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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think I should be able to have a council house?

383 replies

frustratedmumof3 · 22/10/2008 20:18

Ho hum - must stop my addiction to MN as will not have time from next week so my cunning plan is to piss off as many people as possible so I will be frightened to come on here .

So, my local council are building lots of lovely new council or housing association (don't care what they are) homes in my area with brand spanking new kitchens, bathrooms, lovely new carpets etc, etc and I am thinking why should the so-called vulnerable members of society (who are most probably going to wreck the places) be higher on the housing list than us.

We rent privately (since we sold our house 2 years ago as could not afford the mortgage) and I don't see that we will ever be able to afford another house. We pay well over a grand for a 3 bed (3DCs) and have the insecurity of potentially having to move every 6 months at the owners whim which is the worst thing (have already moved 3 times since started renting).

It really makes me mad that quite a few of DCs friends have council houses where they pay only 350 per month and probably earn similar wages to us (the ones that work that is). What makes them deserve one more than us? I know damn well that we will not get one of the new homes as there are about 5000 people in the queue before us and they will probably go to single parents, immigrants and and generally useless members of society who do not work and have no intention of doing so. We pay our taxes and would appreciate any help we were given (as we need it now) but will get sweet FA. Makes me want to scream!! This thread may be unusual as I am not dissing council house tenants as I desperately want to be one (in a new build anyway).

OP posts:
blossomsmine · 25/10/2008 22:56

I don't think YABU but can understand how you could upset some people with your post....
Have to admit, i haven't read the whole thread. We got a HA house, we had been renting privately for a year and moved a couple of times in that space of time, it was awful. Have to say though, i was on the phone every day without fail when i knew there was an empty house. They were so fed up with me, but i was desperate, so didn't care. In the end i got the house but was told i had to put up with it in a bad state as i wanted it so desparately.

ToThrottleABlackBird · 25/10/2008 22:59

Blossom, I think you should read the whole thread. You may not think she is .nbu after.

blossomsmine · 25/10/2008 23:01

Oh right! Yes, i probably need to, thanks TTAB, i do normally make a point of thorough thread reading!!!!
Sorry if my post offends anyone, not intended.

MrsGhost · 25/10/2008 23:12

NooOOOoonki, dh used to work in the homeless section of our local council offices, he nearly had a nervous breakdown! He left in the end and retrained as maintaince engineer. I am so very pleased for him, he used to come home everyday with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

ToThrottleABlackBird · 25/10/2008 23:15

MrsGhost, I am not suprised. Your poor dh must of heard some terrible things. I have been sat in the homeless centre a few times and some of the things I heard

TinkerBellesMum · 26/10/2008 00:59

Sounds like someone I know who went from being a Housing Officer for an estate to being the handyman!

witcheseve · 26/10/2008 01:05

Frustrated, I thought you left mumsnet a couple of nights ago I'm, dissapointed surprised you are still here. You would be much better off saving for a home of your own. House prices are falling after all.

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 10:40

I can understand at being frustrated about council housing but not in the OP position.

I can remember applying for a council house as a homeless single mother with mental health issues and being told I would need to wait for ten years. I felt angry but I did not have a household income of £60K.

Philistina · 26/10/2008 10:45

I am not prepared to stay on here long enough to read the whole thread, but I am assuming the OP is complaining because the entire world and his dog are on the Housing List higher than she is.

Maybe the people the OP has noticed getting Council Housing are of similar ilk to the ones I have noticed - dealers, addicts, alcoholics, people claiming to be homeless when they are actually no more homeless than me ('my landlord is kicking me out', 'my parents are kicking me out', etc, when they are not doing any such thing).

Is it surprising so many people resent that they don't get the help others do. Alcoholism and drug addiction are seen as something we do to ourself, although unless you have been there you are unaware of the whole truth. It is galling to watch people you know getting handed housing on a platter because they have the nerve and dishonesty to announce they are 'homeless' when you know it'sfar from the truth.

