AIBU to think that this is just wrong?

[HiddingMyIdentity]

A girl I know, lets call her K, recently had a baby. K has just turned 18, and she was living with her sister and nephew. K and baby clearly had their own room judging by the 500+ photos she shares on shapchat daily.

K just shared a photo of her new house keys. Apparently for her and baby, government funded of course as K has never worked a day in her life.

Ireland are having a massive homeless crisis, hostels and hotels are full to the brim with families, and K a few weeks after her 18th birthday gets given a house??

I work 50 hours a week, and had to move county to afford to rent a house. Yet this one pops out a kid at 17 and gets handed a house, that I and all the outer tax payers of Ireland are paying for, as her 18th birthday present from the State!

There are families out there in much worse living conditions than K, who have been on housing lists for years, why should she get a house ahead of them??

Is it just me who thinks that this is wrong?

Sorry I needed a bit of a rant!

Choosing to have a baby at 17/18 is pretty stupid

Why? Again, would you say that to your grandmother or her friends/generation?

Unemployed, even dumber

As above.

Not hearing about a partner either

Um... So?

And please, let's not throw up 'accidental' pregnancy. Rarely is, not that anyone admits it

Riiiiiight.

You're just a bell end then, hey?

Not sure if I've touched a nerve, @StopMaking ? Sorry if I have.

If you don't see that choosing to get pregnant as an unemployed, single teenager is pretty dumb then it doesn't matter what I say. Has nothing to do with previous generations, that's an irrelevant comparison. Surely even you can see that? Regardless, I'm never going to see that a teen choosing parenthood is a smart move

@Amberheartkitty Is she not being parented well? I'd let social services know personally as 'trying to get pregnant' could put her in very dangerous situations with older men.

She could also contract some serious STD's along the way.

Unfortunately it's seeming very popular atm on social media (YouTube and Instagram especially) to be a teen mum. I'm 20 and watch a lot of teen mother you tubers/tv shows etc but even I know it's probably all a facade! I wouldn't be able to care for a baby emotionally or financially in this stage of my life.

@DoneLikeAKipper I was put on antibiotics once and never once told it could interfere with my pill! I wasn't sexually active at the time (thankfully!) but doctors really need to take care to mention it to any woman, of any age!

I only found out that antibiotics can interfere when watching a teen mum U.K. interview where one girl said it happened (the pregnancy) when she was on antibiotics!

@cinnamontoast the pizza delivery man is my DHs cousin who owns the pizza shop. As in he’s a business owner, and he recognised the neighbours when our cousin visited us, his family. I’m prepared to take it at face value when he says “Oh, I recognise your neighbours, they’re in twice a week ordering pizzas”.
Children from single parent homes have an increased risk of substance abuse, depression, suicide, and poor educational achievement. They’re also more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system. Yet the message is “Get pregnant at 18, get a free house on a lifetime tenancy”. Rewarding poor choices.

@glittersticks the vehicles are parked outside, the rent structure detailing the maximum rent payable is published on the council website No spreadsheet required

It’s not inhuman or bitter to desire a society which provides itself on responsibility for oneself, for making responsible choices and for contributing to society. It’s realistic. When I read about mothers who can’t get respite care, the elderly who can’t get home help, the lack of police or hospital beds, military personnel who have PTSD and their families are in leaky forces accommodation, that’s when my heart breaks. My heart hardens when I hear of an 18 year old whose having a baby and just got handed the keys to a house paid for by taxes. Research shows that not only will her contribution to society be limited, but also her children will likely fail to achieve.

Did all of you supporting giving social housing to pregnant 18 year olds buy your own homes? Are you all working full time?

But does she have a goat?

You sound like a pretty nasty individual. Jealous, bitter, mean spirited. Mind your own business.

And you can't spell 'hiding'.

I knew someone would mention the oh so hilarious goat

NotTheQueen - what makes all of these people better than someone else in need?

