I came across a thread here on MN and was struck at vile abuse thrown at the Op regarding her post on her situation in social housing. Assumptions were made (untrue), of lasiness, irresponsibily spewing sprogs around, using the system, being benefit scrounges etc. It made me wonder - why people make these assumptions?
I grew up in a family with a very strong work ethic, only relying on yourself, always striving to have a better life etc. I was ambitious, driven, hard working, had a high flying career in the past, yet the circumstances are that I live in social housing. I always invisaged myself being successful, having own house, financially secure. But an illness from which I nearly died, although I made a complete recovery, few financial setbacks when I lost all savings shook my confidence. Then I met and fell in love with my now husband (who incidentally believed that ownership was bourgeois and against his principles), by the time I recovered from my illness I was just about to pass my childbearing years. So we had children (2) without having time to save up for a house, but according to some posters on the other thread, poor people have no right to have children! And all hope of buying a place flew out of the window again when my husband got diagnosed with cancer (he’s recovered now) and now we are both past the age when we could get a mortgage. We are overcrowded, quite severely but it is a separate issue. So any time I talk about it I feel judged. We don’t abuse the system; both me and my husband work hard; we pay rent - cheaper than private, but nonetheless, and not that cheap; we pay taxes; we don’t claim benefits. So why there is such a shame around the issue of social housing - why everyone thinks I have a lesser right to life than those who own their houses? Why such a patronising attitude?
AIBU?
Social housing stigma?
Icantsleep3am · 01/04/2019 04:02
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I don't have an issue with social housing, I use to live in HA properties so I am grateful they exist - what I do not like about HA properties and probably the reason the stigma exists is the small minority of social housing tenants that absolutely take the piss and create the whole stereotype of the "social housing tenant".
When I lived with my parents in a HA property, we had at least four families on our road that exploited the system by having child after child to "force" the HA to give them a bigger property. Neither parent worked and had no desire to do so. They were also all horrifically antisocial and believed they could do whatever they wanted.
Just the behaviour of these four properties made our road "notorious" and it actually made me ashamed to live there.
It is tenants like these that give social housing a bad name and it isn't fair as most social housing tenants are not like this at all!
When I moved out with my then boyfriend, it was a HA flat. The people around us were all generally hard working and well behaved but again, the area had a bad reputation because it was "social housing", apparently due to previous tenants behaving badly.
When we purchased our first house on shared ownership, it was classed as affordable housing. I remember overhearing the people who purchased the house behind us (big expensive private house) complaining about how they would have to relocate their patio so the "social housing" couldn't see them when they dined outside 
In my experience, the stigma attached to social housing is due to the antisocial behaviour of the minority and the fact that the HA's have little power to do anything to stop the bad behaviour. The majority of social housing seems to be treated like a lower social class these days.
Not to mention, shows like that "benefits street" only add to peoples beliefs that all social housing is like that
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