AIBU to think social housing homes should be temporary?

[Shannoncakequeen]

I know a lot of people won’t be happy about this view so I’m prepared to get flamed for it.

I don’t agree with people living in their social housing homes when they’re no longer ‘entitled’ to them.

By entitled I mean their children have left home so they have extra bedrooms they don’t need but continue to outlive their life there, and so preventing another family from enjoying a suitable home.

It’s not a bash about social housing per se as I know it is there for a very good reason. I was raised in council properties myself so I understand the importance of them being available to those in poverty. I feel many people abuse the system that keeps it fair for those who need it.

As an example, I have a neighbour who lives alone in a 3 bedroom house, large garden, garage and driveway. Ideal property for most of the population. Her children left home over 10 years ago and she is in her early 50s. She told me she had decorated the spare bedrooms for her grandchildren to sleep over in the future (they are currently babies). Whilst I’m flabbergasted she would want to stay put rather than downsize to something small and suitable for one adult, I am human and understand the memories/emotional connection/a house is a home etc, but it isn’t her property and is rented from our local council and therefore I’m shocked the council haven’t got stricter policies on this type of thing. I understand they can’t legally turf out people from their homes, but there should be an incentive to rehome these people so families aren’t stuck in one bedroom tower block flats whilst single adults live in luxury.

Maybe I am bitter because I have to rent and pay extortionate money for the privilege as I cannot get a deposit to buy so I will never be able to raise my child in a home like she has. The house would be £400k+ if it was owned privately, yet she gets it for free and for life just because she joined the list many years ago when it was easy to get social housing. I know many other people in similar places to her and they all believe they morally own the property and have no concern for the housing crisis.

Does anyone else agree that there needs to be stricter rules to make it fair for everyone to have affordable housing whilst in need only (up until children leave home) and not for life? If you are in this position what makes you stay and not give up the property to a family in need? If you plan to stay in your property when your children leave home what offer would make you rethink staying? I’m aware there are new rules for new tenants but this is aimed at long term tenants.

Again I understand this will trigger some people, but morally I can’t come to grips with the entitlement of some people (excluding those who still need the property for health reasons).

Yes the elderly don’t have to pay the bedroom tax so older people in council houses whose children have left won’t have to pay, my mum lives in a 3 bed council house alone and is exempt from paying,
people day there isn’t enough smaller places to downsize to but there is, the trouble is people just don’t want to live in them (tower blocks etc)

All people would do is buy their house taking even more homes out of the social housing stock.

However, if they genuinely are in need of affordable housing and living in or on the poverty line, which let's fave it, is what social housing is proved for, the most poor amd vulnerable, then they wouldn't really able to afford to spend thousands on their social house. Money is spent hand to mouth, there's no extra for lavish homes

You can't blame people for wanting to hang onto a secure, affordable tenancy when the private rental market is the opposite.
Direct your anger that way, instead of envying someone that has something that should be

Well thankfully you don't actually make the rules, it makes sense that people have communities just like everywhere
The problem is there is not enough social housing not that people should have to move out of there homes.

accessible to anyone looking to rent a home.

My council pays moving costs and pays you for each room you give up

@Featuredcreature have you asked if your landlord would help you with moving costs? Or you could apply for DHP from the council.

There are schemes to move people to smaller properties except the ones in London are always to move people out of London like the current one.

If you do want a smaller property like some people I know did/do, it doesn't necessarily mean you want to move miles away from your adult children especially if one of them is in a care home. Oh and I forgot some people 55+ still have one or both parents alive who need more and more help.

You think a tower block is suitable accommodation for an elderly person?

I 100% agree but surley there needs to be a build build programme of suitable 1/2 bedroom flats or bungalows, and nice flats not 15 story depressing tower blocks.
Id love to move to one of those retirement village places when I retire but the costs are astronomical

@BiscoffSundae there were no tower blocks where my parents lived.
Where I live there are tower blocks. It is where the council put largely single men coming out of prison.

I think that downsizers should be given a financial incentive to move. Help towards moving/ decorating costs. Etc.

Also if you think you might be entitled to pip I’d put yourself through the process now. There are charities who can help you. It granted it could save you from building up further debt and if things are easier financially then your children will benefit.

