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.

@BlueEyedFloozy

I have no issue with people in social housing. I get your situation sucks. Not enough money to rent, definitely not enough to buy. So you're stuck in housing that is often unsuitable.

But the people mentioned are demanding large houses, in nice expensive areas, parking, garden etc everything done for them, just because they decided to have 8 kids, and not work. That's entitlement, not hardship. It's also stupidity. If you can't afford 8 children, don't have 8 children. If you still want them, don't demand someone else pays for them. They are being ridiculous. People in large houses want to swap and bigger families are refusing them because they aren't good enough. That's wrong.

@BobbyBlueCat
Your attitude is very ignorant, plenty of people take council housing in crap areas, poor condition just to be housed, christ knows where you get your sweeping opinions from? DM reader? Maybe if your govt stopped right to buy and kept their word to build SH it would help, you know to replace all the ones they sold or allowed to fall into disrepair.

As a person who is struggling to get social housing I have no idea what the solution is. Personally I wouldn’t have a go at a member of staff. I might have a good moan but I wouldn’t take it out on an individual. Where I do get quite stroppy however is when members of staff are rude and dismissive, or deliberately obstructive. You might be lovely OP, but I have encountered a good number of staff at my local council who are bloody awful and treat people like something they’ve just stepped in.

I think we all just need to try to be polite and understang towards each other, but I’m aware that unfortunately a lot of people aren’t.

1 development here in the last 3 years with 5 3 bed properties allocated to social housing.

There is no bidding in our area (unless the housing department across 3 HA's an LA and the centralised point are all speaking shit which quite frankly wouldn't surprise me)

Yes @arrowfanatic this is my working life too, so demoralising in every which way.

I have had conversations with applicants about how we all make decisions In our lives & we then need to live with the outcome of those decisions & we can’t immediately respond to household size changes & give them a bigger house (There are obviously some exceptions ). I think folk think we’re letting agents with keys waiting for the next person to turn up.

I hate working in housing but I literally can’t think of anything else I can do that will pay quite as well. I’m in Scotland & the salary, I believe is much better than elsewhere.

@ChristmasSweet
‘these people’ are a minority or drummed up to shock the DM readers, where are these SH in expensive areas, where are the 8 child families? No houses are being built to replace the sold off ones, no suitable houses for aging tenants, it’s really simple.

@BlueEyedFloozy and....? Have I said that everyone who is in social housing is workshy? Not once did I say that. There are people in society who need that extra bit of help ie social housing, benefits etc. It isn't those types that annoy me. It's those who just keep on breeding and doing nothing to help themselves when they are capable of doing so yet demanding for more more more.

Not sure why you're getting your knickers in a twist.

People that contribute the least yet demand the most are the problem with society.

The sense of entitlement is unreal.

What’s going to happen when you have a rising population who are living longer and you sell off social housing (Right to Buy) and don’t invest in enough new social housing?

Why would people continue to expand their families when they can't even provide adequate housing themselves for any child that they choose to bring in the world?

Can't afford a house - don't have kids?

The Tory voters are obvious on here 🙄🙄🙄
Never mind houses just put up the workhouses and be done.

JKScot, if you hadn’t taken my quote out of context you would see I am specifically referring to a tv programme where such a view was presented.

It was on the BBC and the content was written and presented by the same person. They were arguing for a small state and against benefits but for council housing and people having a go at ‘middle class’ housing workers.

I'm in social housing, I'm disabled & the flat I'm in is totally unsuitable for me. I need an adapted property, but I need to be near my mum who is my main carer, she is 81 & doesn't drive. It isn't always a case of insisting on an area but families often rely on family for childcare & disabled people rely on family for care. These carers are saving the country a fortune, it isn't too much to ask to be able to live near to the people who help & care. Councils expect anyone looking for housing to be able to move miles away from family, schools & healthcare, they don't understand that children may have SEN requirements that they have had to fight to get & moving schools would mean starting that fight all over again.

The sense of entitlement is unbelievable! Some folk think a magic wand can be waved & a lovely 3/ 4 bed house in the right area, designed to perfection will appear 😩 all at at a social housing rent.

@BlueEyedFloozy erm because you could already be in adequate housing for yourself and a future child however the child comes along and has additional needs and therefore you do then actually need help...? Therefore this ties in with what I said... "There are people in society who need that extra bit of help ie social housing, benefits etc. It isn't those types that annoy me.". Comprendez?

I used to work in a housing association and we had a family on our books who had ELEVEN children. They had seven when they moved into the property. When we advised we simply didn’t have any stock of the size they wanted/needed they accused me aggressively of personally failing their children.
I really had to bite my tongue to not say the only people failing the children was them

Regards a question about emergency accommodation I’m Manchester and there is always emergency accommodation available, however it’s usually BnBs and if you refuse them the council will wash their hands of you. You will then get moved to temporary accommodation which is often grim and in very rough areas. You get one option which if you refuse again they will not help further.

Social housing isn't that cheap - our rent is higher than a mortgage on a similar property!

It's a multifacted problem as people have said.

People needing housing (not just social housing, but generally) need to be more flexible about where they will live and think about what they can afford.

Employers need to be more flexible about home and remote working where it's possible.

We need more co-working facilities and broadband for all - this at least is being worked on.

Better public transport so that people can live further from work, and where possible, not go in every day.

Stop developers building "executive" homes or studio flats when people need 3 and 4 beds.

Make an inventory of all the empty properties and bring them back into use.

Stop rich foreigners buying all the ridiculously expensive new flats in London and pushing local people (who may be immigrants themselves, but less monied ones) out of London which in turn pushes prices up elsewhere.

Provide more incentives for smaller families, whether elderly whose family have flown the nest or anyone living alone to move out of 4 bed houses and free them up for families.

What you describe isn't a housing crisis. It's a personal responsibility crisis.

Why are these people continuing to breed beyond their means.

There's also a lot of snobbery in the UK towards living in flats, especially if you have kids. It's seen as almost cruelty to not have a garden, which is odd given that the weather in many parts of the UK is so abysmal you can't even use the damn thing for months out of the year or a parenting failure.

In addition, private renting in the UK is utter shit.

@JKScot4 there's a couple of housing estates near me, in expensive areas and amongst other private housing. Also in scotland, just so you are aware..

They are buying them off the property builders around here. Probably sell them for 5k in 10 years even though privately they sell for 250k. The house I am in used to be social housing, a small estate. All sold off in 2009 I think for 6k. That's 24 houses they have lost for social housing in one small town. And the council wonders why they have no money..

Social housing rent? The properties I am bidding for are housing association & the rent is as much if not more than private rent.

@Nat6999 I would assume that's why there is room on most social housing application forms to further explore if and why you require to be housed in a specific area. Obviously it can't be adhered to 100% of the time however they will try and take it into account.

There is a difference between someone needing to be nearer to a relative for caring duties and someone just wanting to live a specific area because they like it/its a bit easier/their mum lives there.

The whole concept of social housing is to provide good, affordable homes with secure tenancies for renters, with the state retaining ownership of the properties and the rent being paid used to maintain the homes.

* i may be being judgemtnetal and stereo typical but accidents and numerous children does seem to much more common in social housing tenants than other types of housing!*

You’re not wrong.

I know if I had an accidental pregnancy, and the house I owned was inadequate. I would have a plan in place to increase our earnings/ work overtime/ adjust budget etc. so we could accommodate them.

The overcrowding situations really does make me feel sad for the children though, they didn’t choose to be born into it. Like that family with 8 kids. Imagine having to share a room with 4 siblings.