Preparation for mass exodus of poor from London

[SkippyjonJones]

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/24/exodus-poor-families-from-london

OMG I never though I'd see the day when I'd be agreeing with Boris Johnson! Even he knows this is a bad idea!

"Mr Johnson, who faces re-election in 2012, told BBC London on Thursday morning that "the last thing we want to have in our city is a situation such as Paris where the less well-off are pushed out to the suburbs".

"I'll emphatically resist any attempt to recreate a London where the rich and poor cannot live together," he said.

"We will not see and we will not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London.

"On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots."

From the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11640219

I know, lowrib. It's an unnerving feeling isn't it?

Not half!

well, well, well, Yet ANOTHER organsiation pointing out how wrong it all is...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11649520

oh, and here...doh

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/28/housing-benefit-cap-plan-backfire

I am really confused about about they can charge 80% of market rent on new social housing and also reduce housing benefit payments.

Perhaps they are only going to build new houses where market rents are really low, and not put them near jobs?

Maybe the government are going to build houses for young upwardly mobile professionals?

"I am really confused about about they can charge 80% of market rent on new social housing and also reduce housing benefit payments." because they have an agenda, and it's not about equality - or protecting the vulnerable in society, no matter what their rhetoric says.

I don't think we'll get through this without many families being made homeless tbh.

they are not building enough homes. if you go onto the shelter website it tells you hhow many homes in your area are being built and the waiting list for housing in years.

you are right lowrib, their 'agenda' is in every crap announcement they make. from housing to benefits to education to health.

And it;s not about fairness either!

It's just so depressing and ill thought out, isn't it.

Like you say merrymouse it makes no sense!

I have some sympathy with families that are to be displaced, but I'm also going to be harsh here and say that some people need to get out of the 'victim' mindset and take control of their destiny, rather than passively letting the state control their lives.

We were priced out of the pretty village where I grew up for many years but I never saw it as my right to live there as an adult. I went away, got qualifications, worked my ass off, brought up my family miles away from the rest of my family, and finally last year I had enough money behind me to buy a house in the village. I have never seen it as a right to live in a particular place, I worked for it because the location was important to me so why can't others?

because we are not all the same.

because places are not all the same.

lastly, what they are doing with housing and housing benefit now will not only effect us now, but also our children and thier housing options. it won't save money, it will be more costly and more damaging.

boildegg1 but can't you see that this isn't just about individuals? The changes they are proposing are so far reaching that they have the potential to being about massive changes to our society.

The question is will their plans bring about a better or worse quality of life for people on the whole. It seems pretty clear to me that it will bring about a worse quality of life for people, and that their plans are ill thought out.

How can you move out of London if you have no job to go to and no savings to get you by until you do?.

I'd be out of here like a shot if I could, I'd like to live in Nottingham (don't know why).

I agree that it will change society further, yes, but the massive changes in our society were made when housing costs were allowed to get out of control. Outside of London we have had this problem for a number of years now, so why is it only now with this recent proposed benefits change that people are making a fuss?

I am from an area that is popular with second home owners - communities have had the guts ripped out of them because locals cannot afford to live near their families. Many locals like me moved away, and those that remain are mostly stuck in social housing ghettos because homes cost more than 10X average wages, and many of the nicer homes stand empty over the winter.

"I worked for it because the location was important to me so why can't others?'

Because a lot of people live in London and they require services (refuge collection, nursing, shops etc. etc. etc.), but these jobs don't pay a living wage in London.

It used to be possible for normal people to live in many of the parts of London that now have ridiculous house prices.

It is one thing not to be able to afford to live in an area where the major industry has become tourism and there are few local jobs. It is quite another not to be able to live near any industry at all.

merrymouse if the people who all work in the jobs you describe move out and are unable to work in London then the wages will these jobs have will go up as there will be a market correction.

Huddspur - precisely - you are right! Why should employers now be getting aways with paying less than a living wage by having their workers' housing subsidised by taxpayers, who are struggling to pay therio own hosuing costs, fully, in less salubrious areas?
But the poeple who are proliferating these threads (btw - why so many on the same subject [hhmm]) don't want to hear that - it doesn't suit their political doom-mongering agenda.

Historically, the market hasn't really looked after the wages of the poorest people in society. (see the rise of the Union movement in the 19th century , reasons for introduction of the welfare state in the 20th century, many works by Dickens and any episode of the Wire)

We left London because we could not afford a house there and my DH commuted in for years. We certainly did not expect the state to pick up the slack. Loads of people have to leave London because of house prices and travel in.

Merrymouse very true, and I like your sources

I can't help feeling that those who mention things like "market corrections" have no idea on what such things would actually mean for families in the real world - not in an economics text book (or right wing think-tank report even).

amothersplaceisinthewrong, you seem to be talking about buying a house. housing benefit is for help to pay rent!

hmmm,and do market corrections happen at the same time as your rent nearly doubles? can market correctios happen when you have a pay freeze for the next 2 years [at least]? can they happen when councils have had 25% of their budgets taken away?

just wondered.

lowrib we live in a market economy and so when discussing changes and their likely impact we must put them in the wider economic context.