to think that the government just needs to build masses of new council housing to solve the housing crisis

[fakenamefornow]

In the past those who could afford to buy a house did and those who couldn't afford to buy a house got council housing, either way people had a secure home to live their life and raise a family. Now it is much more difficult for young people to access either of these options, instead they live in private rented, paying a fortune and with no security.

PWC said recently that in 10 years time 40% of households will be in private rented. What is going to happen when these people retire? In the past home owners will have paid off their mortgages and live off their pensions, no ongoing housing costs for the state to pick up. Council tenants would still have rent to pay in retirement so would receive HB to do so, this money would be going back into the pocket of the council, so effectively, no ongoing cost for the state to pick up. Private renters are imo unlikely to have pensions big enough to pay rent on a house so will receive HB, this will go to private LL at massive cost to the state.

I heard that the Gov plans to make public institutions sell of land for housebuilding to private companies. Why don't they just build the housing themselves and use it for social housing thereby dodging the bullet coming our way and helping out our young people now. Social housing used to be for everyone, now it seems it's just for those up shit creek.

I know, I know very little about economics, I don't pretend I do so please don't be rude about my lack of knowledge, just explain why building lots of social housing isn't the best plan. The only reason I can see for the Gov not building social housing is ideology, but I think pursuing that ideology is just to expensive in the long run.

LIttlecaf I don't recall left wing governments building council houses either. Then again of course it's a matter of definition when we last had a left-wing government, isn't it?

I was a single working parent for a few years. No available social housing at the time I split from ex so I had to go private.

Now if I had a council/HA home I could've paid my rent out of my wages without a top up, but because the private rent was double the rent for social housing, guess who paid and guess who benefitted from it?

Tax payers via HB top up (£300 PCM) and the landlord.

The housing benefit is now running at approx £25bn per year - £10bn of which goes into the pockets of private landlords. That money could build A LOT of social housing.

It really is crazy that the Housing Benefit bill has reached £25bn a year. But this happened simply because have rents have risen - in both relative and absolute terms. And the HB bill will continue to rise (even with the introduction of the 'bedroom tax', overall benefit caps and other similar policies) as long as rents continue to rise.

The increase in HB is being driven particularly by low-paid workers living in private rented accomodation. Around £10bn is paid to people in this group, with around £15bn going to tenants in the social housing sector. The average HB payment to those renting privately is approx £110pw whereas the average HB payment to those in social housing is £70pw. Thus, more social housing would lower the HB bill quite considerably. Also worth noting that the £15bn that ends up being paid to housing associations and local authorities at least gets invested back into local communities, whereas the £10bn that ends up in the pockets of private landlords (increasingly foreign owners) does not ever produce any meaningful impact on housebuilding or regeneration.

The bottom line is we just do not build enough houses. It's quite incredible that after WWII when this country was in more debt than it is now, the government of the day was able to introduce the NHS, reform state education and embark on a massive housebuilding programme on a scale never seen before or since - and in doing so improving the lives of millions of people, creating jobs and boosting the economy.

I think in a lot of areas it wouldn't even need to be loads of family homes. There's lots of older people living in bigger family homes on waiting lists for nearby 1bed bungalows, if you built just 1 beds in many areas you'd free up millions of houses.
As to the repairs issue, if I got offered a council/ha house that needed 10k of work and was currently uninhabitable, as long as I got a long tenancy paying a £10k loan would be cheaper than the difference in my private rent. Doesn't solve anything for hb but bet there's a lot of empty houses people in private would take on

Notasinglefuckwasgiven

WRT to goal of house ownership, my parents had no inherited wealth but through luck and opportunity workwise they were able to buy a house, fast forward mother gets cancer and dies father still scrimped and then getting dementia, hes in house but wont be long before he will need full time care and it will have to get sold to get the same care as someone who just spent everything.

So our family wealth is back to zero again, this is what annoys me with alot of the dialogue that people use, about house buying etc.

Good article here this morning, about the ways in which housing associations are failing to do their job.

^Last year in England, private housebuilders started building works on 115,000 new homes. Housing associations managed just 23,300. Given that 1,500 such associations exist, that means they are each building on average just 15 homes a year.

Even during the good times, housing associations were sitting on their hands. In 2007/08, when private housebuilders put up 146,000 homes, housing associations managed just 24,100. Compare that to the 121,000 homes councils built in 1977 and you can see why we have a housing crisis: it isn’t that the private sector is selfishly sitting on land, waiting for it to increase in value; it is that social housing isn’t getting built.

