To think councils should move people to smaller properties when kids move out?

[Faithin]

There's a huge lack of 3 bedroom social housing where I live (and everywhere I think?)
a lot of the people living in the 3 bed places are usually just 1 or 2 adults as the kids have grown up and moved out. Meanwhile there's lots of young families overcrowded in 1 and 2 bed flats with no garden etc
aibu to think those that actually need the space should be in the houses and those who don't should be made to downsize?
as the waiting list is so long, what tends to happen is peoples children are in their teens by the time they are moved into a 3 bed property, the grow up and leave within a couple of years and the parents stay, so the vast majority are under-occupied.

There should be a big program to build council houses that might help rather than trying to shovel people around what is fundamentally a broken system

The rent should be well below the mortgage repayments - they should be homes for 100 + years not 25 so costs recouped over a much longer time than typical mortgage

Then private landlords would need to offer something extra to justify the rents call

That was what the bedroom tax tried to do. Except if a property that's smaller isn't in their area why should they move far away?

They shouldn't have sold off all the bloody social housing stock.

Of course it's their home.

There's a difference between a home and owning a property, living in a council or HA property doesn't make it not a home. Come on now don't be so ridiculous.

Because it doesn't belong to them and there is a lack of adequate social housing?
why should children spend their entire childhoods in over crowded tower blocks with no outside space so that a single couple can have 2 spare bedrooms and plenty of space?

Plus, those people could equally say why did you have more children when you couldn't afford a home with enough space.

Criticism can go both ways you know.

unfortunately one bedroom council flats are almost non existent.
They simply aren't any for people to move into.

There are loads where I am

Some of my family live in social housing. There are literally around two dozen one bed flats on the whole estate which also has some 2 bed flats but 85-90% is 3 bed houses.

YABU.

It's all very well saying that, but life isn't always that simple.

At what point do you throw them out of the home they have decorated/furnished?
The second their oldest child goes to Uni?
After all, some children never really return home except to visit, so why should that child still have a home?
Then downgrade again if a second child leaves?

Who is paying for all these moves, what happens to all their stuff?
Why would you introduce so much instability into peoples lives when part of the intention of social housing is to provide some stability?

How about instead of them moving their parent in to care for them, the state can pay for that parent to be in a care home as they definitely won't have the space?

Or what if their uni child needs somewhere to live after uni or if it just doesn't work out?
Should they be homeless because after decades of being occupied, a room was empty for a few months?

What about the younger unmarried kids who join the military?
Don't they get homes to return to between postings?

What about the family who choose to become a foster family once their own children are grown?
Shall we just leave those kids without a home because you don't like the idea of someone having a cm more space for a bit?

What about disabled people who need an extra room for their overnight carer or equipment due to their disability?

A home isn't just about how many rooms are in it.

That would he fairly hypocritical when they themselves bought up there children in social housing though wouldn't it.

@Faithin

They don't want to live in a flat though, they may be keen gardeners for instance, and who wants a family living above you making noise? The answer is good quality 2 bed houses/bungalows for those in 3/4 beds to downsize to

My local council covers an area of 1935 square miles and so could quite literally involve moving nearly to the other side of the country.

The answer is to sort out the private rental market. That needs a s

Of course its their home, what do you think the word home means? What is it if not their home?

Well yes it is my home ,you might not like it but it is 🙄

Spotlight for a change. Private rents are a step down from SH. Need far more rights and protections and sort the ridiculous rents out

There are quite a few people on MN who really don't like those on benefits or in social housing.

As for the comment that people who rent social housing are not entitled to call where they live their home, well I think I've heard it all now.

What a nasty society we are becoming.

I think it’s fair given the lack of social and affordable housing. I know that there is this expectation that with council houses they’re your’s for life if you want them to be and people spend a lot of money decorating them, but I think this needs to change given the issues we have with overcrowding and lack of affordable housing.

They also need to stop right to buy, because that’s the main cause of the lack of social housing.

I grew up in a council house, my parents used right to buy, but I can see it’s not right that their neighbours live in three bed council houses as single elderly people while families are cramped in one bed flats. It’s also not right that my parents bought a council house for a huge discount when they could have easily afforded to buy a property on their own. My cousins have recently given their pensioner parents 40k to buy their council home that’s worth more than three times that because “it’s a good investment” and will be left to them as inheritance. Surely people can’t agree with this while we have a shortage of social and affordable housing?

I would like to know the stats for this before getting into it. I knew someone who lived in a 2 bed flat with her mother for decades, until her mother died and in her 70's was moved to a 1 bedroom flat far away from work and eventually was a part of her deciding to retire. So I know it happens. What are the stats for this?

Why don't you direct your anger at the government who allowed, and are still allowing, the selling off of social housing stock and who are doing the sum total of Jack fucking shit to address housing issues?

I’m always conflicted about this. On the one hand that’s their home.

On the other hand I think of my MIL rattling around a 3 bed house when she’s been offered a nicer albeit smaller property and refuses to move and I just think there’s a family in need and you’re causing a nuisance. Plus she’s surrounded by young families and hates the noise and yet she clings to it like she thinks she can pass it down to her own children (which obviously won’t happen as she doesn’t own it). Ridiculous.

(for the record, this is not a house that she’s been in all her life, she’s been there maybe 20 years and given all her children were adults by that point so it’s just incongruous as to why she wants to keep it).

I think people should be offered a smaller home but they shouldn't be forced to take it and anyway smaller council properties are rare where I live a couple of years ago our council built 6 1 beds and that's it.so where have people to go ?

Of course logically people should move out from social housing when they have no kids into something smaller but of course there is more to a house and an area than just rooms and people have lived their life there and have all their contacts and memories

We need to build more suitable homes, not try to steal the ones already allocated.

You are just encouraging a further reduction in tenants' rights - so trying to speed up the race to the bottom.

• A lot more social housing needs to be built.
• When (if) it is, planners should take a look at successful social housing communities in many countries in Europe where 1, 2, 3 and 4-bedroom properties are all mixed into the same community, so that people can move into a more spacious one as their family grows and into a smaller one again after DC move out, thereby not losing their community and friends when their circumstances change.
• While I agree with you in principal OP, the UK social housing stock is not set up to do this, so you get streets full of family homes and tower blocks full of 1 and 2 beds. We need a better mix of home sizes and types within one single community to allow for greater housing flexibility. But I do think if you are a social tenant you should accept that your home isn't a home for life - it's a home while you need that size of home - and when your needs change so will your housing.

This. Why are all these families in 1 and 2 beds having children they can't house?