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Fucking Fucking Tories want to make me homeless

208 replies

BeingFluffy · 20/08/2012 22:49

Just watching some Tory cunt on Newsnight. I live in a London Borough (and have done all my life) which has a lot of ordinary people in social housing, but is very fashionable among the rich. Apparently the Housing Trust (which was set up to house local people like me in the 1960s) should stop "indulging" people like me and be forced sell off my home. Where the fuck are we supposed to go? They are born with silver spoons in their mouths and don't have the faintest fucking idea about ordinary people.

OP posts:
thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 11:56

The UK actually extends beyond London yellowraincoat Hmm

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:01

No shit, REALLY? Do they have supermarkets out there or do you just buy stuff from a farmer?

I'm not even sure what your point is. There are way too many issues here all jumbled together. We're talking how there's people in areas of London that are expensive, but they're on HB. These people shouldn't live there. So there needs to be more homes. But now they're going to build the homes outside London...so...er...what?

thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 12:04

Er...the point is you were talking about there being no land left in London.

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:09

Still don't see your point. Not enough council houses for those that need them in London. Solution = build more council houses outside London = does not compute.

Viviennemary · 22/08/2012 12:11

If people can't afford houses in an area they look at a different area. That is what nearly everybody has to do. Sorry but I am not finding any sympathy with this London people must be subsidised to live in very expensive houses.

ReallyTired · 22/08/2012 12:18

After the war lots of new towns were built like Hemel, Luton, Stevenage, Bishop Storford which are in reach of London by train where lots of london. There are brownbelt sites where there are disused factories, warehouses, council garages that are emarked for development already.

Lots of people moved out en masse to Hemel after the second world war to escape the slums of the east end. This policy is no different. Most people are resilent and adapt.

As I said before, its not as people are being sent to Australia. The UK is small island and its possible to get to London and back in a day from almost anywhere in England.

thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 12:23

yellowraincoat
Your 'does not compute' comment is very, very funny. I'd explain my point in simpler terms so that you do understand it but I see that other posters have already done it for me Smile

MardyFish · 22/08/2012 12:26

Honestly I am far from convinced that there are not enough council houses for people that need them in London.

If you look at areas with lots of council housing in London, figures for worklessness are around 40-50%. How exactly to these people 'need' to live in London?

Obviously they want to live in London, and there is much demand, but that is not the same thing. Demand can obviously never meet supply and it is unreasonable to suppose that it ever will. If Tesco started selling champagne for £1 a bottle they would not be able to meet demand either.

Social housing in London is provided so far below its market value that demand can never ever be met. Hell, even at the obscene market value, there's considerable upward pressure on prices, so it's silly to suppose that social housing demand can be met.

I can see a strong case for 'essential worker' housing (which does exist around London), but extensive provision of social housing in London is just throwing petrol on a fire.

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:29

I can understand what you're saying seeing as how I live in London and I am very very clever. I suppose we just see it in very different ways.

I see your Luton, your Bishop Strotford and I see housing policies that have utterly failed. People wonder why everyone is depressed these days. Surely it's because communities have broken up, no-one knows their neighbours. There aren't connections in the same ways because people need to keep moving because they can't afford to live in their local community.

London gets worse and worse. My partner and I have solid middle class jobs and yet we'll never be able to afford a mortgage. That is not normal. It is not a case of feeling entitled. It is simply ridiculous that two people working full-time in decently-paid jobs can't afford to buy somewhere. And that is as a direct result of housing policies.

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:30

That is simply not how it is MardyFish . The situation is far more complex than that. I have to go out, but I'm sure someone else can explain.

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:32

Beyond all that, do all of you really think that the unfairness lies with those in council houses? Or as I said above, isn't it more unfair that people like Cameron not only have huge wealth and power, but also take up vast swathes of the country with their enormous houses?

Why isn't THAT the unfair part?

thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 12:37

It's Hmm how all these London folk are saying that this policy will break up communities. I've lived in London and from my experience I would say there is very little community spirit. Barely anybody knows their own neighbour.

Viviennemary · 22/08/2012 12:37

Not sure if I agree with the issue of people not being in work being moved out of London. I think that would be wrong. And it would cause terrible stress. So if a person retired or lost their job then they would have to vacate their house. I just think subsidies should be brought down to a reasonable level. The royals take up a lot more space than Cameron. And at least he is elected unlike them. But that is a different point. What I think is wrong is that a very priviledged relatively small number of people are subsidised to live in central London. At huge cost.

