Can I just make something clear about Housing Association and Council Homes

[nametaken]

I am amazed at the ignorant perceptions that some people have about HA houses.

1. HA houses ARE NOT SUBSIDISED. The reason they are cheaper than privately rented homes is because HAs are charities who plough all of the profits back into their housing programs.

1. Private rents are more because the greedy money grabbing bastards who own them want to line their fat pockets. THEY DO NOT COST MORE BECAUSE THEY ARE BETTER QUALITY THAN HA HOMES.

1. HA and Council houses are not specifically for people on benefits. Anyone can have one you just have to get on the list.

1. Some people in this country ARE on benefits and those people live in a huge varity of places, including HA, Council, and private rentals.

1. There are some people on benefits who actually own their own homes.

Can those of you who sneer at people who don't own the home they live in please please tell us why you think your better than them, coz I'm genuinely puzzled by this.

As you were.

well said.

Can I add something on?

Council/HA homes are not 'free' for all tenants.

If a tenant is on full benefits, like JSA and/or Income Support or Employment Support and Allowance, then they may qualify for enough housing benefit to cover their entire rent, in which case often the housing benefit is paid directly to the council or HA. Or they may have to pay some rent out of their benefits.

People who work pay rent on council and HA homes. They're not 'free'.

My friend has a HA house and it's far far nicer than any private rental we ever had.

We own our own house (well, we own a large debt, anyway) through nothing more than sheer luck and I will never forget that.

It's also only in very recent times that it was the "norm" to buy a house. In a lot of cultures when you get married you live with your husband's parents!

NMC - how are you my lovely?

well said
my sister lives in a HA house, he DH works full time and the house when she moved in was disgusting, her DH has had to plaster 4 whole walls as the plaster was falling off, they tried to get the ha to do it but were told it would take upto 6 months and they needed it done to decorate and lay flooring so bil did it, he also has been out and bought new doors as the old ones were rotton and you could see daylight through them, HA homes are not always good quality and my sis has spent over 1k getting it to a liveable standard for her and her 4 children!!!!!!
they would love to buy but with 4 kids they are priced out of the market!

Just been to view my new council house, and I couldn't care less if people sneer at me, there is no way on earth that dp and I could afford to rent/buy a 3 bed house privately,especially in this area. even if it has no bath, but a mobility shower thing meh it's got a nice garden lol.

My dad works (as a consultant) in Social Housing & he has been offered loads of work because there is expected to be a real increase in people needing it

'My dad works (as a consultant) in Social Housing & he has been offered loads of work because there is expected to be a real increase in people needing it'

in some councils, there has already been a big increase as more and more buy-to-let landlords face repossession of their rental properties, often leaving the private rental tenant facing eviction.

I'm fine SD thankyew for asking.
My mum lives in a HA bungalow and she's getting a shiny new kicthen. To go with her shiny new heating. I am very jealous. We're on the waiting list but its very very looooooooooooong.

sometimes I do wonder at the low IQ of people who do not understand that Social Housing is not free and not nec cheap either!!!!!!!

We are fortunate have a home which is not rented (again a large debt to pay off) it is formerly social housing (bought privately by previous owners) and I don't care it is a home, it is clean, we don't have to move on as there is no landlord to not renew the tenancy.

Lets face it private rented sucks, no assured tenancy, often outrageously priced, and some landlords do not fulfill their obligations to their tenants.

Owning your home is certainly not all it is cracked up to be and if the government sorted out the rental market and got people asssured tenancies everyone should surely be better off.

Fantastic post nametaken.

I really don't understand people who think less of people who live in council or ha accomodation.

The house I am in now was a complete and utter shit hole when I moved in and I have spent alot of money and time trying to put it right. I could of had the attitude that the house will never be mine so why bother, but it is my home and I want it to look nice.

The estates manager recently popped in for something and was amazed how different it looks now compared to when they gave it to me.

When we were given the house I was with xp and neither of us were on any benefits other than tax credits. I have claimed housing benefit since we split about 2 1/2 years ago, the first time I had ever claimed anything.

I start a new job in Jan and will be paying all but £25 of my rent and all of my council tax and it pisses me off that even then people will still be looking down their nose at me when I will be trying my damn hardest to set my kids a good example and keep our home in a good condition.

