Social housing - unfair reputation

[LinRuns]

We moved into a new build area a few months ago and a lot of people ‘warned’ us about the levels of social housing. We loved the house we were buying so looked beyond this.

I have to say - everyone there has been lovely, regardless of whether they own or are in social housing. Just normal people who mostly work and are polite.

This has made me think - is the stigma actually quite unfair?

I live near some social housing most are fine but I have one particular neighbour who is an absolute pain the actual entitlement and lack of consideration for others is unreal.

I’ve told this story on here before.

I moved into a new build estate. It was still being built!

When completed there was a little bit of low level disruption and a settling in period. One young lad caused a lot of damage to a row of cars one night.

a neighbour always said it was because of the social housing. I used to just smile and ignore.

About 6 months later I asked her what she meant by her comment “it’s the mix”.

She said that HA tenants were ways going to cause problems.

Her face when I pointed out neighbours x y and z private owners and my block was the social housing was hilarious.

All she could say was “but you are so nice and work”.

Yes, I do think I’m nice and yes I do work. But as a LP to a disabled DS I also was entitled to somewhere cheaper to rent.

The “problems” settled down. There was never anything more than teens making use of the new park and all the open plan outdoor space and anti social behaviour rather than criminal or even purposefully disruptive.

Where I live (in a good area with good schools) normal, hardworking nice families are not a priority for social housing as the demand is so high. There are a few who are genuinely homeless through no fault of their own & are offered housing in nice estates but generally they're being given to those with lots of social issues & whilst I do understand why, it is galling as someone who has been told I will never qualify for a home. ( I am a private tenant working full time). So people are spending a lot of money to buy on a nice new build estate & have problem neighbours from the get go. I do feel sorry for them to be honest.

In my experience, the SH and home owners are not an issue. The privately rented out ex SH have been a constant issue. At least you have some chance of speaking to HA about issues, with private rentals you can’t complain to anyone.

I tried that HA didn't give a shit.

While I don't live in a council property, or whatever the term is now, I grew up on a large council estate living with my parents and moving out when I was in my late 20's you wouldn't have been allowed to have the frontage of your property strewn with rubbish of any kind, even hedges had to be cut back.

There were random checks by council office bods as we called them.

Never did our parents or neighbours complain about it as it was part of the tenancy agreement and kept the area looking nice.

Today most areas as such are run by two main housing associations as our council have handed all housing over, as long as rents paid they don't seem to care what their tenants keep their outside areas like.

I am in SH. Our neighbours are lovely with the exception of two families nearby that bought their properties. They are anti-social arse holes with screaming kids, loud crap music, bonfires, animals that shit everywhere and general shitty behaviour.

It depends on the area, if it’s mostly housing associations it’s not as bad as they are stricter in their eligibility criteria (IE working families). However older council properties can be filled with undesirables (I work near one) as their selection criteria is more lenient.

I think one problem is that to get social housing in many parts of the country you need to have very serious social problems. It's not like the old days when council housing was a home for working families .

I grew up on a council estate in London and it was just ordinary working families. There were no particular trouble makers on our estate.

I’m now in a council property myself and we have a little run of 8 houses in a rural area. There are no problems here, again just ordinary working families. The turn over of neighbours has been low too, the couple houses in the row that have been bought by private owners are the only ones that have changed and that has been due to growing families and them needing bigger homes.