How to get a council house - definition of entitled?

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Just watching that show on channel four. Yes, I know, I shouldn't watch it but need some rubbish tv. Anyway, that woman Marilyn - really, why would she go on tv when she is obviously being so unreasonable. She has been offered a place to live but nothing is good enough for her. I know she is not representative of most people but in a minority. But annoying nonetheless.

I was buying a place a while ago. I quickly realised I couldn't afford the perfect house in the perfect location. So I ended up buing a really shitty house that ticked a few boxes because that's all I could afford. And I am very grateful.

yeah I meant affordable for the council

Felt sorry for the older man with arthritis but Marilyn and the family of 6 were ridiculous. Why couldn't she be working? Also, why should the council have to look for accommodation for people who refuse to use contraception? There has to be some requirement for personal responsibility. Most people work their asses off to pay for a roof over their heads.

I am still shocked from the last programme when a guy said most people are now priced out of the local private rent/sale market in Tower Hamlets. Tower hamlets ffs!!!! Was one of the cheaper boroughs. They are shoving them out to place like Loughton and Barking which are already crowded (esp Barking) as it is one of the more cheaper areas. What happens when the poor run out of places to rent/buy???

This is what happens when councils sell off housing stock and let people buy :( . I was especially annoyed by the couple with all those children who just assume that they will get to the head of queue and be ENTITLED to a bigger home and they have spawned more kids without a worry as to how they will be rehoused. This means another large private property will be found for them, doesn't it??

Interesting tht those born and bred seem to be at the back of queue (and no I am not voting UKIP, and I don't just mean white English when I say that.)

Most of tower hamlets isn't so cheap anymore. Canary Wharf is in TH and the City is right next door. It's filling up with professionals in many parts.

I didn't see the programme but sometimes people stay put because their support structure is there.

I don't live in London but my family are my safety net. ...DS is autistic and just having family at the end of the phone isn't always enough.....although it's a good second best. It's the practical support they can give at times which is my saving grace.
I am in HA housing in Essex.....also an expensive area to rent or buy. No way would I consider moving away from my support network.
I work part time and it's hard to manage this and my son ....Full time work is not possible at the moment but preferable to not working ....also nd for two years I couldn't work. Work is my sanity .
I couldn't afford a private rental in this area.

jakebullet - this is th eproblem I have with peope being told to move out of the area, or the idea behind the bedroom tax. So many people have an established support network - and in particular I am thinking of he mentally ill who have taken mnths/years to build up confidence to trust their doctor/care team/social worker but are expected to move out of the borough??

Euro - yes I realise that but it still amazes me - hence my comment about the poor being driven out of even the cheaper areas. Rents seem high wherever you go though there may be a difference oop North I guess.

I wonder when they are going to make a programme about entitled politicians viewing tax payer paid for second homes with a glass of champagne and turning their noses up due to lack of original features or something of that like

The show made me livid.

I felt very angry that the man born and bred his entire life (in Tower Hamlets) was unable to find a home in that borough.

Housing on this tiny island is a mess!

it doesn't matter how affordable it is because they won't be paying for it

I haven't watched the programme so not sure about all the people on there, but you do realise not all social housing tenants claim HB yeah?

Out of my circle of friends, not one person has not had to move at least once in their life due to work. I've moved a few times for work opportunities and not given it a second thought. People that don't work being given properties in central London is bonkers.

Mental health and support structure is a separate and important issue - of course it is.

But a young, healthy couple in the early stages of a pregnancy (apparently, of course) refusing to move because "my midwife is here" is ridiculous. I never saw the same midwife twice in any of my pg except in the first where I moved out of London midway through but chose to come back in to use the same hospital.

I thought the program was very interesting because, as that housing chap said, whether society as a whole believes people should be given free or subsidised housing when they don't work, and we can bitch about it on here all day, the reality of the situation is that it is not sustainable in London and people will have to leave. As most people who work in central London already have.

My blood pressure was raised last night when watching this programme but for so many reasons.

However, when the older guy with arthritis was saying he was struggling to find a ground floor flat (Just wondering would not a flat with a lift have also been suitable?) I went on Right Move and found loads of flats within the council's budget which met his needs. Admittedly the only flats in TH were flat shares but if he wasn't fussy about the area then there were definitely loads of places he could have lived in in a self-contained flat.

