to think it is fair enough that High earners, earning £30000 pa have to pay market rates for social housing.

[NoahVale]

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/04/david-cameron-ally-rohan-silva-firms-must-be-forced-raise-low-pay

I spose there has to be a cut off somewhere, and I spose it helps that I dont earn £30,000,
no doubt if it was just in the bracket I might feel a bit peeved.

[Ledare]

Will there be a different allowance for single-earner households or will lone parents and carers be screwed again?

And what about all the people who voted Tory so that they could buy their house? They'll find it harder to save good

[PausingFlatly]

Lots of people in social housing ARE key workers, MoreBeta.

And low paid workers like hairdressers, cleaners, retail staff.

[TTWK]

£30k is more than double what someone on NMW wouldn't be earning in a full-time job.

Earning a bit more than double what the lowest paid full time workers earn is hardly the definition of a high earner.

Ridiculous to say someone on £30K is a high earner.

[StormSwept]

I think it's an excellent policy, I hope it is introduced. I say this as someone who was raised in social housing.

If people fnd that they are struggling to pay rent on £30k a year then they have to look at their expenses! A lot of people in private rentals on even less then that are now expected to be paying full rent with no housing benefit due to welfare caps etc.

Some of the reason that some social housing stock is below an ideal standard is because there just is no money to be able to 'do them up!' Rents now are laughable, almost just a token payment. Hopefully the income raised from this will go back into bringing the stock up to par with private housing and to maybe ensure more housing staff can be employed.

The cap of 30k will ensure that those with less will not be screwed, I know people below this amount that I am relieved for only on MN could 30k be deemed as 'not a lot!' It's enough to be paying more then 70 quid a week for a 3 bedroom house!

And how does this not encourage people to do better? To aspire to better their lot? Are you seriously telling me that someone will stay off the promotion radar, won't expand their business etc in case they have to shell out a few hundred quid in rent?!!

[PausingFlatly]

No, Storm, Osborne has already said he's taking that money into central government (his dept). It won't be going to the councils and housing associations.

[Raveismyera]

It just makes no sense. How can he take it off housing associations? They're private companies. This is a really bizarre idea and I don't see how it's workable.

As I said above, you can't just raise rents charged in social housing. It's been set in law for 50 years. There is far too much to untangle. Think of all the admin of finding out how much millions of tenants earn.

In many parts of the country (and yes that includes parts of the SE) there is v little if any difference between market and social rent anyway.

[GreenAugustLion]

Harriet - you're topped up to £20K with tc's, so a £20k net figure.

Those earning £30k is gross don't forget...so £30k becomes, what, £24k net?

Not really that different from you...I doubt they're living a champagne lifestyle on that extra £4k a year

[SpottyTeacakes]

Storm we pay £125/week for a two up two down house. We are very lucky as much of the social housing around here is £200 a week. £70 a week would only get you a bedsit through the HA.

[TalkinPeace]

£30k a year is more than 70% of the population earn

MN in a bubble full of rich people if they are unaware of that fact.

[Raveismyera]

That's interesting talkinpeace as certainly nowhere near 70% of the population are in social renting

[TTWK]

£30k a year is more than 70% of the population earn. MN in a bubble full of rich people if they are unaware of that fact.

£30K a year has now moved from high earner to rich!!!

Wow...just wow.

By that logic, someone on £60K must be classed as the super rich, with a private jet, a yacht in Monaco and a house with peacocks on the west lawn.

[Ludoole]

I work 16 hours at minimum wage, get tc and cb and i still pay a portion of my rent in council housing

[MadeMan]

A lot of councils don't have their own housing stock any more and those that do are slowly selling theirs off to housing associations after redevelopment.

Councils don't want flats, houses and estates; costs them money to keep them maintained.

[tametempo]

THIS IS HOUSEHOLD INCOME

I agree that 30k is a reasonably good wage for an individual but this will affect couples who earn 15k each in shop work for example.
It will affect DH and I. Not happy at all.

[Samcro]

MoreBeta what a load of ill thought out bollocks.
I live in SH in the SE,
I am not going to explain my circs on here. but just that you can't rent a disabled property in the SE.

[fakenamefornow]

Complete dogs dinner of a policy. Going to mean somebody earning 29k is better off than somebody earn 30k. What about two earners earning 29K do they still get cheap rent?

Maybe the thing to do is increase all social housing rent to market value, those on low incomes will then get HB to cover the shortfall.

The £1 million IT on the family home is a rubbish policy as well. Talk about an disincentive to downsize. Also if you are nearing death and have that much in assets do you just buy a big house to avoid IT.

The real issue here is high house prices, if that was sorted we wouldn't need all these crappy ideas to treat the symptoms.

[wafflyversatile]

There doesn't have to be a cut off at all. These policies are ideological. Maybe they are trying to force better off tenants to buy their houses to further reduce council housing stock. I note that the extra rent will go to the exchequer not the council.

IIRC 60k puts you in the top 5 percent.

[StormSwept]

Yes it is household income, you and your DH both live in the house Tametempo your expenses will reflect that. Why aren't you happy? Well I can guess why and I do understand, no one likes an extra expense but if it continues tomakes you unhappy, move out? Find somewhere where you can be happy? If you are each on 15k a year you will individually also be affected positively by the talk of adjusting the 20p tax threshold.

I know the social rents will differ around the country, but it is true when I say that some are paying a literally token amount compared to the property they are in, and rightly so for those that are on a very low income, we should be protecting and looking after our vulnerable but for those who earn well, they should take pride in paying accordingly.

[TalkinPeace]

Median household income is £26,000 per year
ie half of all households have an income of less than that

so households with an income of over £30,000 are in the upper 40%

MN is a rich bubble

A full time NMW job brings in just over £11k a year
A full time "living wage" job brings in £17,500 a year

[StormSwept]

fabulouse I am far from ignorant in this. Rents in certain social housing areas are very low, they go nowhere near the true cost of maintaining them.

[usualsuspect333]

Take pride in lining a private LLs pocket?

[tametempo]

I'm not happy Storm as I actually think private rents are a bloody joke and unaffordable and I'm not entirely sure why the government seems to want to set the bar at whatever the private greedy landlords are charging.