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Original poster

Grenfell ex-residents should get a 3-bed house with a garden if that's what they want

999 replies

pingodolcepo · 11/12/2017 08:23

Daily mail outrage that some of the residents are asking for a 3-bed house with a garden. But honestly, they have been through a living hell that was caused by someone else's very bad choices.

There are plenty of people in London that have a 3 bed council house, why can't these people that have dealt with horrors get one also?

I know someone that got a council house in Highgate in the 80s, was a cabbie with a good wage, bought it when offered and sold it a few years ago for over a million and now lives in a fab place with loads of land and a pool in the south of France. If plenty of normal people got houses why can't these poor residents get one? They won't ever be able to afford to buy it due to the high cost of london houses now.

OP posts:
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5
cathf · 20/12/2017 12:40

Correct Puzzled.
The problem is, there is no answer that involves the Grenfell residents getting what they want, now.
And even if there were, some - me included - would question how fair that would be, given there are perhaps equally deserving people who have been patiently waiting for years.
Unfortunately, making decisions based on knee-jerk reaction, misplaced empathy and woolly niceness means that somewhere down the line, someone else is being unfairly penalised.
And that's what people like Em and Apple don't seem to 'get'.
They talk about empathy and fairness, but expect a whole swathe of people on the waiting list who have ended up being really disadvantaged by this whole episode, to just take it on the chin and accept their lot because that's the 'right' thing to do.
Why should they?

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 12:41

*the only one

cathf · 20/12/2017 12:46

Apple, unless I am mistaken, your solution would mean that newcomers WERE more advantaged, would it not?
Do you not want everyone who lost their home in Grenfell to be given a new one by the council?
And does 'everyone' include people who have only lived in the borough a few months but had been illegally renting their flat from a subletter?

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 12:48

cathf - The Grenfell residents are going to get what they want, have you not seen the news?

People on the housing list are happy to wait longer, have you not read this thread?

“Why should they” because that’s how a decent society works !

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 12:50

Nobody will be GIVEN anything they will eventually start paying rent again!

ChakraLines · 20/12/2017 12:51

it does seem that they are taking advantage of the situation by insisting on staying in a borough

It's not even wanting to stay within borough. If reports are true, they expect a house in that borough. If they have seen privately-owned houses that RBKC could afford to buy for however many families then let them state the names of roads - because I know there are none. There are white stucco houses over 3 floors which fetch £15 million and more. Is this what some of you agitators are suggesting ..... no £ limit?

The best way forward would be to receive a large pay-out based on a number of variables. This could be in the order of £300,000 for council tenants and the value of the flat if it was in private ownership. 300k could provide a good deposit on a property, which those who are thinking straight (and working) could use to get a mortgage on a property in an affordable location. They would be property owners and living in a house with garden, with the freedom to sell.

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 12:57

“agitators” Pot/Kettle Chakra !

Not everyone wants to be a property owner

ChakraLines · 20/12/2017 12:59

The Daily Mail? What on earth has a newspaper got to do with anything? Some would say that you have been brainwashed by the Morning Star, but I couldn't possibly comment.

ChakraLines · 20/12/2017 13:04

Not everyone wants to be a property owner

If they have no faith in RBKC, then my suggestion is an option to consider. Of course, when you own your own property (on mortgage) a great deal of regular chores, maintenance and repair falls on you. But I get your drift ...... better to live in a subsidised apartment in inner London than have a shot at ownership in a not-so prestigious borough. Yep, got it.

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:05

F-Off Morning Star 🙄

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:06

You just cannot grasp that not everyone is like you can you Chakra

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:07

Have you got proof that Grenfell residents were subsidised? Links etc 😬

Rebeccaslicker · 20/12/2017 13:11

So every single person on the housing list in RBKC is thrilled to wait a bit longer and none of them think it's unfair or that their own needs may triumph. That's one hell of an FOI you've "read" there.

And everyone should be happy to subsidise all these newly acquired luxury homes indefinitely, presumably? My service charge in that area is around £1,000 a month. If RBKC bought homes in my block, as people like em and Applebee seem to think money is literally no object, how would social tenants cover that? But if they don't, the other residents should presumably just suck it up and foot the extra tab? Sure, that sounds really fair 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️

Meanwhile others on the housing list just have to wait and don't get anything of the sort.

It's a very surreal and bizarre mindset some people have.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 20/12/2017 13:14

Chakra on the face of it your suggestion about a cash payment is sensible, but I'd suggest recipients would need to be very carefully screened beforehand to establish what their entitlement status really is

I've no problem at all with the concept for genuine residents, but given the amnesties and allowances already made I'd worry about this creating a rush of folk only too keen to send the money straight out of the country and then claim they were still in need of housing

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:19

Rebeccaslicker

So every single person on the housing list in RBKC is thrilled to wait a bit longer and none of them think it's unfair or that their own needs may triumph. That's one hell of an FOI you've "read" there.

I wasn’t talking about every single person or an FOI but the one person on this thread that is actually on the housing list !

Rebeccaslicker · 20/12/2017 13:20

Here is the RBKC statement on rehousing. Note that they are prioritising illegal subletters above others who were legitimately on the housing list.

Also note that no rent will be payable for the first 12 months. This is in addition to the compensation payments that are being made which, let's face it, are far more than anyone would have got if this had happened in Liverpool or Newcastle or stoke or anywhere other than RBKC. How is that not a subsidy?

www.rbkc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/atoms/files/The%20housing%20commitment%20to%20residents%20–%20FAQ.pdf

NOT saying that suspending rent and making payments are not the right things to do. But it's blind to insist that there is absolutely no subsidy and the money raised from social rents will cover all this AND acquiring hundreds of new homes!

Rebeccaslicker · 20/12/2017 13:22

Ah, so one person on a random Internet forum who claims to be on the housing list (which may be true but none of us can verify it) claims to be happy. And you extrapolate that to state boldly, "people on the housing list are happy to wait" !!!

You couldn't make it up, except that making it up is all you seem to do!

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:23

I haven’t seen anything to suggest K&C are buying individual flats in private blocks..... have you got a link

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:26

Im assuming normal decent people that witnessed the fire wouldn’t mind waiting longer,

The council are buying more housing stock not taking homes they already have

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:28

That’s a link from after the fire , not before!

Rebeccaslicker · 20/12/2017 13:35

"Normal". Care to explain what you mean by that? It sounds rather horrible...

ChakraLines · 20/12/2017 13:45

I haven’t seen anything to suggest K&C are buying individual flats in private blocks..... have you got a link

RBKC have bought several flats in that new dev in Kensington Row W14 for Grenfellers.

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:46

You want me to explain what the word normal means ???

Applebee7 · 20/12/2017 13:54

ChakraLines - I don’t think Kensington & Chelsea council provided those flats

ChakraLines · 20/12/2017 13:55

Have you got proof that Grenfell residents were subsidised?

£195 p.w. rent was mentioned by someone as council rent at Grenfell for a 1 bedroom flat. Not many couples could afford that plus utilities & service charge because they are on low wage, they are subsidised - as many working "poor" are.

If their jobs are essential "core" jobs such as nurse, teacher, bus driver, fire fighter and their employment is in Zones 1 or 2, that is fine. But if not they should not have been given housing in Zone 2 because historically that is reserved for those working in essential services.