To not understand social housing.

[Doomsdayisstillcoming]

I’m going to keep this vague as it could easily be outing.

I don’t get social housing? How does it work?

I’ve never expected that my wife and I could ever be eligible, but I’m starting to question that, but even if I was I never would take it because there must be thousands in need more than ourselves.

We recently moved into an apartment complex in a city with V expensive rent. Block opposite us is social housing. I see families, patents with a baby. But I also see a young couple, no children, living in a two bed flat? I thought maybe there was a reason, fair enough.

Then today I notice the ground floor flat opposite that has been empty for ages (someone left the lights on for about a week and I could easily see it was emptied recently) has two people I recognise. I think they were living in my block (1 bed flat costs 1300/1400/1500/month), and they moved over. No children. Clearly it was empty for a while whilst they finished up their rent in my block! We have homeless people sleeping rough literally metres away. A guy literally sleeps at the bus stop over the road.

Is social housing just about playing the system?!? I thought it was a nightmare.

AIBU to think “what on earth?!”

If you are a genuine poster - many blocks of flats are no longer 100% social housing now. They will be a mix of some rented from the council / housing association and some privately owned.

So the couple who moved in could have bought the flat they moved into (either 100% bought or shared ownership, where you buy half and then rent the other half from the HA), or they could be privately renting the flat if is now owned by someone who is renting it out.

If you are in London, theres key worker housing. Certain jobs entitle you to apply for key worker housing in Central London. I know of a teacher and a firefighter who got flats this way. They are paying less than normal private rents on comparable flats. Those flats can only be rented to couples with at least one of the key jobs at thr point they take on the tenancy. (I don't know if other cities have the key worker housing schemes, or even if the London one is still running!)

@Warmduscher

I’m not applying. We have fairly good jobs. If somehow I got something, I’d feel like I was taking away from someone who needed it more.

That’s not how it works. You get nominated for a property based on your housing need. So you wouldn’t get a property ahead of someone who has a higher housing need than you because that’s not how the system works.

Unless what you’re actually saying is that you think other people get allocated a property ahead of people with a higher housing need?

To rent our flat we had to have a monthly income of 2.5x the rent.

£1350/month. So we have at least £3375/month take home between us.

We’d be bottom of the pile, and rightly so.

What I don’t get is how the couple who have moved in afforded to live like us, but now they have that. But I don’t know their situation. Maybe they lost their jobs. But then I’d assume it takes months to get a flat, so how do you pay rent in that time?

Anyone can apply, I remember putting my name down for a council house at 21 as I was on a very low income and then couple of years after having bought a property I remember receiving a letter which said I now qualified for a one bedroom property.
I remember feeling happy that the system was working and that the option had been there if I needed it.

@MargosKaftan

If you are a genuine poster - many blocks of flats are no longer 100% social housing now. They will be a mix of some rented from the council / housing association and some privately owned.

So the couple who moved in could have bought the flat they moved into (either 100% bought or shared ownership, where you buy half and then rent the other half from the HA), or they could be privately renting the flat if is now owned by someone who is renting it out.

If you are in London, theres key worker housing. Certain jobs entitle you to apply for key worker housing in Central London. I know of a teacher and a firefighter who got flats this way. They are paying less than normal private rents on comparable flats. Those flats can only be rented to couples with at least one of the key jobs at thr point they take on the tenancy. (I don't know if other cities have the key worker housing schemes, or even if the London one is still running!)

Could be key worker.

When this was built 8 years ago, it was opened by a Royal. They had an interview with a couple who moved in. One worked at the hospital, one at uni.

My family and I (DH, 2 year old DD, and I’m pregnant) live in social housing. We both work full time 36+ hour a week jobs in fairly professional roles. We were paying over £1000 a month for a tiny, tiny 1 bedroom private rental when I fell pregnant with my first daughter. We needed more room but 2 bedroom properties were out of our budget to rent privately. We applied to our local housing register, and due to my job we fell into the keyworker category which meant the small percentage of properties our local council offered that were ‘keyworker eligible’ we were able to bid for, and despite being banded at the lowest possible banding (D2), within 4 months of being on the register we applied for and were offered for a much larger, lovely 2 bedroom property. We’ve been here over 2 years now and pay £200 a month less than we paid for our pokey 1 bedroom private rental.

Without social housing we would not have been able to afford the place we are now (a exactly same layout flat as ours in our block was recently marketed privately for double the private rent than what we pay to our housing association!) and would probably still be stuck in our 1 bed and definitely could not have planned for a second baby.

However - I still don’t actively tell people we’re social housing and just say rented because of the attitude that we don’t deserve it or someone else needed it more. It serves a very good purpose to a wide range of people.

But I don’t know their situation.

