Council housing query

[user13842]

When there is a council housing shortage, why do Council’s not manage those living in the homes they have better? For example, I know of someone who lives on their own in a 3-bed council house in my area as their children have now left home. I also know of a family of 4 (2 parents, 2 children) who are living in a small 2 bed council flat. I appreciate this won’t cater for everyone but why do Council’s not routinely check up on who they are housing in what and encourage swaps where appropriate so that everyone is housed according to their needs? Appreciate it isn’t as straightforward as all that but surely it would be relatively easy to create a system to flag suitable swaps when they came up based on regular checks on circumstances.

I also know of a couple who were in council housing for a couple of years despite suddenly earning a lot of money and was very surprised the Council didn’t do regular checks on this to identify those who could afford private renting and move them on for those in need.

Like a klaxon

Have we had council houses are linked to benefits yet? We might get all the bullshit on one page.

Because (round here at least) they bought/ built the houses houses in the 60s and 70s for like 16k and don't pay mortgages on them like many private landlords do right now?

Private rent is for profit.
Council rent is collated then split for maintenance upgrades etc.

Right to buy didn't happen till the 80s.

Sorry mizz misread what you meant.

The Lady is Housebound, sadly.

I am torn really as on the one hand its Her home, and has been for over 30 Years, but on the other a family could do with that House.
Difficult in its way.

The Elephant and Castle neighbourhood is being physically, socially and ethnically transformed. This started with the demolition of the Heygate estate, a classic for stigmatised perceptions of council housing and the people who live in it. As the local 35% Campaign has meticulously documented, a succession of promises to Heygate residents were broken to arrive at a situation where 1,214 council homes were demolished, to be replaced with 2,704 new homes, of which only 82 (3%) are for social rent. The HA partner was London and Quadrant. To be eligible for the cheapest one-bedroom home built by them on the Heygate site, people needed a minimum household income of £57,500. The average household income in that part of Southwark is £24,324

1,214 social homes replaced with 82. This is happening all over the country. Do the bloody maths. Its not the fault of tenants

I have a tiny 2 bedroom, it's on top floor with people below as it's a house split into 2.

I live in the countryside. It's just beautiful. I'm grateful.

But listen - I pay £700, not HB either. It's a rural area, low income , cheap housing generally.

This is not free housing. There are huge advantages and I deserve them.

Start posts about all the other more important issues around this subject. This is not the problem, it's the low hanging fruit drawing your eye again as it does when people feel envious and pissed off about their situation in life.

Housing association?

Yeah, someone just put a link up which was really interesting. Thank you - apologies for wrong word, I actually knew that so should have said subsided - I was surprised that you retain it for lifetime regardless of circumstances changing but am reflecting on the points made as to why that may be a positive.

In my town a lot of the 3+ bed houses are taken up with older people who don't need the space. But, these are decent areas. The majority of the smaller council homes are in blocks with lots of antisocial behaviour, noise, drug use etc.. No-one wants to give up a house with a garden on a nice street for that.

I wouldn't be against shuffling tenants around to homes of an appropriate size when lots of families are waiting, but I can totally see why no-one volunteers to do that and it would be best to try and improve the supply of smaller homes first.

It is. They're pretty fantastic this one I have. Not one complaint from me. Others however are having an awful time in mould infested hell.

I thought that seemed expensive for a 2 bed flat if it's a low rent area.
My 4 bed is 500pcm in an expensive big city.

Right - but whether the owner has a mortgage on the house has nothing to do with how much they rent it for. Lots of big companies who own several properties don’t have mortgages on them but still don’t offer lower than the market rent? So in that respect, rent is controlled/subsidised because it’s lower than what the market would dictate? If it’s the same as private renting why are they so desirable?

Because private renters are in it for profit? Not the benefit of the general public.

If a private landlord bought a property 60 years ago for 16k and can rent it out for 1800 a month they're going to.

Housing associations run on the basis of affordable housing for lown income families.

If they charged the market rate it wouldn't be affordable because the market is crazy now.

Houses on my street are 2k a month privately, I pay 500

which I fully agree with - I think there should be affordable secure housing and the council need to be involved - id be in favour of rent controls for private accommodation too. I’m just raising my eyebrows at the people commenting that social housing isn’t meant for low income families and that it’s not subsidised - what’s the purpose then, the council just like the administration?!
I think the post is getting a bit goady (not by you at all, but others with strong agendas!) so I am going to leave it!

I think that’s why the system is so broken…

If you want all of those benefits you should buy. If you need council assistance for absolute fucking basics like putting a roof over your head, then yes, council properties should indeed be interchangeable units of accommodation, distributed according to needs, not wants.

As a child free by choice woman im living in a one bedroom SH flat with DH. So no not just families

Council housing is not ‘subsidised’ because the rent covers the basic overheads and does not generate profit. The govt aren't paying some of the rent. Council housing is essentially the basic rate and then private renting is basic rate + profit. You could describe it as controlled as it doesn’t go above that basic rate but that is different to being subsidised. It’s just the wrong word to use to describe it.

Housing benefit, which can pay towards or the whole rent, is separate and not everyone in council housing gets this.

You and your DH are a family surely?
but I take your point, single people too!

That’s a fair point.

Some years ago I was chairman of our local councils housing panel.
The elderly person occupying the 3 bed house likely moved into that with their spouse when it was brand new in the 1950's/60's. It's their home in every sense of the word. Many simply don't have the money or energy to move into a smaller place. There may well be adult children putting pressure on them to stay there as the rules on the older tenancy agreements allow for you to pass on the house to someone once - they won't be able to pass it in again.
Believe me the councils are desperate to get these under occupied family houses back to be allocated to those who need them.
New tenancy agreements have been started in recent years which no longer give this "lifetime" tenancy in one house and tenants will be rehoused into something smaller when the time comes. I don't have an issue, I've not moved that many times in my life, but enough times to realise that a "home" is not really a specific building but more surrounded by your things and loved ones.

Thank you for sharing - that’s appalling and there certainly is an issue with the amount of council, and affordable, housing available. In an ideal world there would be ample council housing for everyone who needs it to have an appropriate space. However I don’t think that’s possible even if they did start funding/building more homes - it’s too much to catch up on and there needs to be some sort of cycle. Easier said than done though probably!

It is slightly lower than what I paid in private rental but it's worth it entirely. I have the most amazing views over landscapes that you can't buy. It's peaceful, quiet and well maintained. So this for me makes it ok.

But you raise a good point. I wonder how they determine the rents when there is such disparity.

You will feed some frothing with that rental price declaration 😆. Hold on tight....

If they want older people to move out of houses that they've lived in for many years, raised a family in etc, they'll need to start building smaller places that people actually want to live in. 1 or 2 bed bungalows with gardens and decent sized rooms.