Take Places for People, one of the largest housing associations, which manages 48,000 homes. Last year, it had a turnover of £485 million and made profits of £28 million. It owns assets of £3 billion. Its executives like to think of themselves as entrepreneurs and receive fat salaries. Chief executive David Cowans received £434,000 last year. And yet how many homes did it build during the year? Er, 792, of which 316 were affordable.^

The construction industry would very much agree with you op. Building houses would help the sector recover from the recession, create jobs and generate revenue for many many companies.

It won't happen though

shit's gunna get ugly when this bubble bursts :(

YANBU. Building council houses isn't a cost but an investment that pays for itself many times over. As for where the money could come from - cap private sector rents at the same levels as council tenancies and there you have £10 billion a year. Even after five years of that, that's a fair few houses.

Of course, no-one will do it.

I'm a private renter, in the old days we would have afforded to buy.
I can't afford a pension, my 'retirement' is up shit creek.
YANBU the government are being very short sighted, presumably because it will be someone else's problem so they won't see the return on the investment.

It would be lovely to think kids could stay at one school, have pets, have continued friendships, parents be part of a community (why bother joining the PTA if you'll have to leave in 6 months). Painting your child's bedrooms how they want, being able to put your child's painting on the wall. People taking more pride in their homes and gardens without thinking 'I won't plant that apple tree, I won't see it fruit', 'no point buying new curtains, they probably won't fit if I have to move'.
The government need to realise people are happier when they can be part of a community, can make a home and make roots.

Wahey, lucky you for being able to buy your council house but screw everyone else, right?

Rents are out of control. Council housing could be paid for if the housing benefit bill was cut by not having to pay buy-to-let landlords their extortionate rent.

This country is becoming more and more selfish. It's utterly depressing.

I pay £20k a year in rent. I will never be able to afford to save for a deposit because I'm busy paying someone else's bloody mortgage. If there was more social housing, they'd be fewer private landlords ripping off their tenants.

No government will implement rent capping / control. Generation rent are destined to fund the life of others for the foreseeable future.

Oh, and there is land as this g'ment are forcing the sale of brownfield land but that'll be selling off to their developer buddies and nobody else.

Sorry for the rant. It drives me insane that people claim there is no money but the government are given tax cuts to massive corporations whilst punishing the working poor because they aren't paid well.

I've been forced to move 3 times in 2.5 years because my private landlords are allowed to pick and choose the contract terms and there's nothing I can do about it.

The government need to realise people are happier when they can be part of a community
What makes you think the government wants people to be happy?
Stressed fearful and insecure people are much easier to control and manipulate ?

short MN memories again - it isnt that long since renting was cheaper than mortgages, and that was in the south-east. It will be again soon as interest rates go up.

many places outside London do have rent controls, it is called market forces.

right to buy is the problem and has been for years; council houses are being sold off and not replaced. Plus there are now too many people in this country and we aren't paying enough tax for our needs.

so you have to sell your house to pay the care fees? What's wrong with that? I expect to do that if I need long-term care. You give your kids the inheritance of education, good parenting and good example, not money.

I agree that corporation tax cuts are ridiculous.

In the past those who could afford to buy a house did and those who couldn't afford to buy a house got council housing, either way people had a secure home to live their life and raise a family.

While there were more council homes available, the above is absolutely not the case.

The problem with having to sell your home to pay care fees is that it creates resentment. Somebody who has bought a house and worked hard to most for it will resent the person who lived in rented accommodation, had housing benefit and now gets to have free care in his old age. The person who has sold his house might get some choice in his care whilst he can fund it but it is likely that he could end up in the same care home as the person who didn't gave to sell anything when the money runs out. How exactly is that fair?

I do think we need an interest rate rise, I don't think the long term very low rate has helped with the house price situation.

in the long term an interest rate rise could help control property prices, but surely in the short term could lead to choas and misery sending many people financially over the edge

Not everyone in rented accommodation gets housing benefit!

Haven't rtft but surely selling off council houses isn't helping the issue.
Round here they are sold (is it right to buy?) for about 50-60% market value, which seems ridiculous!

Not everyone in rented accommodation gets housing benefit!

I didn't say that they do, but some do, especially over an entire adult lifetime of renting.

Nope, they don't need more council housing, they need to deal with making rents affordable in the private sector either by increasing wages or lowering rents and mortgages.

Then EVERYONE would be able to live somewhere they could afford. People shouldn't be on the breadline because they cant afford to eat and pay their rent.

And as for living on council estates, believe me after you have been homeless you don't see it as being so bad, its a roof over your head and a front door to call your own. I live in private shared accommodation which i was provided for by a charity. Its home, its not necessarily the best area but i love my home

I grew up on a rough estate. at the post we didn't plant trees as we wouldn't see the fruit....where I came from they'd have used them as missiles or tinder. It was ROUGH.

i live in a council house on a council estate its nice and friendly contrary to popular beleif most people work gardens are kept nice people just want their home to be nice.