to think i should get the housing points!

[emmymama]

disclaimer... i'm not saying they should give me a house, i got pregnant, thats not their fault, even tho i knew it would be a squeeze, i'm saying i should have the opourtunity to get a house

i live in a very small 2 bed council house (if i sit on the floor with my back against the sofa my feet touch the fire guard).. ds's room fits a single bed and nothing else in

i have a 13 month old and i'm 23 weeks pg, there are steps into my front garden (only access) with a wall and gate (then the steps)that will not fit a double buggy in and its not close to my door

heres what i've explained to the council (ive been on the list since pg with dd so 18 months)

i will be sharing a room with dd and the new baby as the other room isnt big enough for dd's cot (or for me to give dd and ds that room as i wont fit the new baby in with me in the small room either)

i will have to (on the way out) take the double and leave the children in the house, set the pram up on the street then come back for the children and then the opposite on the way into the house (shoudl be fun after ive had a baby!)

so there will be overcrowding and access problems.. i dont get any extra points until the baby comes and i am having these problems

aibu to thing i should get the points now so i can apply for the houses to try and move before the problems arise?

hope that makes sense??

PMSL @ the idea that Thatcherism has gone to my head

Damn I grew up in the 1980's in the NE of England...........I was (until very recently) a die hard labour supporter (I'm lib dem now).

The fact is that she isn't overcrowded now (yes it's a squeeze, but that happen to lots of people and if they started using room sizes to determined overcrowding we'd be in an even worse mess than we are now with regards to housing) ..........and why should she potentially get to jump the queue over someone who may become eligble before she actually is?

ie someone in 2 bedroom house who is due next week/next month and who also has overcrowding issues coming up?

Have to say that I think donkeyderby talks a lot of sense, misunderstanding aside. This whole problem is structural and started under Thatcher. Everybody else is left fighting over scraps and moaning that other people have "a sense of entitlement". I think it was encouraging people to feel 'entitled' to buy the council housing stock in the first place which started the problem. And the greedy private landlords who feel 'entitled' to charge exhorbitant rents because the government coughs up for much of it.

You have a lounge? That can become bedroom number three!

BoF- The Labour government have been in power since 1997- they have had plenty of time to replenish housing stock.

They've been following this Tory mantra of Public=bad, Private=good though, haven't they? All sorts of hare-brained mixed ownership HA schemes. I'm not going to argue that the Blairites have been much better than the shower before them, Nancy.

That's okay then!

I don't think HA/Council can make people move out of larger houses even if they don't really need them any longer. I beleive they do offer incentives if people do downsize. I think people should be made to move if they are in an oversized house to make way for people who need the house. For examply dh's nan & grandad live in either a 2 or 3 bed house and it's just them. They'll never move as they've been there a long time, which I understand, but they've been living there as a couple for years. Why don't the council/HA make them move to somewhere smaller so a family can have their house

The council do exactly that, my brother is friends with a young man who lost both his parents at the age of 19, they were buried a week when the letter hit the doormat telling him they wanted him out of the house and into a 1 bedroomed flat.
I genuinely don't believe many of these 3 or 4 bedroomed council houses exist any more.

I would also say that my mum bought her council house in 2002, so Labour had 5 years to knock that scheme on the head if they considered it to be the root of all evil.

OP - I can understand why you would "like" more space, but then surely you can understand why not everybody can get the extra space that they would ideally like?

I have one dd, a HA house- 2 bedrooms in a lovely area and i know I am damned lucky to have it. I waited for 5 yrs on the housing list, struggling between working my arse off to rent privately and living randomly with family and friends with my daughter (now 6). I also lived in a HA tiny 1 bed flat which was disgusting and not fit for animals for nearly 2 years! I'd have been waiting much longer if I had a partner but my dd's father passed away years ago. I now work and pay all my rent which is less than half of the average 2 bed private rent in the area (about £1000 a month) which I'd never have been able to afford at the moment.

It sounds awful but most councils will not reasses you until the baby is born. Else they worry they will move you to a bigger house and something (sorry to be blunt) may happen in the pregnancy which may mean the baby doesn't come home after all. Then they have one less larger house to house the other desperately overcrowded families.

I think that HA/council properties should be used for families in need. That means that once the family has got themselves in a position to buy/rent privately and are better off then the property should be given back to help someone else. For instance once I meet someone new and/or my daughter gets old enough for me to get a better job/ longer hours then I will be moving out and buying my own house. Someone else then has my house. People living in Ha properties on salaries of 50k plus is just crazy - they can afford to rent private so are laughing at having stupidly cheap rent whilst people that really need the properties are slumming it with babies and toddlers in b&bs and hostels! There is a shortage of HA property and single people living in 3/4 bedroom houses doesn't make sense. Of course they shouldnt be forced to move miles away but they should be offered something more suitable for their needs in the same area.

Just read OP.

I escaped domestic violence and lived for just over 3 months in a refuge with my three children. I was offered B&B/temp accommodation for 2 years before there was any likelihood of housing. So if people like you get houses when you click your fingers or stretch your legs so they touch the frikkin' fire guard then what hope do people in desperate and awful circs have of at least getting themselves housed SAFELY?