I think the reality is there isn't enough social housing and I can't imagine we will ever have enough of it now so the councils have to make very difficult decisions. It's not ideal but I think people will have to relocate to find a home.

its a condition of many buy to let mortgages that they cannot have tenants funded by HB. I think if I was on the list for a property and was healthy and able to work I'd be seriously considering moving away from London or retraining, getting a second job etc, as its clearly only going to be the very vulnerable who get to the top of the list going forward. in London anyway.

Korma I am absolutely sure that is the problem - private landlords wouldn't accept housing benefit. I guess a large number of properties I saw on RM wouldn't accept HB either. Am I right in thinking that HB gets paid to the tenant and not directly to the landlord these days? I imagine if this is the case (and I haven't just dreamt it up) many LL will be reluctant to take the tenants on.

It's an awful situation - rights and wrongs on both sides - but I really think the decline of social housing under Thatcher has led to this plight.

It was really sad to see Steve turned down for help from the council because of the £50 excess on the rent, though I can understand why they have their limits. I have to top up just over £50 for my rent and it's only manageable because I get extra benefits for my disability, so it suggests to me that he probably isn't getting everything he should be (DLA) although they didn't reveal what benefits he was getting, but many people only get ESA which would not be enough on its own to top up an extra £50 a week and survive.

Xenia. The lender and often the insurer doesn't allow for tenants in receipt of HB. This is a huge, huge problem.

"all the "because I deserve it" got a bit wearing I have to say"

I will bet you all the bacon in my fridge that every single one of those "i deserve it" comments were in direct response to the camera man/ investigater asking "do you think you deserve this property" that was edited out to look like all these people were running round saying they deserved it. Guarantee it. Have you ever given an interview for a newspaper/ newsreport? I have, and the reporter had an agenda that i knew about, which is the reason i was sought out to give the interview- every single question was leading i.e; "in your opinion is it very likely to happen again?" "Would you agree that children's lives are at risk?" When reading the article- it looks like those were spontaneous comments i had offered up rather than the one word "yes" answers i actually gave.

Don't understand why Julie had never bought that maisonette. She could have sold it and easily bought a small cottage by the sea with the proceeds.

There is already a specific exchange scheme for people who want to move to the country/seaside - she would have been more likely to get a house that way. I wonder if she was aware of it, and why the council staff didn't mention it? But I also assumed she wanted to stay in TH, if she lived there all her life and raised a family there then she must have a lot of ties in the area. I think that if she was prepared to move out of the area (even to another part of London), she would have had a better chance of getting that house she wanted. Council houses are rare in London but if she downsized right from a 3 bed to a 1 bed she could well have found a suitable exchange partner. But getting an exchange means being proactive and contacting people yourself, and she just expected the council to offer something directly.

seaside.housingmoves.org/seaside-country-homes.htm

She did not want a one-bed, she wanted a two-bed. House. With garden. And it appears, yes, she wanted it in London. From the council.

Would have been far more doable if she'd bought the thing back when she had a big discount and then flogged it on the open market.

I have been interviewed many times, yes. This program was clearly designed to show the approaching housing crisis so they will have specifically chosen very entitled cases, sure. Doesn't change the facts about housing stock though and the expectation of a right to life-long housing which I think anyone can see is no longer realistic.

Doesn't change the facts about housing stock though and the expectation of a right to life-long housing which I think anyone can see is no longer realistic

It's as realistic as any other scenario providing there is the political will.

It's not inevitable that anyone on low income will have to leave London either, not if the political will is there to change it.

And again policies could be changed on BTL re HB etc.

What is happening now isn't a force of nature. It's a consequence of lots of decisions made by people other than Marilyn or Steve.

Why do some people continue to have children beyond what they can reasonably afford to care for?

I agree with the points made regarding selective editing, however the underlying issue of a percentage of people having large numbers of children with an expectation of the state caring for them is valid. Too many on the programme seem to be saying, I'll do what I want, when I want and where I want.

I cant see any major changes until there is a general change in attitude from what society can do for me to what the individuals responsibilities are to society.