Precisely. Keep telling yourself that every time you find yourself thinking they’re getting something they’re not entitled to.

@NamingBabies

My family and I (DH, 2 year old DD, and I’m pregnant) live in social housing. We both work full time 36+ hour a week jobs in fairly professional roles. We were paying over £1000 a month for a tiny, tiny 1 bedroom private rental when I fell pregnant with my first daughter. We needed more room but 2 bedroom properties were out of our budget to rent privately. We applied to our local housing register, and due to my job we fell into the keyworker category which meant the small percentage of properties our local council offered that were ‘keyworker eligible’ we were able to bid for, and despite being banded at the lowest possible banding (D2), within 4 months of being on the register we applied for and were offered for a much larger, lovely 2 bedroom property. We’ve been here over 2 years now and pay £200 a month less than we paid for our pokey 1 bedroom private rental.

Without social housing we would not have been able to afford the place we are now (a exactly same layout flat as ours in our block was recently marketed privately for double the private rent than what we pay to our housing association!) and would probably still be stuck in our 1 bed and definitely could not have planned for a second baby.

However - I still don’t actively tell people we’re social housing and just say rented because of the attitude that we don’t deserve it or someone else needed it more. It serves a very good purpose to a wide range of people.

Well to me this is great. And shows the system is working.

I don’t really understand if you were rated D2 how a childless couple could be rated higher? Unless maybe double keyworker?

Does it matter what role you have at a keyworker place? Is a doctor a KW? A university lecturer?

I would imagine a childless couple could well be rated higher in need if they were at risk of homelessness, couldn’t afford private rent at all (whereas we could afford our private 1 bed, we just couldn’t afford anything bigger than that!) or if they had health / social needs that banded them as a higher priority.

I know the ‘keyworker’ term kind of took off with covid but this was pre covid, as far as I remember it was anything public services / local authorities related which is what I was under and we were accepted on the basis of, although I did phone up to confirm this when we applied. On the online listing it showed around 80 people bidded in the few days window you’re given when the property came up, and when I asked we were the only ones who met the keyworker criteria which is the reason we were offered. Otherwise the D2 banding alone would’ve had us at the bottom of the list.

You don't know anything about the childless couple. They could both have severe mental health issues. Or other non visible issues.

Call the council if you want to find out the criteria.

Right we’ll I’ve learnt a lot.

I’ll just stop being nosy. Go talk to the homeless guy, and maybe sign up to a homelessness charity.

I’m glad the system seems to be working. If anything I like the mixture of housing.

I think it was a bit grim they completely separated the social housing into one block, gave them worse fittings (we have underfloor heating, they just have normal radiators), and little things like their outside doors aren’t automatic swing open (how much money did this actually save the developer?).

I hope people don’t think I’m a complete asshole. I love the family opposite. Their 1-2 year old waves at us and we wave back. She is the happiest child I have ever seen. I’m glad that social housing has given them a stable environment to raise her.

@Doomsdayisstillcoming

Right we’ll I’ve learnt a lot.

I’ll just stop being nosy. Go talk to the homeless guy, and maybe sign up to a homelessness charity.

I’m glad the system seems to be working. If anything I like the mixture of housing.

I think it was a bit grim they completely separated the social housing into one block, gave them worse fittings (we have underfloor heating, they just have normal radiators), and little things like their outside doors aren’t automatic swing open (how much money did this actually save the developer?).

I hope people don’t think I’m a complete asshole. I love the family opposite. Their 1-2 year old waves at us and we wave back. She is the happiest child I have ever seen. I’m glad that social housing has given them a stable environment to raise her.

I’m sure they don’t think you’re an arsehole. They probably don’t think about you anywhere near as much as you think about them.

There is plenty you can read on social housing segregation

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/social-housing-segregation/#:~:text=A%20recent%20article%20in%20the,out%20by%20a%20physical%20barrier.

Donate to shelter
Read shelter website

www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/mar/25/too-poor-to-play-children-in-social-housing-blocked-from-communal-playground

england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/policy_and_research

Lol some of the houses / flats are probably shared ownership or now bought outright

I've spent 30 years working in housing and related fields. Why do rank amateurs think they know more about the system than the people running housing? If I had a quid for every time I hear or read, "why don't we just..." about housing, I'd be a millionaire.

You know why it's like it is? Because we've made housing into a commodity rather than an essential service. Everything else; drugs, alcohol, mental health, poverty, violence, discrimination, it's all just window dressing.

The next time you look at a homeless person, don't think about what about THEM made them homeless, think what about YOU did. Your voting, your apathy, your housing choices, your family giving you a leg up, your ignorance of monetary systems. And watch this. www.make-the-shift.org/push/

Oh and say hi to your homeless neighbour. A good morning goes a long way.