To think people dont understand the magnitude of the social housing crisis?

[Arrowfanatic]

I work in social housing. We have endless requests for moves from customers who expand their family whilst in a property which is unsuitable to move them to a bigger property. We advise that family size housing (3 bed+) has a waiting list of around 10+ years and then these customers get mad.

We're accused of allowing them to stay in overcrowded properties, or affecting their mental & physical health and inevitably an overcrowded property becomes prone to damp & mould as it's too full.

These customers also want these houses in the exact location they desire, thereby limiting even more their chances of a move.

We get so demoralised when every day it's the same thing, but social housing is at a massive shortfall for the needs of the country & family size housing is in an even greater shortfall.

My company has an extensive plan to build more properties but it's a 5 year plan!

It's like they think we're lying to them, or the old classic of "you housing immigrants straight away" note, we dont, they have to apply like everyone else. We dont want our customers in unsuitable accommodation, and we really work hard on making the housing stock we do have work.

If you're in this position what could we tell our customers to make them understand the position we are in, and the one they have put themselves in and why we cant help as quickly as they would like.

I feel like I say "we have a shortage of family size housing" 100 times a day & get yelled at 100 times a day for our association not caring.

What? You are not paying peanuts
I pay £900pm for my 3 bed property is that cheap?

Well it depends on where you are.
South Wales. No.
Central London. Yes.

Like i said ...................takes a while for peoples brains to catch up.

But again you are looking ignoring the fact that in many parts of the country there is little difference In Private rent and social.rent @Stabbitha ,yes I imagine if you live in London and you are paying 3 or 4 times the rent of your social.housing neighbours it must be very frustrating , but we don't all live in London and have extortionate rents .

Menora if your Social housing rent is 900, which is high for SH, you must be in a prime area so yes.is it really such a shock that you have a bargain of a rent ? Do you never check estate agents windows?!

No I pay 80% of market value. My rent in a 3 bedroom maisonette privately was the same as a SH house with the same amount of rooms with a private garden. I completely appreciate it but it isn’t ‘peanuts’ whatsoever!

Menora that is the new so called "affordable" rent.

🙄its not about london. You know well that private rent is more expensive. If you are working and earning the same amount as me, id be annoyed you got a great rate because 5 years ago you were a single parent of 2 kids and i wasn't. Can you not see how its not fair???

Benefits award you for staying down.

Don’t confuse council rent with SH rent. They are not the same thing. Council rent is very low and the properties are often old and not in great condition. SH is 80% of market value and can fluctuate.
No I don’t live in London I live in East of England

Don’t confuse council rent with SH rent

Its quite deliberate.

Yes SH here is ‘affordable rent’ and you have to prove you can pay it. It’s just renting from a landlord the same as private renting but with longer tenancies. You have to be checked to afford it you have 3 monthly checks to prove you can still afford it and you have to leave if you can’t. Whereas I can get private rent in 12 month tenancies or ‘rolling’ tenancies I can have a 5yr tenancy after 1 year but it is not a home for life if your circumstances change or you break any rules they will evict your

I live in the Northwest @Stabbitha1 it's all housing association in my town and there is very little difference in rents for private and social both are relatively cheap .

Stabitha Nothing stopping you from becoming a single parent if you think its really a better deal.

I’m also single and earn £32k per year. House prices and a deposit is completely out of my league. I can pay rent but I can’t get a mortgage by myself hence qualifying for affordable housing. I also work locally for public services (NHS) and have lived in the area for 12 years. Not all of us are benefit claiming idiots who have too many children. I will swap down to smaller when DC leave home and if I meet someone I will try to get a deposit and buy a house

Menora......the same lack of security is now evident in social housing. Its what the whiners cried out for and is happening and has been for a while (Joe Halewoods blog is excellent on this) but the whiners are still pretending that HA is ALWAYS a better deal. Its almost as if they have changed their minds about what they have whined for and now want it to be even worse.

Also unlike private renting even unfurnished you move into an empty property that is stripped of everything - no carpets not even curtain poles, everything is completely basic and not even cleaned. No white goods no end of tenancy deep clean - nothing. I had to buy absolutely all of that. The only thing I get for ‘free’ is my boiler servicing (same as private rental) but everything else even fridge and washing machine is mine, so if it breaks I am fucked like everyone else who doesn’t have things that belong to a landlord

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant help noticing that the whiners who want social housing to be as insecure as private rental so its all the same .............arent arguing that social housing should ALSO come fully furnished like private rental does. Very telling that.

Betrays the true intention behind the comments!!

Lack of security in SH is at least better than private renting. I was afraid of my private LL and never asked him for any repairs. He withheld my deposit when I left as he claimed a sink was blocked up and cobwebs on a ceiling. I lived in private renting with no central heating (storage) which cost a fortune and it was a shoddy property everything was broken and it was just awful. I don’t mind the 3 month checks in SH as I know I am not doing anything wrong

I hope they are accomodating your work schedule in those three month checks.

Helena I ended up getting a credit card to buy an oven and some carpets as I was a bit desperate. No one in private rental has to do that! We cooked just a microwave for 12 weeks till I could afford an oven, I was so worried about debt I really felt like I had made a mistake leaving private rent and doubted it was the right decision. I feel more secure but not 100% - and the rent is still scary each month!

The people who lived here before me one of them became disabled and the DH gave up work to care for her and they struggled to pay rent and got into arrears and got kicked out the end of their 5yr tenancy. It was quite sad really

Exactly Menora which people forget on threads like this ,when I lived in private rented I was provided with carpets,curtains ,all.white goods ,decorated , now in social housing ,the walls bare they had ripped the previous tenants wall paper down and made a mess , no.carpets everything in the kitchen is mine ,not that I expect my housing association to provide those but you do get them in private rented for very little difference in rent( where I live )

How much of that 900 is paid by benefits? You dont have to answer.

the old classic of "you housing immigrants straight away

This made me chuckle. I work in public assistance in the US, and I've heard, " you'd give me benefits if I were white/black/Mexican/Muslim," etc., more times than I can count. We really wouldn't; the criteria is the same for everyone.

People also forget vulnerability to eviction when you privately rent vs nice cushy HA properties. As if every private propery is so well prepped for residents and and no dodgy rogue landlords ever exist.

Helena can you please hold back on the old copy paste? Its very tiresome, we can all google. Thanks.