social housing changes

[Strix]

Can someone enlighten me? I read this article and two statements really surprised me. I want to know if they are true.

Statement 1:

"At present, council tenants keep their property for life unless they breach their tenancy agreement, for example, by engaging in anti-social behaviour. They can also pass their homes onto their children."

Surely it is possible to get out of your rut, finish uni, get a good job, and leave the council house behind. But, why would you if you can live for free for the rest of your life and then pass the house onto your children. I must have missed something. Someone please clarify that this story is misleading.

Statement 2:

"There are currently some eight million tenants in social housing in England. "

As I think there are a toal of some 50 million people living in England (including quite a lot of foreigners who would not qualify for social housing) this sounds like a very high figure. I wonder what percentage of UK residents are in social housing in England?

Again, please come tellme I have been misled by this article.

does it not cover housing association too then?

I had a relationship with someone who had secured a council flat for life at �£60 a week in west london where market rent was about �£250 a week. It is a pretty victorian property. He is male, in his thirties, single, avoiding paying child support due to his low income, yet he worked very hard for cash decorating bringing in plenty. He secured the flat due to years of drug abuse, and he has granted turned his life around but he also feels very smug about his financial situation with plans to sublet to finance his travels abroad.

Me, a single parent, father of the child avoids child support in the same way for 15 years, yet I work extremely hard in the public sector helping communities, I have raised a mortgage, pay more out on my mortgage every month ( £1 repayment to £1 interest so I'm not paying off my loan ) to live in a run down part of london, have just remortaged to pay off debts for my cost of living, yet I face more uncertainty than him in the long term. As a woman I have no pension, and the cuts directly affect me even more, but not him?

In fact it seems he is in a far more lucrative position, he can even buy property abroad which he talked about.

So how many more examples like this are out there?

The lifetime tenancy is not only to build commuties but also to encourage people to keep up their properties.

We have a 3 bedroom semi-detached council property (for which we pay rent as DH works). We used to be in a much smaller bungalow but found an elderly couple that wanted to swap council properties as their children were grown and they wanted a smaller property. It worked brilliantly for both of us. Unfortunately, the elderly man had done some unbelievably shoddy DIY and there are many things we have slowly been upgrading in the house that the council doesn't take care of - smoke stained wallpaper that was ripped down, painting walls, ripped linoleum in kitchen, disgustingly dirty and threadbare carpeting, interior doors taken off and replaced with ill-fitting other doors (god only knows why)... it's a huge list.

The last thing anyone wants to do is invest a lot of time and money into a property and then have the council say "okay, now we're going to move you into another place..." where you'll probably have to do the same thing again. It used to be the council would make certain the property was clean, tidy, and in good repair when you got it - now they don't - most people in our area just get a paint allowance at a local store and they have to paint it themselves and do what they can themselves. And our council is actually one of the better ones about doing repairs. Some are abysmal.

I had a one bed council flat and paid all the rent myself as I worked.Housing benefit will subsidise the rent only if you can't afford it. The tenancy was secure which meant I could live there as long as I wanted to.However when I became pregnant I applied for a two bedroom.Three years later,and still waiting, I decided to rent privately. I had another child on the way and the council still hadn't found me a 2 bed even though I was a priority.
The contracts in the private sector are insecure.This means the landlord can give us two months to quit for no reason.The rent is also double that of a similar size council property.Working or not working I am dependent on housing benefit as the rent is so much.(I am a care assistant,£7 per hour)I have applied for a council property but have been asessed as adequately housed and not a priority.
Personally I believe it is ridiculous that they can be handed down.When someone dies they should be given to whoever is at the top of the waiting list. 1.8 million households are on waiting lists. However I do believe the tenancies should remain secure as it gives a family stability and builds communities.However if financial circumstances improve then tenants should have their rent increased.This money should be used to replenish stock for those in need.I belive more social housing needs to be built as private rents are too high for those on low incomes.This would save taxpayers money in the long term.england.shelter.org.uk/housing_issues/Improving_social_housing This page from shelter's website has a lot of interesting information and statistics.18% of households are social lets.
Phew!!! I hoped that answers your questions!!! [hsmile] [hsmile] [hsmile]