Lol at people called being entitled for wanting some shelter with security!
Exactly !!
The reason that most people want to buy is because, ATM, owning your own home (providing you don't default on the mortgage) is practically the only way to ensure security. What are the alternatives to that ? ..... are there any, realistically ? A very tiny minority may be able to get their hands on one of the few social properties available but most people in need of a home haven't a hope in hell of doing so. As for private lets - where's the security in that ?
I'm fucking sick of people on lower incomes being all but sneered at because they have the temerity to want a secure home. Because they want to put down roots, become part of the local community, turn the property they're living in into a home which reflects their needs and taste (without having to ask permission), and make plans for both employment and schooling with confidence, as sure as they can be that those plans won't be tipped on their head (potentially) a few months/years down the line.
All this crap about "entitlement" smacks of the poor "getting above their station" and/or of them being "undeserving" because - shock horror - they presumably "must" be stupid, lazy and/or feckless if they can't earn enough to buy a property or rent somewhere with HB assistance.
We all know that except for the fortunate few buying a property has never been easy per se - and yes, a large proportion of those doing so have had to make some sort of sacrifice along the way. But it simply isn't good enough to dismiss today's situation by blithely saying it was hard in the past too. Does that make it okay today then ? .... not in my book, not when as many posters have repeatedly stated, the gap between income and prices is larger than it's ever been (looking at the market as a whole and not at the very few locations where there are anomalies to that rule of thumb). And not when there isn't the safety net of social housing to fall back on any more. I'd stake my life on the fact that most of those wishing to buy a home would be more than happy to accept a secure council tenancy instead, rather than remain paying private rent ad infinitum or living with parents.
I mean, where, exactly, do those deriding "the poor" for wanting a secure home, expect them to live ? Do you really believe it's acceptable, in a so-called civilised society in the 21st Century, that so many people have to live with perpetual uncertainty in private lets which, if they receive HB, are very often ill-maintained (because HB lets are in such demand unscrupulous LLs know they can get away with lower standards) ? Would you like to live that for forever more ? Would you be happy to uproot your kids on (potentially) a regular basis with all the disruption to their education that might involve ? Would you like to be scrabbling about to find a new "home" in just weeks, knowing full well that you'll have little or no choice in the matter because you need to be somewhere ?
And yet if "those" people dare to express a wish for their own place they are derided (by some) and told they shouldn't complain because it's always been hard. Well, unless you go right back - to overcrowded Victorian slums and the workhouse - I really do think it's a lot harder now than at any other time in living memory. Generally speaking there's all sorts of pressures which apply to more people than they did for our parents' generation ..... for example, I think it's fair to say that there was more choice of work nearer to most people's homes in the past meaning less commuting costs, as there was far less centralisation of services etc. I realise that has a lot to do with the advent of improved technology but nonetheless the fact remains that long and expensive commutes were less common 40 to 50 years ago. As Housepricewoes points out with the new MMR, commuting costs will have a big impact on loans available thus meaning the idea of moving somewhere "cheaper" isn't always going to be an easy fix.
I don't know what the answer is. Quite clearly, there'd need to be massive intervention re: rental market, property prices, a genuine living wage (and not the insulting figures bandied about which hardly seem much more realistic than NMW is) and so on - and I can't see that happening. Or there needs to be a huge social housing programme launched - with secure tenancies, NO right to buy. But I can't see that happening either. I just don't understand why so few politicians seem to give any sort of shit about the situation - it's a time bomb surely, and I dread to think of how things will be in 10, 20 years time.
But in the meantime, how dare anybody call people entitled for wanting their own, secure, home. It is such a basic human need FFS - we're not talking about fripperies. The vast majority of us want that - so what's the difference if you're (relatively) "well off" or "poor" ? I guess it's acceptable to aspire to your own home if you're lucky enough to earn good money - then I suppose it's certainly not "entitlement" but simply what you deserve isn't it ? But if you dream of a secure home and you don't earn very much (or are unable to work with good reason) then you must be entitled. Jeez, where's the sympathy, where's the empathy ?