It's very difficult.. my parents are both over 80,. because they have been in the house since the 1960's , they have a lifetime tenancy. Because they are on 'legacy benefits' they get almost full rent and council tax paid and bedroom tax doesn't apply. They are in a large 4 bed property and can't manage the garden or driveway maintenance anymore. Their answer is no way are they moving because it is 'theirs' Obviously it isn't, but no amount of persuading from us will make them act differently, particularly as my dad perceives anything smaller to be small an pokey. They don't use 3 of the bedrooms at all, which I think is incredibly selfish, but there is no mechanism to make them move.

this

no different from private renting. Can lose their home anytime if the landlord wants to sell etx

apart from council pay say £600 rent for a 3 bed compared to £1400 for a 3 bed private renting

if they want a 3 bedroom when kids older for grandkids to stay then they rent privately

I know several 50+ who are in 3 bed Council houses who live alone as their children moved out to own homes whether council rent or brought

these should be given notice for families who need a larger house

problem is there aren’t many 1 bedroom places or even 2 bedroom unless 2nd floor flats which obv having a home /house and garden for years aren’t going to want to move

not sure what the answer is. To stop lifetime tenancies or when youngest is 25 they have to move out /find own home as should be working - tho obv does f work if has a baby

The system is flawed however. An older lady, no children or partner near me moved into a very nice 3 bed social housing home a few years ago. She works but I still to this day wonder how on earth she got offered the property. I knew the previous tenants and it was not a swap, and i know it went up on the local bidding website. So she won the bid for it, but why she needed it I do not know. That is a flawed system.

I’m a domiciliary carer op, and not a day goes by when I’m at work that I don’t think ‘my god what a waste of a wonderful house’. I look after care users with high needs, over 90% are bedbound literally living in a single room in their home, and some of these council owned ones are absolutely fabulous. Two ladies I’m looking after are in 3 story houses, four beds/two baths plus downstairs wc’s, two massive receptions, garages and gardens my kids would die for. Both ladies do not leave the single room they have been set up in. I’ll admit to feeling pure jealousy at people getting to live in these houses for pennies (or nothing) when I’m paying through the nose for a cramped 3 bed with a concrete patch for a garden for the 5 of us. I’ve been on the council list for 13 years but I’ll obviously never be offered a house as I’ve already got a roof over my head. These houses could still go to families with children who need them though.

We downsized from a house to a bungalow. The council fell over backwards to help us move and we got a payment and expenses paid for doing so.

I would vote for any party instigating a large scale social housing build. It is a scandal that should shame the government that private landlords are being paid from the public purse for overpriced rentals for housing lower income families.

This. They should be seen as temporary homes, not forever.

Right to buy was the worst thing ever to happen in this country. We lost all our council housing stock, and the market became over inflated when those who bought could then sell it for huge profits 3 years later.
get angry that there probably isn’t enough smaller homes for people to downsize into.
I’m amazed at how people look at ‘social housing’ these days like it’s some sort of hand out. I grew up in a village where 95% of the houses were council houses. We paid rent, for our homes. Just because we didn’t own it didn’t make it less of a home. Yes people swapped and moved about because there was enough stock to do so. Not any more coz of Thatcher.

You really wouldn’t want temporary housing next door OP. It would lead to shantytown type ghettos. Nobody would care, everybody passing through.

It’s nice to see a good mixture of opinions. I can understand there being a lack of suitable homes to move to, but if it was a system that was introduced eventually it would even out. For example old lady passed away so her 3 bedroom house is available, a family moves there, when their children grow up they are moved to a 1 bedroom flat and a new family takes their house, when that couple/single adult passes it’s available to the next childless couple/adult and so on. I completely the elderly shouldn’t be forced to move, however when the time comes they do pass away their homes become available stock again as the elderly are the generation that were promised permanent housing. My area does have a lot of stock, there is still a block of flats empty after 6 months despite advertising for the bidding process for families. I wouldn’t apply for social housing as I don’t need it, but if I was in that position I would fully support a contract that stated when my youngest child left school I was to accept a property they offered me. If I wasn’t happy about that property I would have had many years to improve my situation to begin private renting when my children left home. For many when they are handed an easy life on a plate they haven’t got the ambition to improve their situation, and no that isn’t a dig at social housing tenants just at entitled people.
regarding the comment about people having more babies to not leave, I can totally see that becoming the case however with the cost of living and benefits capped at 2 children it wouldn’t be enough to cause a big disruption I don’t think

Ok... so all tower blocks are full of men that come out of prison? No single people 🙄

YANBU.

The number of large families housed in bedsits or one bedroom flats is shocking, massive shortage of 3/4 bed houses or any social housing really in my area. Even the temporary accommodation is all full and people get sent out of area.

I was a community carer for elderly people and most of my clients were still living in 3bed council houses but only using two rooms. Trouble is there is often a lack of suitably accessible housing for elderly people to downsize to as well which compounds the problem.

I grew up in social housing 80s/90s - we were housed in a bed sit and eventually a suitably sized flat and then later on a house through an older couple who did downsize. These days we probably would never have made it out of the bedsit.