Residential home for troubled teens opening across the road

[Foxglove21]

Today we found out that a house directly across the road from us is being converted into a residential home for teenagers in care who have severe behavioural issues and are thus unsuitable for fostering.

We are absolutely devastated. We have only lived in our home one year; it was a big move for us as it was at the very top of our budget, which we have worked really hard to save for. It is in a quiet, small rural village which has 2 Ofsted outstanding schools and we have paid a premium for this. We have a toddler and another baby on the way, and sought a quiet village to move to, and were so excited and felt so lucky to have purchased our forever home to raise our family. In the past year we have spent thousands redecorating to make it our own.

The house across the street that is becoming the residential home was a regular 4-bed family home that has just been sold. We had no way of knowing this would happen when purchasing our house (we would never have bought it had it been there already). The new owners/the company who will run the home have not had to request planning permission for this change to the dwelling and so we were not consulted at all- we've just found out now via word-of-mouth from a contractor who has started to convert it.

We're extra concerned as this house is next door to an old and unused village police station which will inevitably also go up for sale soon. This would obviously now be a very unattractive purchase for a family and thus would no doubt become a second purchase to extend the residential home (and increasing the number of residents).

It seems a very unusual choice of location for such a home; as I mentioned it's a very small and quiet village with absolutely nothing recreational nearby to offer young people in their teens; there's one pub and one little shop. The house itself wasn't exactly cheap- £500k for a 4 bed house which requires conversion (we live up North, so that's definitely on the pricier end)- so it seems a very strange investment for them really. Our house has a large playing field and small playground for toddlers directly behind it and again I'm worried this will inevitably become the hangout for the residents as there is nowhere else for them to go.

Anyway, I guess I just partly wanted to rant as I've been in tears today about this as I feel our life savings/all our hard work are about to go down the drain and we're in for a miserable time.

But I also wondered if this has happened to anyone else, and if so what the reality was. We're expecting there to be a lot of anti-social behaviour and for all the surrounding house prices to plummet, but maybe we're overreacting?

From a quick google other peoples' experiences seem to rely largely on 1) the type of home it is/who will be living there, and 2) the reputation of the company running it... so it's not looking good for us :( We have 2 friends who coincidentally work in these types of homes and they have also suggested it could very likely cause us problems from their experiences.

You are over reacting. Whatever happens inside the house is unlikely to affect you. Perhaps you should wait and see. In any case there is little you can do so perhaps you should try to flip your thinking to isn't it good that these young people will be living in a pleasant, calm area.

Thing is all these PP being judgy to the OP. Would they buy a house themselves opposite or next to this development? No - I didnt think so....

We found out just after we moved house that one of neighbouring houses is a home for troubled teens. We've been here a year now and so far no problems whatsoever. You would not know from outside that it wasn't just another family home.

Had we known before buying the house I think it would've put us off but fortunately we didn't know and we are very happy living here. Hopefully it will be the same for you OP.

I guess you cannot comment if you havent experienced that yourself.
Littering, parties, teens out of control, damages, dogs out of control, constant shouting/screaming/throwing stuff from the balconies etc

Oh no... not POOR people.

However did you survive? I hope it didn't scrape any shit on your shiney privilege.

Lived in these places all my life, grew up on a council estate and even lived in homeless hostels (about the lowest you can get)... never encountered that.

That's the kind of shit middle class prats make up to sound worldly when they have never met someone who made under £30k a year and think thats extreme poverty.

Step away from channel 4 fantasy lol.

Almost all of us live near one... try actually reading the thread.

Chances are you probably do and just don't know about it, they are everywhere and so unnoticeable most don't know until they stumble upon it.

Thank you @Zola1
I worked in one of these homes, the children were very difficult but never gave the neighbours any grief. You wouldn’t have known who lived there. It was also in a village setting and the children couldn’t wait to get into town, they had much better things to do than hang around in the street.
I’d like to know exactly where @Foxglove21 would like to dump them.

My husband has worked in these kind of homes for over 30 years,and still does. Biggest issues are fights and arguments within the home itself( as happens in any home with teens), or kids absconding and thus getting as far away from the area as they can. Attacking the neighbours isnt really high on the list of disruptive behaviour.

I grew up near an area of Glasgow that was full of mansions. Unbelievably expensive, and because the houses were so big they were ideal for children’s homes. There were at least three I knew of, didn’t put anyone off or affect house prices. I currently live near a very large unit that supports children transitioning from care to independent living. Hardly see anyone coming or going. I won’t even think twice about moving closer to it. In fact, I’d think twice about living near anyone with an opinion like yours.

