To think social housing should be means-tested annually like benefits?

[EqualLedgerJay]

Situations change, why should lifetime tenancies exist if income rises? AIBU to think fairness cuts both ways?

Of course it should be, as with other benefits, but can't see any government ever introducing this.

Neither is income tax?!? Or car tax?!

That depends on where you live. It varies from council to council and HA to HA.

My HA only stipulates that you have lived in the local area for 2 years or have a strong connection to the local area, some of their houses have a minimum earnings threshold, or you have to have at least one adult working full-time, to increase social diversity, but there is no maximum income.

Points are allocated on a need basis, which includes income; someone who could not afford private rents without housing benefit would be awarded more points than someone who could, but anyone can apply, even millionaires, though I'm not sure why they'd want to. I'd rather own my own home and arrange repairs at my convenience instead of having to spend hours on the phone fighting for basic repairs and then waiting months for them to actually be carried out. Unfortunately, I am a single parent and cannot afford a mortgage for the house the size we would need without a massive deposit, which I don't have and likely never will have.

Thanks! The response I got back was very strange - saying SH wasn’t a benefit and thus not comparable. I’m not sure why anyone thinks income/ car taxes are benefits so I’m a bit bemused!

If youve got sour grapes, its simple.
PUT YOUT NAME DOWN and get one yourself. Yes, the wait times are long but in some parts of the country, you will get one.

If youre struggling with a high rent, you deserve to put your name down. Simple as that.

France manages to do it ( rent increases in SH according to income)

My sister lives there and one of her friends who had 2 DC had to move into smaller flat once both their DC left for uni.

Raises it to what, though? The UK housing market is vastly different from France's.

The average UK renter spends 30-40% of their income on rent. This can go up to 50% in the SE or for single-parent or low-income households. Whereas in France, the average rent is 25% of household income, and they have much more robust tenant rights than we do and rent caps in expensive areas to stop housing costs spiralling out of control.

Buying in France is cheaper, with the average house price being 160,000 euros, vs the UK, where the average price is 230,000 euros.

I would be in favour of copying France's housing market if we copied all of it, i.e improving things for private tenants and lowering the overall cost of housing.

Ok, social housing isn’t a tax either. They were all stupid comparisons. Happy?

I do think an annual review to see how many live there. Proof required with electoral register, bank statements & council tax & utility bill ( otherwise you can fake more ppl living there) .
If it’s one person or a couple rattling around in a four bed that could go to a family .

When in doubt check what they do in other more socialist/progressive countries.

And nowhere else gives lifelong tenancies as its completely batshit 🤣

Why because the uk isn’t the best at anything? When in doubt cosplay Sweden? Good luck with that.

😅We aren't the best at anything social these days. We have a bad track record of doing well for our people and a lot of our attempts are misguided.
See also the NHS.

The only reason I was granted social housing was because it's an adapted property and my private rental wasn't suitable for my disabled son. It had nothing to do with my income other than the fact I can't afford to buy a house myself and then afford any of the necessary adaptations.

My council doesn't require people applying to have below a certain income, even home owners can apply. Those suitably housed would just obviously be at the bottom of the banding system my council has in place.

I didn’t know they weren’t means tested - but I completely agree! Definitely should be means tested.

That's exactly the same as a social housing tenant that doesn't pay their rent, they will be evicted.

ah so houses don't tend to increase in value..... wow!

No, it would be expensive chaos, and long term tenants like me have assured tenancies for life, assuming I pay the rent etc. 🙄

Theirs is lovely! Really nice village. I can see why they don't want to move!! But I also think it is unfair they pay so little rent when they can afford to.

If they and others paid a higher rent in line with their salaries then that money could be put towards purchasing more social housing. It makes sense.

You know there is a difference between sales price and net book value ie value to a corporate entity? I don’t know any other way to answer apart from pointing out the obvious.

It can't be passed down
It was made very clear when we signed out tenancy that there would be just one succession of tenancy so if I die before my dh he succeeds the tenancy as a single tenant and vice versa ,we can't continue to pass it down to our kids.

There are lots of council tenants who can’t swap to smaller houses even if they want to. Particularly one bedroom flats/bungalows as they are kept for elderly/disabled people (rightly so). It isn’t as basic as people refusing to move and let new families have a council house.

I can’t actually believe its true !SH tenants are not means tested?… it would be ridiculous
I’ll have to go and check chat GPT….

Social housing rent is typically 80% of the market rent amount. I think the answer is not to evict people but to means test and once income reaches a certain level charge the full market rate.