1 single person in a 3 bed council house

[Fyptk]

20ish years ago this person exchanged from a 1 bed flat to a 3 bed council house because relatives were moving in with her, so all the bedrooms were needed.

Fastforward a few years and those relatives all moved on and the single person remained in the 3 bed house.

To get out of paying bedroom tax they claim the other bedrooms are used for something to do with their work which they are not. The rooms are unused apart from storing excess clutter.

Meanwhile here in London (where this person lives) families are stuck in hostels and overcrowded rooms whilst the local burroughs housing register has in excess of 10,000 people on it waiting to be housed. The minimum wait for a 3 bed house here is 10 years.

AIBU to think they are selfish?

@Happycat1212

This could be about my ex! He is a single man in a 3 bed council house in central London! He rents out all the rooms and is allowed to do this and due to the location he gets a lot of money, his council allow it and he’s still allowed to claim benefits as well 🤦‍♀️ Meaning he pays pennies in child maintenance.

That is wrong on so many levels!

@Whattodo34

She can buy it, sell it on the open market and then buy something suitable for her. It's not her problem to solve this problem of housing other peoples' children.

What a lovely attitude to have.

Imagine if everybody took the stance.

Why wouldn't they? It's not their fault others are overcrowded. It's not their problem to solve. It's a perfectly legit thing to do.

@Totallycluelessoverhere - the solution is not painless and people would be upset. But the idea social housing was allocated to those in need rapidly replaced all that optimism about new communities and streets in the sky. It’s failed.

Social housing causes some social problems - right to buy as the Tories thought of it was a good way to make all those troublesome tenants into the property owning classes. It has been very successful! I don’t see that it will stop, indeed it might go the other way, which that you increase the discounts.

The lifetime tenancy arrangements and passing on were far greater mistakes. Far from encouraging community pride etc, it just meant diminishing rent values in real terms, declining repairs, and an inability to allocate housing on a real need basis. I would be even tougher with allocation of it and it should be reserved for the very few. We don’t build enough to do otherwise.

looking after our own families and ourselves is normal. surely?

anyway, councils and housing associations aren't enforcing or even encouraging, downsizing. They dont appear bothered

so everyone can stay in their homes, protected by their contracts,lifetime tenancies and the law.

all is good

some areas outside London have a reasonable amount of properties available

its just everyone wants to be in London!

@GirlCrush

looking after our own families and ourselves is normal. surely?

anyway, councils and housing associations aren't enforcing or even encouraging, downsizing. They dont appear bothered

so everyone can stay in their homes, protected by their contracts,lifetime tenancies and the law.

all is good

Exactly this!

I would be even tougher with allocation of it and it should be reserved for the very few. We don’t build enough to do otherwise.

Yes let’s have a great social experiment and create ghettos by only giving council houses to the tiny majority of people with significant problems. Let’s not have any employed people in social housing.
Let’s create even more hatred between the haves and the have nots (in this case the have a £500 a month council house and the have to pay £1500 a month for a 2 bed private flat because I am In employment).

At least it will be a major distraction for those who think the refugees are all coming here in a boat to steal their council houses.

@GirlCrush

some areas outside London have a reasonable amount of properties available

its just everyone wants to be in London!

Domestic violence allowed to apply anywhere but local connection still asked for with lots of councils to be priority on housing register. Was in refuge and applied to a council near and they said had to rent private if not from there so no good for if on disability benefits. Also isolating in strange area with people who don't like you if you from somewhere else. There's a scheme thing people can go on to look for council out of London but you can't go on it if your council not subscribed.

I got out of my London hostel a good few years back. Was a DV situation too

No local connection, chose a town half way between 2 sets of grandparents. As the children grew i upsized straightaway within 4 months of applying

Outside of London is much easier.

No children. Disabled. Will be very isolated in strange place but tried to do it anyway. The councils wanted local connection for housing register. One didn't ask for that but kept not doing anything messing me about. Ignoring phone calls, asking for evidence and information then saying not enough evidence even refuge and social services evidence. They do anything not to house because they have shortage.

If you don't mind would you PM me where you went. Maybe I can try apply there if they take DV victims for housing register without local connection.

The thing is when you are in overcrowded conditions you look at others better off and feel it’s unfair. But once you get the place you want, no way on earth are you giving it up. So yes, I could move to make way for a bigger family but once their DC grow up do you think they’d do the same? No of course not. So why should I do it?

As I keep saying on this thread, people can bang on about how tenancies should be reviewed and this and that brought in, but they’re wasting their breath. It’s like the people on smoking threads who say smoking should be totally illegal. The system is what it is. Just because some posters here think it’s unfair, it’s not going to change.

The government have toyed with all sorts of ideas. There was one a few years back where they considered reviewing people’s earnings and charging them a lot more rent if their earnings were over a certain threshold. While that consultation was going on I decided that if my earnings took me over I’d just reduce my hours! As it turned out they dropped that idea anyway. Anything that involves taking away an incentive to work is always going to be a crap idea. No one is going to choose their job over having a secure home because one of the main points of working is to secure a home.

As I said before, it’s a cycle. To be blunt, elderly people are dying right now (or going into care homes) and freeing up SH. I will die at some point and my house will go back into the stock. The “need” isn’t to force people to move. The need is having more SH full stop.

Through my work I know of 3 single men in 1 beds. They are of working age but have various disabilities that mean they can’t work. If you force someone with grown up children into these 1 beds then where do individuals like these men go? On the streets probably. We need a stock of 1 beds for adults without kids who need a home for various reasons. Or do we just ignore vulnerable adults?

You can’t solve the housing crisis by shunting one group into another. It will create as many issues as it solves.

Meruem

I agree with everything you have wrote. People are not picking at each other for it wanting to move house instead of pointing the finger at the people who have caused the housing crisis, the govt. the govt are the ones who have sold off social housing stock and who have failed to ensure we have enough types of all housing (including private housing) built to ensure that supply and demand issues don’t create people being priced out of home ownership and private renting.
I really don’t understand why people are picking holes in ordinary folk instead of being angry with the govt.
I for one don’t want social housing to become a ghetto of people who are all absolutely destitute.

Oh and to the PP's implying anybody has children to get free council houses, fucking grow up. I almost lost my life having my youngest child and she was very ill at birth. I don't know one person alive who would put themselves or their child through that for a bloody council house

You grow up. You cna't be that naive? Some people can pop out babies like peas out of a pod, and if you think people don't have kids to get housed, you are naive at best. I've heard it boasted about many a time, and they are completely open about it!