To think that if your answer to complaining about Bedroom Tax is "get a smaller house", you are a bit thick?

[MarmaladeTwatkins]

Where IS this glut of smaller properties, just waiting to be filled by people being stung by the bedroom tax?

TWICE today I have heard supposedly intelligent people say "Well if they don't want to pay the bedroom tax, they need to move to a smaller house."

Fucking depressing. I think it earmarks you as being a bit hard of thinking if that is your solution. :(

Well, if you had to use it as safety net you would feel 'ashamed'?

How long would it be acceptable to go on for?

You can't judge people as accepting it as a way of life when you have no idea of their circumstances,

So someone who works as say, a nurse, in a place like London and can never afford their own property has poverty of aspiration and no desire to stand on their own feet? Seriously?

I have lots of friends who are nurses. They all lived in house/flat shares when they were starting and on low pay. They then moved somewhere cheaper (yes, even if it was away from family!) or started to earn more and could then afford to rent with fewer people or to buy.

Living a council/ha home is not 'normal' and smacks of poverty of aspiration?

Yes - this is true to me. And to most people I went to school/university with.

I went to university, too. But just didn't hang out with people that narrow-minded and deluded, I guess.

Key workers, you have poverty of aspiration if you live in a HA or council house. There you go.

You do really sound like you have led a sheltered life.

I have too, I suppose,but can also see why people might struggle and have empathy for them rather than judging them.

fanjo I agree. Everyone is different. I would feel ashamed though - and I would expect to be able to get back on my feet as soon as I possibly could.

I'm not talking about people who are ill, carers, have had horrifically bad luck. Could happen to ANYONE. I've worked with crisis and there are plenty of people on the streets who have been very wealthy in the past.

I'm just bring honest. I wouldn't see council housing as a long term plan unless I had no option.

Most if my friends lived in shared houses of 5 or 6 to save money during our 20's. We didn't expect anything other than a small room in a dodgily decorated house for a long time until we'd established our careers.

I say this because I am ashamed to say I used to spout such stuff when I was 18 and had no life experience and was sheltered from reality.

Well living in social housing may show a lack of aspiration towards home ownership, but 'not normal'? Seriously?

Maybe the people you are judging would give anything to own their own homes too? Ever thought of that? You are not better than them.

You just cannot say it shows a 'lack of aspiration towards home ownership'.

It means 'currently not in a position to own a home'. That is bottom line".

Yes, I have led a sheltered life (in my private life) but not professionally. I didn't hang out with "narrow minded people". You can be "narrow minded" in more ways than one.

I have LOTS of friends from state schools and from working class backgrounds. Most agree with me. As I have said, in my personal life I only know 2 families who love in council homes. I know plenty of teachers, nurses, students etc who manage without the safety net from the state. It's my normal. Doesn't mean it's wrong or I'm narrow minded.

I don't like snobbery. I also don't like reverse snobbery.

Affordable housing is a safety net from the state?

Wow.

If that is reverse snobbery go ahead and accuse.

I am not a reverse snob. I in fact went to private school. I just recognise when someone is just speaking from a position of never having to endure hardship

fanjo nope, I'm not better than anyone.

I just think its a shame that accepting state help is normalised in the UK.

(I had a scholarship to private school before people think I am a total toff)

I agree with you, Fanjo, but I was just gobsmacked at the 'not normal' comment. It is as daft as a council tenant thinking home ownership is not normal.

It isn't normalised going by all the utter drivel that is spouted by some on here these days.

It is daft.

I feel like I am arguing with my teenage self who had no clue about real life and just churned out stuff my parents said.

I can't and won't apologise for never having to endure financial hardship. I am entitled to my opinion regardless of my financial position.

And yes, housing that is subsidised by the state should be a safety net. Not the norm.

In my very humble opinion.

My friend who has cancer, who's husband has had a breakdown and who now lives in a council flat? She is rightly grateful for the safety net to protect her family and she is rightly proud of how amazingly she has held her family together. I have nothing but admiration and respect for her. They may well never own their own home again. I don't think they should feel ashamed. FAR from it. And I'm SO grateful they are ok and have that safety net.

IneedAyoniNickname You are wrong. The only time hb wont be paid to a family member is if you live under the same roof ie rent a room.

fanjo is it ok to call someone a "toff"? Any more than "chav"? Both unacceptable in my book.

"My parents paid for me to go to a private school in case anyone thought I was a total chav". See? Not great is it... (Anyway, they didn't pay. Another scholarship girl)

I have a 2 bedroom & need 3 & have been trying to swap but have had no luck at all I love in haringey & we are piloting the new rules & yet there is still very little movement in the borough.

Well your views are pretty unpalatable too, so we are all square

Live not love (phone has a mind of its own)