How to get a council house

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Who deserves it more?

Wtf what kind of country are we living in when we have to choose who deserves shelter and who should be homeless?!

Urgh

Tbh Nancy I agree with you here, I do think family homes need to be given with perhaps twenty year tenancies and then reassessed to see if that size of property is still required.

I am in a two bedroom property.....in 10 years time DS might have moved out or might not. It would be fair at that point for the HA to reassess my tenancy to see if I still required a two bedroom house. My son is autistic, he might always need to call this house his home, but he might not.

Subsidised rent? I am less agreeable there, if the house owned by the HA or council is fully paid for then anything on top is profit to be used in order to build further housing. Rather than social rents being subsidised I suspect that private rents are inflated.....people getting what they can for a house/flat/whatever. This is why we see huge rents in parts of London which are purely profit making.....you don't see this in social housing.

I will acknowledge that initial building of houses gets some subsidies. But once the property is paid for it is no longer subsidised. My house is 10 years old.....probably not paid for itself yet. Either I pay the rent or HB does......only if HB is paying the rent can the Govt be said to be paying for it now. My HA is a non profit making one.....if they were profit making then we would be seeing rents of £800+ a month for a two bedroom house. As we would be seeing a far higher level of homelessness.

In fact my thought regarding housing is that it is every persons right to have a roof over their head. In the same way that we offer education and health care. We don't consider people to be receiving "subsidised care" in the NHS or "subsidised education" if they send their children to a State school. Why the issue over housing? Perhaps because there is unequal access to it which means we need rent caps in place or far more in the way of social housing. Maybe then we wouldn't need to pay Tax credits....who knows.

When I was given my 3-bed house 13 years ago it was just me and DS and I got £150 decorating vouchers. When DS left home I offered to vacate house in exchange for a 2-bed and was told I could only have a 1 bed. So I stayed put in 3-bed house with huge garden in nice village and can stay here for life.
In our borough children of same sex have a to have a room each if over 7 years old. So there are lots of houses under-occupied. Madness.

It's changing though Darcey, children if the A&E sex have to share now up until age 16 I believe. You could possibly swap to a two bed, most areas will allow you one bedroom in excess of your needs.

"Of the same sex"... not sure where A&E came from

Jakebullet do you really believe that it is every person's RIGHT to have a roof over their head because the extension of that is that the government therefore has an obligation to house everyone. Is that really practical? Holy Moly. I think FOOD should be a right. Looking forward to the govt providing that for me too!

Secondly most landlords make a return of about 3-7% which is hardly substantial for the risk they are taking. This is their return after paying their whole mortgage. Do people really think that the council 'charges' for housing is any reflection of the costs of the build or the administration of the HA?

There are people like the braniacs on last night's show, Ashe & Milly, who are now in the system and will probably believe for the rest of their lives that their housing and social needs are meant to be looked after by the govt. They will probably never understand what the real cost of housing is. Their daughter will probably be caught in the same cycle of poverty and so it goes on....

I think everyone needs access and should have a "right" to shelter william yes. I admit I haven't worded it very well though.

Fact is that those who can afford to use private health care and private education do so already. It should be the same with social housing so it is there but those who can afford NOT to use it would choose to use the private sector freely and willingly. That will only happen with a look at rents though....and I am not clever enough to know how we do that.

All I DO know though is that relatives in Europe rent privately, it is no issue to them and their tenancies are secure in the same way that social housing is. Nobody chooses social housing if they can afford not to in their country and even on everyday kind of jobs they earn enough to pay rent and live...in a very expensive country. Nor do they need housing top ups in the form of benefits because they earn a wage which meets everyday living costs.

I don't know how we do that though.

I agree btw about the fact that most LL don't make huge profit in the rent...I certainly didn't when I was a LL but fact is that if I had been able to afford to keep the property I would have made huge profit eventually. And if my tenants paid their rent via housing benefit then all the mortgage would have been paid with Govt money.
Sadly I could not afford to keep the property (long story) and I had to sell but the flats I lived in now sell for three times what I paid for mine. Nearly all being bought by BTL landlords.

I have just watched and am very probably being dense, but, how could David live with his ex wife and yet his flat still be 'his'. I understand that he was 'staying' there as her guest but common sense should surely prevail and he will never go back there, so why not re let it????