FGSYABU

By the way, I got myself into private rented accommodation at great expense and with a huge amount of effort. This is how I remain paying about 4 times as my counterparts in council accomm. I'm a little envious, I'll admit, but I am also a little proud of myself.

only read OP, but OMG bugger off. I have 2 children, one with SN and we have a little 2 bed house. They are aged 2years and 7 years and we have 8 steps to my front door and you would never get a double buggy in my hall, but you know what, we deal with it.
You have a house, you have enough bedrooms and they wouldnt be in buggies forever.

I am trying to help a lady who is living in a bedsit, with her son, they are sharing a bed, sleeping/living and cooking all in the same room, and they still stuck there 6 months later.
Be grateful for what you have.

Im also confused about posts that say why she cant go on list for bigger place?? Surely they dont need one, the children can share?

lisa - apparently was a typo i nthe OP - she already had 2 children and is expecting a 3rd

ok I see, well still have plently of families I know with terrible over crowding and no garden. Once baby comes im sure she'll get her points and move, so least you know you wont be there forever and HA/Council will have to move you at some point. (unlike us who will never be able to moves )
Enjoy the baby

How horribly competetive our shit housing system is making people feel. So what if your dad/mum was brought up in a one-up, one-down with no privvy and fifteen kids sharing a single bed? We should have moved on from these Dickensian ideas of what constitutes acceptable standards of living because we are a wealthy country.

Incidentally, I was brought up living in a shoe. My mother had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

well in a way I do think yabu, as (touches wood 15 times and turns around) just because you are pg doesn't mean you are coming home with a baby (sorry but that is how the council will view it). It's harsh out there in council waiting land.

I got pg by accident by someone half the country away, we applied for a flat asap (not my finest moment). We lived with my MIL for 2 years before we were housed in a supposedly 1 bed flat (with dining room cough extra bedroom).

This actually played to our advantage as I had another baby (plenty of space). We applied for a transfer on the off chance about 6 months after ds1 was born and due to the new bidding system and it being christmas were allocated a 3 bed house (18 months after we had applied, but still good going).

Hold tight and it will happen sooner or later. I have seen a couple of ad's in my area wanting to swap a 3 bed house in a neighbouring area for a 2 bed in this so it can't be that rare. The bidding system is odd really, we were lucky that most people don't bother over xmas, there was only 10 bids on the house we got, now likely 100 or more plus the fact our flat was considered 1 bed when it was really 2.

I count my luck every bloody day.

I really hate the entitlement culture in this country. I have a friend, they both work - ok, they don't earn much but currently rent privately. They are on the council waiting list, all i ever hear is how unfair it is WTF?? She has a lovely three bedroom house, they only have ONE child - am i missing something? Her DP pisses their money up the wall - but get on their soap box about being entitled to council housing. I just nod and mutter vaguely about them living in cloud cuckoo land.

I have said, why don't you buy - the mortgage will be less than you pay in rent - his reply "why should we" The mind boggles

LEM - that is truly mind boggling. I don't know anyone in council housing so I don't really know how it works but I thought it was for people who were in need - like escaping violence or they are disabled/caring for very disabled children or are elderly...etc. I didn't think it was for just anyone - especially not people who work, have money and could afford to rent or buy on their own...

Is council housing just anywhere or is it all on council estates? Why do people think they are all entitled to council housing?

surley if council houses were perfect it would reduce the incentive to get a private rental- work your way out of the situation where possible?

MrsV - then you are assuming that all private rentals are perfect............

'Why do people think they are all entitled to council housing?'

Sometimes (as with a guy in my block of flats, which is part council properties and part private-rented), people assume you are 'rich' if you rent privately. This guy doesn't work regular hours, don't know quite what he does but it's his business - but he does say that he'd never get a 'posh' job so will never be 'rich' enough. He's got it into his head that it is hugely expensive to rent privately, and that he will never get a decent job, it's really impossible to shake either of those beliefs.

Also know lots of elderly people who have lived in council houses for a long time, and I get the impression they assume it's just the norm, like getting state pension, I guess.

MrsVidic - lots of council houses are, I know, disgusting. But lots aren't. Where I live, the council flats have had work done because there's a damp problem and mildew grows into the walls and cupboards. But our private rental, which is in the same block of flats, won't be done by the landlord because he'd have to put his rents up if he did that.

(NB: I am, I know, very lucky and not complaining! But not all council houses are holes and not all private rentals are lovely)

So, if people believe that they won't ever get a really high paying job, then they generally think that the government should subsidise their housing? I think I'm getting it now.

I guess I didn't realize how very much this system is used in the UK. It does strike me as crazy that people think they are "entitled" to be housed by the council for lower rent. I've never thought of it as the government's responsibility to house me, even if I did have a basic minimum wage job. Just different mindsets I guess.

Star, I think it's the combination of expecting never to get a high-paying job with the belief that private rent is very expensive, that's the killer. I know plenty of people who've been on minimum wage for years and don't expect to earn much, but who rent privately.

With the guy who lives in our block, he constantly says things like 'oh, if I was rich like you' when he sees me carrying shopping in or something - we are better off than him because he lives alone, but DP and I don't quite make minimum wage each (I'm on a grant) - it's definitely a mindset he's got, which is obviously very hard to get rid of.

who says its 'lower' rent??

perhaps its rent at the correct amount and its private rentals that are over priced by greedy landlords??