Surprised with the quality of some council houses

[LydieL]

Hi all, so I recently moved to a town in the north west, very low income area, the town is as you’d expect a sea of terrace houses that open to the street with concrete yards, some of the nicer parts have gardens but for the most part that’s not the case. There are also some newer estates.

Anyway I work for a charity, we support families where a parent or sibling has passed away. As part of my job I’ve seen a lot of council houses, in this area it’s mostly the terraces which are small or post war builds which are bigger but these tend to be “rougher” areas to live.

Lately I’ve been working with a family, mums been offered a council house and today I went with her to just go over a list of what she needs to do to get out of temporary accommodation asap and into it. I’ll be honest I’m a little stunned at the quality, it’s a 3 bed terrace, small front garden, mid size back garden (more than most around here), large kitchen, bay window. Council have fitted a new kitchen and bathroom and re-plastered the whole house.

It’s also in a “nicer” area. For the amount this place would sell for, you could probably buy 2 cheaper 3 bed terraces and considering the shortage of council housing stock I’m surprised that hasn’t happened! She will be paying about a little Over half what it would go for on the rental market.

Now I know this is the exception rather than the norm but AIBU to be surprised councils are holding onto higher value properties like this rather than selling them and either getting 2 houses (so 2 families can be housed) or putting the profit into the local area?

I am aware this is far from the norm but after talking to colleagues the council seems to have several properties in this little area, this mum has also got very lucky with her housing situation as she’s only been in temporary accommodation for a couple of months.

That’s the only way developers can get planning permission in many cases

"I have an asset worth hundreds of thousands, it will keep increasing in value. AIBU to be jealous of people with no assets?"

🙄 These people are ridiculous! Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it - they want everyone else's cake as well.

Here's an idea, whingers: campaign to get back to the original idea of social housing. The idea is that every household should have a choice between high-quality housing at an affordable rent or taking on a mortgage to buy their own. As a bonus, this helps keep local authority finances stable so there's more funding for public services, education & care.

Nearly all new build estates have to reserve a portion of their houses for affordable housing and these get sold or let back to housing associations and councils for much less than market rate. This enables councils to offer better quality, more economical/efficient housing rather than having older stock in need of modernization. It also aids social mobility by mixing private owners, renters and council houses.

It’s about not creating ghettos but in any case, I’m afraid you sound quite judgmental. Have you been working in the non-profit sector for long?

Anybody in the UK Is entitled to apply for social housing, why would you want someone miserable because you can't afford a better house if you think you qualify apply

When council houses were first introduced they actually prioritised working people. Nowadays in most areas being in work will mean you earn too much to be prioritised.

Wow 😮
Op what a judgemental and condescending post. You're really in the wrong line of work.

I live in a council properly through a housing association and let me tell you the struggle I had getting a home . I was homeless for nearly 3 months living in a hotel . I was living off cup a soup and pot noodles and I had a breakdown . I was also going through cancer at this time and leaving a violent relationship. I had to bid for houses every week which added to my stress .
I was very lucky to get a brand new new build home but I have had to make many many sacrifices. The home came with no flooring or furniture so I had to provide these myself with the help of my mum and dad . I still wake up each day and have to pinch myself that I now have a home . I’ve recently been told I’m in remission so my next step is looking to get back into work . Lots of people don’t like living off benefits . I certainly don’t but unless you know what somebody has been through you shouldn’t judge .
I got most of my stuff for my home from car boots . I’ll add pics of my progress so far . ^^

Wow, I’ve just read OP’s other posts and I think it’s a good job ypu tested your thoughts out here before sharing with colleagues because I think you’d get short shrift.

It's not that straightforward in terms of funding, unless the rules have changed. Councils build houses with money borrowed from central government. The rental income (less management and maintenance costs) repays that borrowing.

Those rules didn't allow borrowing to buy property to rent out, but only to build, the aim being to increase the amount of housing stock overall.