I listened to my neighbours complaining about all the anti social behaviour in my street nit long after it was completed and full.

They loved to talk about X y and z family. They loved to tell me about the problems with council tenants.

I absolutely loved the day I attended a street meeting about it and announced that my block was the HA block and all those were privately owned dwellings.

You could have heard a pin drop and one of my neighbours actually said "but you're all so lovely and cause no issue".

Twats are twats. They are twats whatever their home ownership status is.

@Foxglove21 There are small scale residential homes all over the country like this and often people are unaware. They don't house large numbers of young people and often the most challenging are housed without other young people but have 3 staff 24/7 and they are supervised.

You're thinking of the worst possible scenario. People often do that. Wait and see.

Look years ago I lived in one, we did terrorise neighbours tbh and the home was closed down

Which is what happens. Bc kids are clearly not having needs met if you get to that point

This was in the 90s

It's 30 years on and things have changed... they are smaller, staff are better, more staff per child.

Worked in them, even my most difficult key kids were always just naturally very respectful to neighbours (whatever else they might have got up to)

Speak to them like humans not troublesome hooligans... and don't blame them for things that don't actually happen ... can't imagine being worried about living next to them now

One of these came into my parents street (city suburbs). A neighbour sold their large house and it became a residential home. All the neighbours were worried. Fear of the unknown is fair enough really.

However, it's been there a number of years now and there has been no difference in the character of the neighborhood. You do occasionally see a police car parked outside but there is no effect on anyone beyond the home. No increase in crime or anti social behaviour. Maybe a bit of extra litter, but to be honest there was litter anyway.

You've had a lot of grief here, OP, and I'm sorry.

What happened in the end?

My friend had this scenario in a nice block of modern two bed flats. She was the very last person to be judgmental, but what evolved was horrific.

There were single late teens housed below her , each with a chaperone. The flat had been bought by a company contracted to the local authority.

There was constant noise nuisance, other teens hanging around, drugs, constant police attendance culminating in the end with an armed ( yes really) police raid in the early morning.

The local authority and the management company were useless. In the end the local MP got involved and the situation was resolved.

I understand your worry and upset. My friend has been through a series of life traumas herself and simply wanted a safe and quiet place to live. There are two sides of the coin.

An update seeing as everyone's got all aquiver over this 😂I wasn't going to bother as some clearly chose to put words in my mouth and I suspect will continue to do so, but hey ho- I'm not going to argue with a bunch of keyboard warriors. Nowhere did I mention that anyone doesn't deserve a nice home (and interestingly you've also rather hypocritically made a blind assumption about my background, presuming that I've had a privileged upbringing 😆).

For those who said I don't have a clue- my original concern was based solely on my experience of working directly with children in care for the last 10 years (so yes, I do indeed have a very good idea of what these young people have been through and I know that sadly it is more often than not, incredibly traumatic. And I also see on a daily basis how this trauma can impact behaviour).
It was also based on the experiences of two close friends who work in residential homes and told me about their experiences (both positive and negative).

Aaaanyway, for those who were interested, here's my update:

I did actually read most the replies, and agree that I probably did jump to the worst case scenario based on the above. So I went round with my kids to say hello and introduce myself, with a box of chocolates to welcome them to the neighbourhood. Thanks to whichever member it was for that suggestion; they seemed to like the card my toddler made.

We've not really seen each other much since other than an occasional hello when out walking the dog, and the only negative thing that cropped up a couple of times is hearing some folk shouting and swearing in the garden; not a huge deal really.

Switching off updates now as I'm not really interested in any more abuse, but wanted to give an update to those who did take the time to respond politely- whether they agreed with me or not 🙂

.

Glad it's worked out OK OP.

When I was pregnant things like this seemed huge and made me very upset so I would cut op some slack. I remember catastrophising about things and really fretting so it might be that op.

We live in a lovely area there is a mens halfway house at the end of our tiny cul de sac you wouldn’t know it was there never heard a peep.

We had awful neighbours when I was pregnant and had dd1 when we were in London and it drove me mad they were Jeremy Kyle types loud rap/drugs/shouting/fights/out of control dogs/undesirables congregating. I would prefer a managed residential as there will be someone “in charge” unlike common or garden hideous neighbours.

Very happy to hear that it’s worked out for you OP. You did the exact right thing. That personal welcome that you took the trouble to give will have really meant a lot. It’s really made my day to hear that you did that. I have relatives who would have been those kids at one time. Thank you.

I've only read your comments OP but I'm not sure why you've had judgemental comments. You'd be silly to want antisocial teenagers moving in. I'm surprised your solicitor didn't spot it.