To really dislike the attitude some people have about council estates?

[MoominMantra]

Specifically this;

'I grew up on a council estate but I wanted to better myself'

Better yourself? What does that actually mean? I think people like this are insecure and suffer from internalised shame about their roots.

I was then told that because I didn't grow up on a council estate myself then I have no right to an opinion on this.

All I know is that it's deeply unpleasant to look down on others whatever the circumstances. It's not wrong to be happy living on a council estate is it.

AIBU?

The problem is that some estates are pretty bad, I'm 1/2 from one, employment is under 50% or working age households, school attendance is appalling, rubbish in front gardens, tyres being let down etc. It's a 10 minute walk away - their opportunities are the same as mine but they squander them (it's even the same school if the kids bothered to turn up!)

Not you personally But local authorites are

I grew up on a council estate. A proper estate, all houses no roads running through. Us kids were probably allowed to run wild within this estate but my goodness did we all get on and have such a laugh. Neighbours were mostly all there for each other, with the odd bad egg chucked in but I have great memories of my dm and all her friends (neighbours) sunbathing on duvets in the grassed areas, estate wide water fights, sports days, street parties. It was just so much fun and the community spirit was great.

I don't live on a council estate now although am I a shared ownership house with a housing association and mixed in with them. We drove through a well known council estate the other day and I was a little envious I remember saying to dp them lot will be like family.

@thentherewascakes surely the point of longstanding good tenants being offered the opportunity to buy their council house at a discounted rate is because of all the years of rent they have already paid to the council. The house I live in currently was purchased from the council by DH's grandfather not long before he died . In that time he'd paid 45 years rent . If that had been on a mortgage he would already have owned the house.

No different to anybody making money from the sake if a house if the market's been good to them.

One of my friends lives in a council estate in a council flat. Combined income of around 40k. She's a kitchen manager in a nursery and he works at the train station.

Should read

From the sale of a house

It obviously depends on the estate.

I grew up on one and it was awful. I was determined I’d not live there a moment longer than I had to.

I was ridiculed for my hobbies and interests and told I thought I was ‘too good’ to be their friend.

It was full of people who had no ambition, racist views and violent tendencies.

When I left in my teens but when I was able to buy my first place it was an ex council flat. It was in a lovely area, still mostly council tenants and it was lovely. I’d still be there if I didn’t want children.

People talk about ‘their’ experience and for all the people who had no issues there are plenty like me.

I’m not ashamed of my past, or my upbringing, but wanting ‘more’ is not a bad thing when you come from hard and unpleasant beginnings.

There was a brilliant documentary about social housing on bbc4 years ago. The main issue these days is that the council's responsibility to place people for housing has totally changed. As has the amount of stock. In the past estates were designed as a continuity of a community, children of residents were given priority when they had their own family.
The purpose of social housing has now totally changed. I am a CP social worker and our families will often get priority and the area I work in means that these are most of the large houses in the city. So lots of children! Parents have usually grown up in similar circumstances, so work and private rental/mortgage just is not part of their life experience. Also this means that at times some more problematic families live within the same street.
However there are loads of families who live there quite happily and for lots of people living on an estate means inclusion and friendship between adults and children.
The biggest problem is the unregulated UK rental market. In most of Europe renting is the norm, tenant have rights and can live securely in a property for several years. Here lots of ex LA property has been bought by landlords (thanks Sarah Beeney) and is rented out for far more money on a continual 6 month tenancy. When I first started out they charged anything, at least now there is a cap on housing benefit.

Living in a council estate should be temporary
NO! No no no.
That's the whole point. Council estates shouldn't be seen as akin to hostels! Helena is bang on about the failure of proper care of drug addicts and the like. Housing estates should be communities-stable, long term communities (because without long term stability there is no community).
We have a situation in the UK where 1. young families can't afford to buy, 2. private landlords are paying their mortgages with public money (housing benefit) because working people cannot meet the high rents and 3. there is a real shortage of low cost housing.
So, rather than agitating for council estates to be transient and temporary we should be putting pressure on the government to address the housing crisis.
This is not an "us" and "them" situation. It's, in reality, a situation whereby most people are working and struggling in a system stacked against us. And by that I don't mean just council tenants, I mean most people in the UK. So yes, the demonising of council tenants is wrong, but also council estates need protecting from bad policy and short term thinking so that communities can have some chance at flourishing.

Fantastic post @IfNot

I grew up on a council estate and still live in a council property. I think the idea of ‘bettering yourself’ comes from the fact that when I was growing up a lot of people were in non career jobs so the idea of getting to uni and having a well paid career and maybe be able to buy a house were things to aspire to.

As things turned out I ended up having children young and I missed going to uni. I’m working on getting that career now - but I certainly don’t regret the lovely rural council property I have now after spending time privately renting. Being a lower earner I like the fact I have a house that I can afford, with a lovely garden which I can stay in forever if I choose. I don’t have to worry about the roof or replacing the boiler. I may not have my ‘own’ home but I have security.

What I hate most are people who grew up in council houses, then 'bettered themselves', became Tory supporters and don't believe in providing social housing because people should 'just work harder'.

Apparently totally missing the point that social housing allowed them a stable start to their own life.

I think.you are looking at things through rose coloured glasses and tbh sound a bit patronising @Rarfy what this thread has shown is that there are good and bad council estates ,the estate I live on ( housing association,but they bought all the council.houses) isn't a bad estate I get on with my neighbours and will chat to them etc ,kids play out ( much like I did on the estate where everyone owned their own houses, as a child ) but I wouldn't class my neighbours " like family".

I was brought up on a small council estate in a small town. Great little community. My parents still live there and rent but only four have not been bought now.

The nearest large town had two very large council estates with notoriously bad reputations but in reality it was only a minority of houses who were causing trouble. My sister and her family are desperate to get out f private renting and into local authority housing but that is very unlikely.

For anyone who's lived in an area comparable to the Bronx I obviously can see why they would want to get out! But are most council estates really that bad? I do live in a fairly rural town. Perhaps I'm naive.
You have never been to the bronx have you? You sound like a complete idiot who watched some 70s movies.

tvhighlights.bradfordzone.co.uk/television/tvprogrammes/george-clarkes-council-house-scandal-channel-4-31-july-900pm/

As council housing in the UK reaches its 100th anniversary, George Clarke embarks on his own personal campaign to kick start a new wave of council house building. A child of a council estate, Clarke looks at the reasons for the steep decline in affordable public housing, and meets those who have suffered due to the acute shortage of homes. In a bid to realise his own ambition to create social housing of quantity, and quality, he meets visionary architects of the past, and visits the best and worst examples of housing currently on offer. A trip to Vienna, where social housing can come with indoor and outdoor pools, proves inspirational for his housing vision for the future. George lobbies government to reform housing policy, before taking matters into his own hands in a bid to start a housing revolution. Prod Co: Amazing Productions

My nan has lived on a council estate her 60 years and never had any problems. It's a lovely place and I'd happily live there.

My in laws live on one and it's awful. My husband grew up there. I've known them for 17 years and visit regularly. When you turn on to the estate it's like a scene from the walking dead. The people just look and act differently. There are toddlers playing out unsupervised all day and night. Drink and drugs. Fighting and arguing in the middle of the night. Car thefts, joy riders, break ins. People getting mugged and beaten up. I can't believe they still live there, I certainly wouldn't want to even if it was free.

Housing association nails tenants windows shut in heatwave

www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/broken-windows-nailed-shut-heatwave-16646867