Labour - social housing

[UndertheCedartree]

I was just reading something I got sent from Labour. It says 'Labour will - get Britain building again, with more people owning their own home and first time buyers given first dibs on new homes in their local area

Aside from using 'first dibs' which is a bit old fashioned and I'm not sure my DC would know what it means!

I'm surprised they are focusing on people buying their own home? Surely, the priority should be social housing to allow people to be able to rent and also have stability? At the end of the day many, many people won't ever be able to own their own home and if people could have stable rented homes, I would imagine less would want to own their own home?

That's very depressing. I think people being able to have a safe secure home is something that everyone should have not just those of us lucky enough to own our own homes. How do they manage to do it in Europe?

• Less people more land
• higher pensions funded by higher taxes & social contributions
• totally different economic structures, culture of saving, lower wage costs enabling cheaper building & maintenance, culture of living in apartments not houses

There is lots of housing stock if you are buying. It’s social housing and rentals that are needed . What a stupid policy .

That's what my friends who are in social housing are like too.

You'd only need a huge pension if your rent was huge like in private rentals. Not if you had a reasonable rent.

@UndertheCedartree its a shame really as I can see they are spending money on building new homes which is fab but a little money keeping their existing stock up to date would be nice and if they don’t want to or can’t then they’d be as well selling it

@UndertheCedartree neither of us are able to say if it really is in common use because both of us are just describing what we know around us. However I don't think it's great a 16 year old hasn't heard of a phrase that isn't exactly completely unheard of.

We don’t dump them. We use ours as a trampoline. The woman next door set fire to hers and is using the metal springs to dry her washing on, and the bloke 3 doors down has been sunbathing on his all summer. Most ingenious is the fella at No 26 who also set fire to his, but he’s created a bar area in his front garden and is using the mattress springs to store his cans of Stella. We’re all very proud of ourselves.

Bloody snob.

The country I'm most familiar with is the Netherlands and they don't have less people and more land! Higher taxes and much better social facilities, yes. Can't say I've come across families living in apartments more, couples yes, but not families.

Yes, they absolutely should. You deserve to have a nice place to live.

Yes, that's true and maybe it is still commonly used where you are but it's not a word I ever use, nor do I hear it from anyone my age. Word usage changes, I'm sure my teen will survive not knowing a phrase that noone ever uses round here. I mean why would he know of it if he has never heard it - unless he was studying English Language and words that are going out of use! Well, I suppose he has heard it now!

Love it! 😄

You'd only need a huge pension if your rent was huge like in private rentals. Not if you had a reasonable rent

So you mean a social rent? That requires a subsidy. Which has to be taxpayer funded.

Your problem isn't ownership. Its housing cost. Which is it a different problem.

The modern Dutch system (which is exceptional and not typical in europe) was founded by massive state subsidies post ww2 and further debt write offs in the 90s.

Oh and the netherlands system has many of the issues we have. These days there are income limits to access social housing & massive waiting lists. Private rents are high and rising as they are in the uk.
29% of housing in nl is social
17% of households in uk are in social housing

In both cases theres a big chunk of private/owned.

In Europe they utilise land better. The vast majority of people in cities live in flats, not houses. There is no such thing as "property ladder", people are not constantly flipping properties or worry about their return on investment. You buy a flat to live in, and then you live in it for the rest of your life. It's a different mentality altogether. I have family in Europe and only one family member I know moved 3 flats in the last 30 years (mostly due to family expansion, then divorce and finally selling the flat to her middle son as she wanted to live on a smallholding). The rest of them still live in the first flat they bough, including my grandmother who owned hers for 60 years.
These "old stock" flats are still very affordable. New builds are up to 5 times more expensive.
There are very few social houses though but it is not an issue as virtually anyone in work can afford to rent or buy.

Labour have said their priority is rented properties.

Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said the next Labour Government will deliver the biggest boost to affordable housing for a generation – with social and council housing at the heart of Labour’s secure homes plan

We need a mix, get people out of BTL's & into far cheaper council housing, equally there will be many who can afford to buy, that needs to be assisted too.

I see the Tories are also keen to help out with the nations priorities and are cutting Inheritance Tax - that'll help with housing and the collapse in maternity safety.

Imagine being retired or disabled and therefore unable to qualify for a mortgage, then being told by the socialist government "tough titties" and no affordable social housing!

TBF thats exactly what happens now, you have to go into private rented.

Labour want to change that with more emphasis on council and social housing.