And I say that as a disabled, wheelchair using PTSD sufferer.

glittersticks the vehicles are parked outside, the rent structure detailing the maximum rent payable is published on the council website No spreadsheet required

Er... okay, jeez louise you're not coming off any better if you nose around and look up your neighbour's rent and business to satisfy your judging and nosiness.
2019's online version of Mrs Mangel lol shows age

When I'm dictator:-
a) benefits will (like income tax) be calculated on an individual rather than family basis (with allowance for children)
b) they will include an amount for housing costs, which will not in any way be affected by what the recipient chooses to spend on housing
c) all housing will be let at market rents
d) if rents are judged to be excessive, the problem will be solved by building more housing

What this would mean in the OP example is that K could pay her sister rent, she could stay in a house with another mother where the two could support each other with childcare, both would have their living costs vastly reduced by sharing expenses with an extra adult, meaning both would have a lot more money left over, a much better standard of living at no extra cost to the taxpayer.

People who are arguing.... If she's accidently pregnant... The ONLY option is a baby... .

We know... Accidents happen... But... There ARE morning after pills /termination...

Yes I understand people may not like it... BUT it is completely wrong that your religious beliefs leave the state with a long term commitment to support a child that rrives with no discernible means of support ....

I've lost count of how many young mums I've worked with 14 to 18...it's completely destroyed their lives having babies so young... Both in opportunity cost and also blight on self confidence /efficacy

I know a housing co-operative where most of its members own property, but don't want to move out of HA homes because they want to live the life in London. It's corrupt.

I know of a couple of (very small) co-ownership co-ops in South London where quite a few of the tenants own property elsewhere.

There are very few of that type of HA left now, most of them chose to change to a different sort of arrangement because the tenants wanted to exercise their right to buy.

They've always been a bit of a law unto themselves, I'm surprised there are any left tbh.

YABU.

I'm glad that young woman and her baby have the safety net of a home. I am happy to pay taxes for this purpose.

The image young people present on social media is usually aspirational rather than a reflection of their lives.

Also YABU for saying she has never worked. She is a single parent- so in my view she has two jobs.

My problem isn't with the fact that she got a house, if there wasn't 1000's in worse off conditions I would not even think badly of the situation for a second. But there are families living on the streets in Ireland, in hostels, B&Bs hotels etc., what makes her more worthy then them for a house, when she already had a house over her and her babies head?? This is what I can't get my head around.

@EmeraldShamrock she is in Dublin. Where the demand for social housing is at its highest. This is why I can't understand it.

@BanginChoons actually myself and DP have been turned down for a mortgage. We were trying to build a house due to the shortage of them in the area that we want to live in. Despite having full time jobs, we are stuck renting a house that we don't like as it is all we can get.

@Bangingdoors our area has a massive amount of empty houses too. But we are a good 2 hours from Dublin so no body wants them. If people were housed in the empty houses in my area it would be great, but people demand houses in Dublin to be close to family.

@NotTheQueen I think it was 82 previous convictions she had, and she comes out with over €52k a year in benefits. That is more than I earn before tax. She has a 2017 SUV car. And turned down 5 bed houses in Meath as they were too far from her navite of Tallaght, South Dublin. If people turn down houses for being "too far" they should be put to the bottom of the list. Now that she has a house she is still giving out!! So many homeless families would give anything to be in her position!

@cinnamontoast K had a home. 4 people in a 3 bed house is hardly over crowding. Homeless are living 4 or 5 to a room in a hotel. She was in no fear of living in a tent. Also we are in Ireland not the UK...

@LaBelle I am well aware there are people living in hostels, why weren't one of these families given a home rather than someone who already had some where safe, and warm and dry to raise her child with the help of an older sister? Give it to one of the many many families living in one room with no cooking facilities, no where to play, barely room for them all to sleep.

If people were housed in the empty houses in my area it would be great, but people demand houses in Dublin to be close to family
I don't believe it is true, I know many who would a house 2 3 4 hours away, if it was social housing. My BF gave her her social house in a council area for the rural resettlement scheme, only when she went to Roscommon to be resettled in a private house, her landlord sold after a year and she has moved 5 times around the Roscommon area in 7 years, renting vans, unsettling DC, she is an excellent tenant very house proud.
If the houses available were a permanent home in an area belonging to the council, people would definitely move but she was shafted. The house she left was so well kept, the council passed it over without a blink. they usually rip the inside out

Couple I know, early 20s. They both work 16 hours a week in a supermarket, she’s just had a baby. They brag about their social funded house, HB and tax credits. It’s a joke.

