Council House Envy - it's a real thing

[LuisSuarezTeeth]

To be fair, I thought I'd only seen it on MN. I've now experienced it in three different scenarios and it's depressing.

Never mind all the misconceptions about "free housing", "subsidised rents" and all that. People who live in council houses seem to be the envy of the rental community with an automatic black mark against them because of the way they might have secured their tenancy.

Missunreasonable Is that in all regions?

Yes, housing associations and councils can and do charge new tenants upto 80% of local market rates.

To the people moaning about council tenants earning good money why shouldn't people better themselves??? They sure as hell wouldn't have been on 60k when they moved in

I was a single mum on benefits when I "got" my house. I got with dh a few years later, he wasn't working then but a job and a few promotions later and he's on 30k, we have 3 dcs I'm a sahm and we are pretty comfortable tbh . But on 30k we couldn't afford a mortgage or private rent (and prob wouldn't be granted a mortgage anyway) . Also my house and garden is massive and we love it here

Lot of judging and jealous nastiness on here IMO

I wonder if we'll ever see a return to philanthropy and a desire to provide decent housing for all, rather than a system where a small number of people see property as a cash machine?

The victorian housing philanthropists were the subject of my postgrad thesis so I have to rein myself in a bit, but one could easily argue that current events resemble some aspects of victorian current events, that state provision which ensured decent standards and affordability in the later C20th is being scaled back and that the current leadership is keen to promote philanthropy and 'big society', so why not?

It would be nice in many ways. A gap is certainly there, and growing.

Actually laughing out loud at 'infuriates'

Oh no! I killed the thread

X post - phew!

Gary - but thats exactly why people are envious. They may be on 30grand or less and not able to have the large house and garden and have to have both at work to just afford something smaller.

Similar current circumstances but complete mismatch in life. I think its fairly easy to see why there's times when people are envious.

In our immediate area (and I'm well aware its different elsewhere) those in council housing often have been for a long time so have good incomes,cars holidays etc. Where housing prices have lept up, professionals are moving in and either buying ex council (if lucky) or renting privately the exact same houses, squeezing more people in and having to send both adults out to work to get the same as a council family that can afford a sahm in.

The people in the council housing havent done anything wrog at all, its a sad state of the times that professionals cant afford to live even in the same standard of accomodation...

Because private renting is so expensive in this country, Gary, that many people cannot afford to have any children, despite two incomes, much less three and one parent sat at home.

expat That's not the council tenants fault though.

I realise that, LST, but that is why the sentiment is there.

It has nothing to do with jealousy or nastiness. Council houses are a state owned or council owned property and should be for the use of the most needy as a temporary step to buying or renting privately. Not as a subsidised perk available to a lucky few.

Expat I appreciate that and I really, really do sympathise. And agree that dh and I probably wouldn't have chosen to have 3 dc (2 together) if we were paying higher rent and had an insecure private tenancy. but that is not the fault of council tenants

It ls the fault of sky high private rents which are disproportionate to average incomes. It's the fault of successive governments since thatcher that have failed to build more affordable housing. It's the fault of no fucker in power doing anything to help with rising rents other than giving people Hb to top up crazy rents which is doing nothing else but drive up (already inflated) rents cos lls know tenants can claim top ups

Aargh could rant on about this shit for Hours

Bingo!

Subsidised.

Of course.

Private renting is too insecure for families.

Annnnmmd there is the word we were looking for!

who do you think subsidises it Viv?

Tax payers of course Arsenic don't you know anything

I know it will be the tired old argument that the Council house has already paid for itself. I am not against council housing but I think the way it is shared out is most unfair. With those lifelong tenancies and people never asked to move on even if they are quite well off. And then lots of people in private rented houses without a hope of buying and working all hours just to keep a roof over their heads and then the landlord selling from under them and they're homeless.

I,m on the council list I only went on it a couple of months ago anybody can go on it as long as they have aright to live in the country in our authority anyway it will be at least a year before I,m offered a property in the area I want but if I wasn't bothered where about in my town that I lived I could probably get a/property much quicker ,we are in the northwest though.

So who subsidies them then Viv? You didn't answer?

Also how much do you think is too much income to live in a council home??

I know it will be the tired old argument that the Council house has already paid for itself

More of a tired old fact Viv. Sorry it's annoying you

Well I know when I'm beaten. But I'm not changing my mind. So there.

You're not backing yourself up though..

A secure tenancy at a sane rent is a huge boon given current alternatives Viv no doubt about it. Allocation, sufficiency of supply etc all worth discussing.

As are potential for rent control and improved security in private rental sector.

But subsidies have nothing to do with council housing.

But that's the thing Vivienne, WHY should social housing only be available to the neediest? It was never intended to be so.
Now we are left with a system whereby the State sells off the decent social housing, and there is a race to the bottom to get whatever is left. Why do you think we have sink estates? Some of the estates near me that were built in the 50's as very desirable places for families to live, now have a high proportion of real problem families, who make life miserable for the other tenants. This is because of the shortage in housing, and the introduction of a criteria of "need" (which can often mean drug abuse, domestic abuse, homelessness). Of course people in need should be helped, but if social housing is ONLY populated with people with problems, society as a whole suffers.
I think, since "property" became such a cash cow, there is a switch to thinking social housing should be not very nice, and only for the desperate, whereas actually, it was supposed to be for anyone who wanted it.
In the 60's, for example, you could live on a nice shiny new estate, and go on holiday to Spain, and run a car. That was seen as a good thing.