Well they can pay a fine or have their estates in different phases to avoid it,but I do believe it is law now.

the thing i find fascinating is I’m happy to bet my mortgage (😆) that most of these posters would’ve been in social housing themselves 2 generations ago.

my parents could’ve bought my grans council house for very little, or certainly succeeded the tenancy to take it over when she died.

did they? No, as rich ambitious baby boomers they were desperate to have the absolute luxury of a mortgage on their own home (even at- as we’re often reminded- 16% interest!) being a homeowner signaled wild success and doing well for yourself.

You could chose your area, your street, your house. You could do building work, build an extension or a conservatory. They were delighted to be out of (nice!) social housing.

now look at their children, desperate to get back into the life their ancestors were so desperate to leave, wildly jealous of those living it.
Desperate to reject the easy jobs they’ve managed to get (not the hard manual labour of their grandparents) to do absolutely nothing, apparently!

90% of social housing is built by housing associations anyway. Very uncommon for councils to build more than a handful a year

and housing associations fund it themselves, although admittedly can use government grants in some parts of the country

The 2 new homes may cost tens of thousands to get up to standard, rather than a few thousand for the one.
The two may be in a bad area, HA want customers to feel safe, not have loads of ASB on a estate. It's a HO worst nightmare, to have to deal with multiple other HA to sort out ASB as they don't own the estate.

Multiple factors play into why they don't do it.
My DSis house was a mortgage rescue, her HA have nothing else in her direct area, the rest belong to 2 HA and private/private rent.

Council housing isn't subsidised. Once the capital borrowed has been repaid,, the rental income goes back into the housing budget and is used on maintenance and management. The remainder can then be used towards building more, and reduce the cost of borrowing the capital.

In the medium to long term, council housing is cost neutral.

@Imbluedalale Unfortunately, some people will begrudge what you have. It's crazy that we demonise people on the lower rung of society. How dare they have flatscreens and mobiles, blah, blah, blah. Of course, there are people from all strata of society who abuse the system. If you're on benefits though, you're immediately put into a box. You're not an individual anymore. You're a scrounger.

Actually because there is so little social housing the people who predominantly to the top of the housing list have complex lives which mean they need housing, nearly always disability

Beautiful! I’m so pleased things are getting better for you

Everyone seems to have got carried away with thinking the OP believes those living in council houses shouldn't have nice homes.

I can't seen any personal negativity about people living in nice council houses in the OP. Just surprise that the council hasn't sold them to make money, or to buy cheaper homes. I'd be surprised as well, given the way our cash strapped council is drastically trying to save money.

I was thrilled (and very surprised) when my grandmother was allocated a lovely new build council house.

It could be argued that social housing should be better quality as it is a long term investment and has to last through multiple tenants who may not manage maintenance or be able to trade up. My Nan's council house had been a post war show home on the estate and she was very proud of it.

I see what you are saying, OP. I've seen some people get really nice houses o nice areas and any work on them is done by the council. New bathrooms fitted, plastering the walls, plumbing etc. They are very lucky in a way. If you own you have to pay for everything yourself or let your house fall apart.

I am astonished that you work for a charity to be honest.

I grew up in a lovely council house, huge garden, 3 bed semi, cute porthole window for the pantry. Mum still lives there til this day, she’s just had it all rendered by the council, didn’t have a choice actually she didn’t want it as she preferred the brickwork, but it was for insulation or something. It’s far from a shithole.

And if you own, you have that asset.

And you know what @menopausalfart I feel like a scrounger at times and feel guilty but I didn’t envision being in a violent relationship . Getting cancer or becoming partially paralysed from cancer treatment . I have worked since I was 13 and I’m 40 now .
I’d love to get back into work . It isn’t fun being at home all day

I think it makes sense to maximise the amount of the council housing stock when there's such huge demand. So if one three bed house could be sold and two others bought, that makes sense, as two families are housed.

All coucil housing should be good quality and good upkeep, and local areas should have mixed housing as much as possible, but when it's a case of two reasonable houses instead of one exceptional one, then the logical decision for me is to provide housing for 2 families.