive had people look down their nose at me for where i live, even though i am educated and have always worked, the first question i was ever asked is 'do you work?' of course i do, what makes them think i wouldnt? because i lived in a council house thats why

and i have no problem with normal people taking lavish holidays if they have saved up for a long time for it

and the op only mentioned the other 3 holidays a few hundred posts in when she was losing the argument

she there were a few posts on this thread that equated council house=benefits.
As were there several posts that revealed there is a social stigma to being housed by the council.
I never knew either attitude existed, I have never come across it before. That's what I meant about having my eyes opened. Your other points, I have read throughout the thread and understood perfectly.

But thank you for the summary nonetheless.

Why are people banging on about poor people! No one said poor people shouldn't have stuff.

People are saying that these house should be available for those who really need them, not people who can afford 10k holidays and a BMW.

I don't think most people would mind "one off" extravagant holidays that have been saved up for. The Op said that this was one of many holidays and posh cars etc.

With regard to the social stigma, with the exception of a few posters, almost everyone has said there should be social housing and agree with it totally. The argument was about the allocation of scarce resources. Unfortunately the few true "benefit scroungers" have given everybody a bad name. Most social housing recipients are decent people and anybody who thinks differently shouldn't be given the time of day. I truly believe most people haven't been looking at the argument in that light today. Whilst understanding the desire for security of tenure, people have been looking at ways to overcome the acute shortages of social housing in a fair way.

Don't take it as a personal insult or slight. Most people have not intended it that way.

a nice holiday and car does not make these people rich, they may have got into serious debt to pay for them, we dont know because we dont now them, its all speculation and gossip

ive know people to have no food in their cupboards and cant afford to pay the electricity so light candles at night, but have a nice car on their drive because they done want the outside world to think they are poor

You are re writing history to suit yourselves!!

You cant 'make' social housing into something which is means tested! All this ' you should move out' is crap. It's not something the council do. Because it's not what social housing has ever been about!!

It's a few mumsnetters trying to re write the rules and then pass it off as 'it's what social housing is for'!!