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 10:48

I was genuinely homeless, but was told I would get a house quicker if I had a drink problem, a drugs problem or escaping a violent ex. I was doing none of those just slumping into a suicidal breakdown which was putting dd at real risk. I gave up and sold almost everything i had and borrowed money from some dodgy people to get a private rental.

mooog · 26/10/2008 10:49

But isnt having an addiction an illness as gambling is seen to be to. In which case wouldnt it be given on medical grounds

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 10:50

I have no qualms with people being given houses on medical grounds, I was asking for that to be considered. But my medical grounds were not enough apparantly.

mooog · 26/10/2008 10:54

I see. Maybe better luck next time

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 11:01

It doesn';t matter now, six years down the line I am teaching again and we have our own lovely house. But at the time I was desperate.

nooOOOoonki · 26/10/2008 11:11

twinset - Eligibility for housing on grounds of being homeless should have nothing to do with your health.

The LA has a duty to help if you fill the criteria of homeless legislation: Your health should not be relevant as you have children, that means the area about 'priority need' (in which health/instutionalisation etc) are taken into consideration has already been covered by the fact that you have children.

Are you sure that is why they rejected you? Did you present as homeless? if so you may have had a case that shelter could help with.

nooOOOoonki · 26/10/2008 11:12

mrsghost tis not fun!

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 11:20

I presented as homeless and was told I did not have enough points. The man in the office asked me if I had a drink or drugs issue or was fleeing an abusive partner. He really felt for me as when I said no he asked me to think carefully and asked me again.

I was put into a hostel.

nooOOOoonki · 26/10/2008 11:31

and from there it was a ten year wait - that is awful, are you south east based?, we hear it is like that down there.

I know of People being given a hostel in Birmingham when they present as homeless in London as it is 'in the area'

it is an unfair system and they need to build more council housing, not just 'affordable' housing - because how do they remain affordable once they are in the open market.

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 11:33

It was Lancashire.

PottyCock · 26/10/2008 11:33

twinset, have you lost your cock?

nooOOOoonki · 26/10/2008 11:39

that even rubbisher then. poor you,

the whole system infuriates the hell out of me, when I was a caseworker I used to try and twist the law around as much as I could for people who were 'deserving'. You learn to discern pretty quickly in that job.

The ones who so often lose out are people trying there damnest to make a go of it, and it doesnt work out.

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 12:07

Potty I haven't just lost a cock I have lost a pair of them, as if not getting a council house was not bad enough!

expatinscotland · 26/10/2008 12:09

they're going about it the wrong way, trying to make more homeowners out of people and then as nooki points out the homeowner turns round and sells the home on the open market.

the affordable housing needs to be for RENT only, secure tenancy, NO passing on tenancies to anyone except a joint tenant and the tenancy ends on the death of one of both tenants or if they chose to give it up.

no more schemes to make people homeowners.

that just inflates the ridiculous bubble we've got now which WILL correct itself one way or another, despite peoples' not wanting it to.

there also needs to be revision of private tenancy laws, which i don't see happening because of the buy-to-let market.

we also begged, stole and borrowed to get a private let because we worked and weren't on drugs or that and so had no chance of being rehoused - 3 of us in a one-bed and i was pregnant.

but i can't for the life of me see where the OP needs social housing on £60k/annum.

i really don't, especially now as she's said all three of her kids are in school and one is at secondary level. that means none of them needs full-time childcare, teh most expensive to provide.

£60k is a lot of money.

twinsetandpearls · 26/10/2008 12:11

TBh I probably chose the right path as hard as it was as the council estates were grim and dd would have gone to a crap school. In the end she went to a good school and I managed to break free of the poverty trap and now life is bloody good. But I had a degree, a profession and eventually a partner top fall back on.

TinkerBellesMum · 26/10/2008 12:12

Philistina I'll say it again as you said you don't want to read back...

EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO A COUNCIL OR HA PROPERTY.

T&P I had the same thing, I split up from an abusive relationship and was told I would only get somewhere if I went straight into a hostel that day but they wouldn't give me a hostel place because I was too vulnerable because of my mental health. Thank goodness for Foyer I don't know what I would have done without them.