Can I add that its christmas Eve folks

what so even if you earn 100k a year you could still get a Housing Association or Council Home?
i thought the goverment gave money to the Housing Association and Council to pay towards this social housing?

Doubtful, because they would no doubt have a very long wait and get fed up and go and rent privatly.

As I said, when we got this xp was working, but was only earning about £13500 a year so we couldn't afford to rent privatly or buy.

'what so even if you earn 100k a year you could still get a Housing Association or Council Home?'

theoretically, yes.

but in all truth, HA/council housing is so scarce in many areas you have to be homeless or threatened homeless in order to be anywhere near the top of the list for it.

and even then, plenty of families spend months in B&Bs or hostels waiting for council/HA accommodation to become available.

what Expat said.
I hated renting privately. It was always shorthold so if you complained about mould the landlord could heave you out legally and not renew your tenancy. Not good with small children.
I gew up ina council house.

so don't the goverment give money to the Housing Association and Council to pay towards this social housing?

one of my best friends is trying to get somewhere and getting nothing.

I believe shared ownership schemes are open to nearly everyone so yes even earning £100k you could get some sort of shared ownership via the Housing Association. Although if you earn that sort of money it would give you buying power of £350k so you could buy on the open market anyway? I live in Surrey and you could easy buy a 4 bed for that - no it wouldn't be huge or in the nice areas but it would be adequate.

I rent privately but last night my landlord offered me a £80 discount in my rent from next July as he'll no longer have to pay the agency a fee. Didn't stop them arguing the toss about the washing machine not working though .

When thatcher the government sold of the coucil homes the local councils were told they would get the money to reinvest in social housing but they pocketed it instead!!!

No the only way councils and HA get money from the government is via housing benefit the tenants are entitled to IYSWIM. At least that is my understanding of it.

Lockets - OK I'll admit my comment about private landlords was a generalisation and I meant no personal offence.

However, whilst I do have some sympathy for a person who rents out a property as a way of investing funds for a future pension, I take issue with people who buy up loads of properties for rental. I also think it's a little bit greedy to own more than one house. But then again, I think it's greedy to own more than one watch .

MLAbouttorunout - how long has your friend been waiting. The waiting times on some local housing lists can be horendous.

Before I start can I just say I have lived in HA and in no way do I look down on people who do. I think HA have a really valuable role to play and I don't think a house is better just because it is privately owned (enough disclaimer?).

HA are subsidised! Not the day to day running but the initial provision of property. I posted this in the other thread...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_association
"Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones."

"In England, housing associations were funded and regulated by the Housing Corporation."

"Funding for new homes (often termed 'social housing grant') amount to sizeable public investments. In its 2008-11 Prospectus, the Housing Corporation claims that in the three year period to 2011 subsidy would be "at least £8 billion"."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Corporation
"The Housing Corporation was the non-departmental public body that funded new affordable housing and regulated housing associations in England."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homes_and_Communities_Agency Sorry I don't know how to make the underscores work.
"The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England."

Erm, they may not be subsidised or free but they certainly are cheaper. I'd love to have a housing association house, I will never get one though because even when I was given a notice to quit on a property I rented two years ago I was told that I wasn't homeless...

Um,, just because it's in wikipedia, doesn't make it true, anyone can post anything up in wikipedia.

Having said that, yes, there are times when associations do receive some public money, but lets face it, we all make use of some facilities that use public money, from schools to libraries to parks etc etc.

And the term "social housing" annoys me. It's "housing" surely, why add the word "social" in front. ?

TinyTim nothing annoys me more than the comment, "they are not homeless because they have made themselves deliberately homeless" . Yeah, like anyone would "deliberately" make themselves homeless.

It actually doesn't cost a huge amount to build a house, the land can be expensive but most of the cost is in the perceived what it is worth?

The housing associations are "given" money to build houses other wise they would have to borrow the money and then they would have to pay £££££££££££££££££££ in interest on borrowing that money.

Still the whole housing economy in this country is a complete mess IMHO and perhaps this recession will sort some of that out. Tragically though it was claim some genuine victims on the way, people who are just ordinary folk not businesses/property investors IYSWIM