To think that there is a misunderstanding about social housing.

[Bitchesbelike]

On social media, lots of people assume that people in social / council housing are getting a free house and don’t work.

i grew up in social housing: my dad worked from age 15 to 65.

my brothers have worked since they were 16 and both live in social housing.

its not “free housing”: it’s rented, affordable accommodation.

I have a HA place and don't work, although I know others who have one and do work.

No one would want to swap the circumstances I've experienced in order to be offered this place, I assure you all. Nor the circumstances that prevent me from working. I guarantee working is easier. They don't just hand these places out like sweeties. You have to really be in the shit to qualify, at least in my county.

I know of someone who has a 2 bed social housing place l in Romford. It's £297 a week. That's not cheap in my eyes

UC covers LHA. If it is less than your private rent then you have to make up the short fall yourself.

But if the rent was lower then you may be able to pay it all yourself.Say £500 on a council place, private costs £900. Due to income eligible for £400 towards rent on private but zero on council. So it's actually paying for private landlords profit

Ohh I see….so private rentals rent can be paid by UC/Housing benefit too? Just like in a HA/council home

i wonder if those in private rented will be told to move to a smaller property if family size decreases? Just like social housing tennants are being told to?

The fact anyone on UC is paying money to private landlords is mad anyway.
They are doing so because there is not enough SH to go round.

Yes, so I pay (it's anonymous so I'll say!) £100 a week, which is all covered.

A place like this is likely worth £600 - £800 a month around here. It's a gorgeous area and it is mixed in with some very expensive houses.

But for a private rent, they'd be potting themselves a decent few hundred a month out of people's benefit money.

UC only pays what this place is actually worth. So a private landlord is automatically charging more than it's worth. That's pure taxpayers money.

If you have a mortgage and end up on benefits then you can get the interest paid on your mortgage (not the capital repayment, which is fsir enough) the difference between the two groups is not that one gets help while the other doesn't. In fact they both get help but one of them will end up with an owned asset and the other will not

Yes but it is a loan. And you have to wait 3 months before you can claim it.

A colleague of mine on c.£55k p.a. who is a single man aged 30ish 'inherited' the family council house. His dad sadly died a couple of years ago and he, by his own admission, cheekily asked the Council if they'd transfer the tenancy to him - and they said yes! So he's alone in a 3-bed house, big garden. Personally I think that house should have been offered to a family in need on the waiting list.

I'd rather there were more Council houses - better than housing benefit going to private landlords - but priority should go to those in greatest need, whilst they are in need. I dont think a Council home should stay in a family for decades when they no longer need the support.

I think it's unfair that it's a house for life at low rent.
I think (unless people buy their council house) it should be reviewed every three years and if they don't earn as little as they did before then there should be a sliding scale where rent increases to affordable housing rents for that area (which is still subsidized but not as much as social rent) . This would enable councils to house everyone who is needy of affordable housing.

Or they should have to pay higher rent and this extra cash be used by the council to house other vulnerable people who need it

Yes it is but this is because the assumption is that if you have had the income to get a mortgage you will have savings . In any event the mortgagee does get help and yes its a loan, but they are being helped to buy an asset which benefits them long term, whereas a renter will never see the benefit of the money they put into the property

So if people get a job, they lose their home?

I don't think that's going to work.

Yep, that way of thinking will just put people off trying to better themselves.

Op I totally get it… there are people that in social housing that are pure class; however the ones that let them down for the others and their neighbours have rubbish piled up everywhere and and for some reason very easily agitated even though they have all day to tidy up but they don’t. My DH inspects list in Sh and most are lovely and normal but some are abusive, racist and aggressive despite their social housing… knee deep in dog shit then complain about breathing problems… and Muslims taking ‘their jobs’ and ‘homes’ I mean come on…. It’s a minority (hopefully) that do this stuff and it’s just a sense of entitlement. It’s not ok.
Just put the hoover round and tidy up! They have all day to do it!
There are plenty of pet in social housing that are lovely, civilised people, it’s so easy to be judgmental.
I totally understand x

But nowhere in the process of getting a social housing home is money or earnings mentioned? So why are you focusing on money?

it’s not about that….its about needing a home

when I applied for mine they didn’t ever enquire as to my financial details. It’s irrelevant. They haven’t asked since either….its a home with security. Who h money can’t buy

eben with a mortgage you are only months away from losing it to repossession.

I remember when it was fairly easy to apply for social housing. Ok, you wouldn't necessarily get anything fantastic but you were welcome to apply. In 2002, I found a flat with a housing association at the top of a tower block. It was fairly basic, but I had very little income at the time (due to some extenuating circumstances I won't bore everyone with) and it was perfect at the time. Great view too! I also felt confident to move to a private rent after a year because those rents were much more affordable.

I wouldn't dream of giving up my HA place now. It would be foolish.

Every single thing in this country is subsidised. Everything.
it’s called big society.
I pay some taxes toward nurseries (no small kids )
I pay NI to NHS haven’t used it in years
I pay taxes toward elder care and residential homes - no elderly family.
I pay toward schools (no school age kids )
for years my taxes have provided tax breaks to private schools. I think they are abominable
we pay towards the roads on which self employed people drive their cars/vans
we pay towards bin men who clean up
we have paid for the education of the staff of the “I’m a self made man/woman” mob.
wr have paid for the health care of the same mob.
we pay taxes part of which go towards pharmacies and street sweepers and women’s aid shelters and play parks and libraries and swimming pools and housing association flats.

Ignore the bloody idiots and bigots. No doubt they are taking their own subsidies in some way.

Of course there are smaller properties that everyone’s parents could move to. They’re just private rent not council and they don’t want to pay more!

It is not about not wanting to pay more. It is about having a secure tenancy.
And also being allowed simple things like hanging pictures on the wall or having a different carpet.

They don’t need to be kicked out on the street but they could be moved on from million pound properties in London.

For example, take a grim area like Toxteth and build maybe 20 blocks of 40 storey high flats. Anyone who doesn’t want to leave London can get a job and pay market rent. Those who don’t get to start new lives in the sunlit uplands of Toxteth. It’s not like they need to be in London to commute to a job, right? Rinse and repeat around the country. Two birds killed with one stone as it would help regenerate these areas.

And for those saying they can’t be ripped from the bosom of their communities…well, plenty low income families like mine will have to leave London soon to live in the armpit of nowhere, far from our families and friendship network, as we can’t afford anything else.

I thought they changed the law a few years back so if you had more bedrooms than you needed and didn't downsize, then you paid more rent. It was called a bedroom tax. They did up here in Scotland.
Our council offers money to help with moving expenses to free up 3 or 4 bedroom houses.

So your another one that essentially it boils down to you don't think they deserve a nice house that they should be happy with a shit box in the middle of nowhere

Wrong.

Used to, not anymore. All you can get is loans that you have to pay back, with interest.

Ask me how I know.