ReallyTired · 22/08/2012 12:40

"I can understand what you're saying seeing as how I live in London and I am very very clever. I suppose we just see it in very different ways"

yellowraincoat describing yourself as "very very clever" is hardly the hieght of modesty and you could either pay for property at the market rate or commute from the sub urbs. Social housing should not be for intelligent people who are in good jobs unless they are essential workers like teachers or nurses.

" It is simply ridiculous that two people working full-time in decently-paid jobs can't afford to buy somewhere. And that is as a direct result of housing policies. "

Surely it is brain dead to continue living in London. It is perfectly possible to get work in other parts of the UK. You can buy a house outside London for a mortage that is far less than what you are paying at the moment.

Mrskbpw · 22/08/2012 12:44

Surely all of you whinging about how you can't afford to live in Kensington (nor can I, by the way. I live in - gasp! - zone 5) could apply for social housing there if you wanted to? Can't anyone apply? You'd probably be on the waiting list for about 30 years, but you could do it.

Also, there is LOADS of community spirit in london, you just have to live in the right place and make the right amount of effort.

I don't really understand the proposal. I can see how selling off a house worth £100m can benefit a council, but how will they then build so much social housing? Where?! It's not like there's loads of spare land in London...

Mrskbpw · 22/08/2012 12:46

Oh and also, ReallyTired, what if your friends and family are in London and this is where you've grown up? How is it "brain dead" to continue to live here?

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:47

Yeah, the very very clever thing was a joke. Obviously.

It's braindead living in London? We can't live anywhere else due to my partner's job. Besides that, we don't WANT to live anywhere else. Why should London only be for the rich? Are we really just going to accept that?

"oh well, London is only for the very very rich and very very clever, best pack my things and fuck off"

It will probably come to that, but that's fine as long as there's no-one living in Chelsea who doesn't DESERVE it.

msnaughty · 22/08/2012 12:50

i think some people do have a need to live in london. they may have lived there for many years. its what they call home where their support systems are. in some cases such a big moved could lead to long term stress. for the whole family.

just for example how would people who lived in leeds/manchester or where ever feel if you were told you must give up your home and support systems and you must live in london.

if its not social cleansing then what is it?

thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 12:51

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've moved for work...

Viviennemary · 22/08/2012 12:55

A lot of people who live in Manchester and Liverpool and are uneployed would jump at the chance of a job and subsidised house in London.

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 12:58

Nor me, thebest . But my partner is a journalist and unless he wants to go and work for the Shropshire Turnipbaster, we don't have much choice except to live in London.

thebestisyettocome · 22/08/2012 12:59

You sound lovely yellowraincoat Hmm

yellowraincoat · 22/08/2012 13:02

You do too thebest :)

Ephiny · 22/08/2012 13:03

I did move from Manchester to London for work, didn't occur to me that it was supposed to be a problem Confused.

I don't think I know anyone who still lives where they grew up, many of my friends and colleagues don't even live in the same country they were born in, never mind the same area of the same town! That's just not the way the world works any more IME.

ReallyTired · 22/08/2012 13:04

"Oh and also, ReallyTired, what if your friends and family are in London and this is where you've grown up? How is it "brain dead" to continue to live here? "

I am in exactly that kind of situation. I am from south west London orginally and where my parents live have some of the highest house prices in the country. We cannot afford to live in the area where I grew up. I have friends who still live in London and plenty of friends who have moved all over the world.

I have a car and there are such things as trains and buses. It takes about an hour to get to my parents or brother. It takes about an hour to get into London from where I live. Surely your partner could commute by train into London as thousands of people do each day.

"It's braindead living in London? We can't live anywhere else due to my partner's job. Besides that, we don't WANT to live anywhere else. Why should London only be for the rich? Are we really just going to accept that? "

Tough shit.

I want to own my own Yacht, I want to send my children to private school, I want to have foreign holidays in the Bahamas and cavier and champage for tea. Why should all these luxories be just for the rich?

Lots of people want to live in London and market forces mean that those who have the most money can afford to. There are only a finate number of properties in London.