@StopMakingAFoolOutofMe I was busy yesterday evening, I had not "disappeared"

@HowlsMovingBungalow I am not a "daily mail reader type" I get that people need houses, like the 8000 or so people living in "emergency" accommodation. Why give it to someone who has a house to live in? Rather than the families sleeping on O'Connell Street or who were kicked out of Apollo House. Should they not be more deserving?

@DoneLikeAKipper she had a home, with her sister. There are so many people with out one and they got passed over.

The bile and vitriol from some on this thread makes the comments column of the Express look mild.

I don't give a shit if every penny I've paid in tax I've paid in my 46-year working life goes to house young women who have babies. I'd rather that than see them at risk of becoming homeless, sleeping rough, in B&B accommodation or their children taken into care.

One day, that child could end up being the carer who's wiping my arse and feeding me when I've gone doolally and am in some grim home. I like to think that because they've been treated with dignity and respect in their short lives, they may treat me the same when I'm at the end of my long one.

This race to the bottom attitude that would see the poor and foolish suffering Dickensian levels of deprivation boils my piss, frankly.

Honestly, begrudging someone a home What the hell is wrong with some people?!

Why shouldn’t she begrudge someone having something she is working to fund and she may never be able to have herself despite working full time!???

The system is completely fucked and I feel incredibly sorry for medium income earners as they get done over/feel it the most.

Whoever said she could get a termination, she's in Ireland. Abortion has only been legal there for about five minutes, too late for her.

@DoneLikeAKipper she had a home, with her sister. There are so many people with out one and they got passed over.

Oh, you’re back. Amazing how goady fuckers pop up again to sling more shit once their thread goes quiet.

Do you know if that was a secure home? A long term arrangement? What if her sister needed that room? I don’t know why I’m asking, you’ll just change the facts to suit your ‘story’.

@EmeraldShamrock yes you are right, some people would move further a field for a house. But not all of them.

I was in a hairdresser one day and I a woman beside me telling her hairdresser that she refused a bigger (than what she was currently in) house in Coolock as her mam had recently been moved to Clondalkin and it was too far, so she wanted to go to Clondalkin too. Those of us who pay rent don't have the luxury of refusing to move somewhere as it is too far. I am from Dublin, my parents are still up there. But on the wages I am on I could not afford to live there, even with DPs salary included. He works in Dublin so had to commute. I am lucky I have a job 20mins away, but that could change in an instant depending on "business needs".

People in Ireland feel so entitled, it is just wrong in my opinion.

For anyone who thinks I am begrudging people who were ever on benefits before, I am not. During the recession my dad lost his job, he struggled to get one for over a year, my parents nearly lost their house only for a relative lent them money for the mortgage.

My problem is with the system, 18 year old singe mother with roof over her head given a house. Families on the streets not given one. If there was copious amounts of social housing, then fine, but there isn't.

@LakieLady What about the families already sleeping rough, in B&B accommodation or their children taken into care. should they not be looked after first? Cause there is 1000's of them in Ireland.

@DoneLikeAKipper sorry that I was busy after work yesterday evening, and by the time I got home I was tired so went to bed!! Shock horror!! What about the people in hostels, or on the street. She had it a lot better off than those people. But they didn't get their houses.

Right, so it still does not explain how she, not long turned 18, is more entitled to a house than people living in hostels, B&Bs, etc.

My problem is with the system, 18 year old singe mother with roof over her head given a house. Families on the streets not given one. If there was copious amounts of social housing, then fine, but there isn't.

1. An 18 year old with a tiny child isn’t going to require the space a larger/older family need. Unless you’re now going to come back and say she’s been given a large family home (would not be surprised).

1. The problems of not enough housing is not the fault or the problem of a teenage mother. See my post about people preferring to point the finger down, rather than up at the people in a position to actually do something about it.

1. Your problem is definitely with a young single mother ‘freeloading’, otherwise you’d never have mentioned it. If your problem was just not enough housing in general, then why mention ‘single teen mother on benefits’ at all?