In fact my thought regarding housing is that it is every persons right to have a roof over their head. In the same way that we offer education and health care. We don't consider people to be receiving "subsidised care" in the NHS or "subsidised education" if they send their children to a State school. Why the issue over housing? Perhaps because there is unequal access to it which means we need rent caps in place or far more in the way of social housing. Maybe then we wouldn't need to pay Tax credits....who knows.*

this ^^

watching this now. the teenagers come across as irresponsible. and the boys mother as a dim wit..

would rather the young couple with lily were housed. at least they were trying to get on with her studying but man needs to be more pro acticve. maybe him working would affect her grant.

felt sorry for alan having to go to a box room. could he not fet a lodger. probably not legal but do you think people do this.

dirtyface the difference is that EVERYONE has access to free healthcare and free education. Not the same with housing where only one sector of the population is given subsidized housing and there are lists of need - while most of the population are completely excluded and will never have access. If you want to make a direct parallel with healthcare then we would have a scenario where the entire population would be given the option of state housing with only some of us deciding we want more and go private. Unless you're thinking we should be living in 100% state owned housing.

I think I just watch these shows in shock as I'm not used to the idea that the govt provides housing for people. I'm originally from a country that has almost NO social housing and where there is a clear ideology that housing is something that people sort out for themselves. As adults. The idea that your local authority is that involved in your life and acting as your tenant is just very anathema to the way i was raised which is why I'm always bug-eyed about people's assumptions about state housing, assumptions that others consider to be quite normal. Like Ashe's mum who thought that it was 'disgraceful' that the state wasn't going to house them immediately. The thought just wouldn't have even crossed my mind! Pot and kettle me thinks.

In Switzerland where my cousins live nobody chooses social housing if they can afford not to. But they all earn enough t pay the private rents which are high. One cousin being a millionaire has his own home, e rest rent and then buy when they are older if they can afford to.

I guess I am wondering what the difference is....why we have such issues when they don't cause problems in other countries. None of my cousins need top ups to pay their rent and while they ALL work, some have jobs which in this country would require the worker to need top ups in housing benefit......they don't need it.

I must admit that I never expected to need state housing. I grew up in a council house, my parents bought that house (thereby benefitting from the huge discount) and I went off to train as nurse (while living in the much lamented nurses homes...loved it).

However, after that I privately rented, then I bought somewhere, got married, bought somewhere else as my husband lived 250 miles away, was a landlord (tenant did not pay rent cc eventually sold flat at a loss), marriage broke down, I privately rented again.

It was only when my DS began to have more and more difficulties that I found myself in need of social housing. I couldn't continue working, my landlord was selling up and I literally had nowhere to go. I was housed as an emergency on the local sink estate....horrific due to ONE neighbour...everyone else was lovely. I eventually got re-housed in my current property which I love. It took until I was 45 until I got in the position of needing the State to help me. I am grateful beyond measure that it was there for me to house me.

I didn't ask for help to decorate this place....nor was it offered. All has been done out of my own money....I was working initially.

Social housing is important.
Housing is important....everyone needs a roof over their head, it is a basic human need. Everyone should make an effort to sort this out for themselves though, many people can but some cannot and never will be able to.

I doubt I will ever buy a place again....not in a position, too old etc. while my son is in need of a home though I won't give up my secure tenancy for an unsecured one...my son is autistic, sameness is important to him.

We need to look at tenancies and make sure people can securely rent. It is all too easy to end up in a situation where you need to move every couple of years with all the costs this entails. Not great if you are on a limited income.

I never thought I'd need social housing either but after my financially abusive ex, left me with bugger all, it was social housing or living indefinitely with my 80 year old Dad. I was on the waiting list for 2 years before I was offered anything.

I'm really grateful that there is such a thing as social housing but the system is really flawed. On my estate it's a matter of luck regarding the state of the place when you move in. Some people get offered a place with ancient storage heaters, very poor/no decoration, vile kitchens and other people might end up in a place that has been totally overhauled and is absolutely gorgeous. All pay a very similar rent.

My flat was sort of in between, in that it was passable, but has the ancient and crap storage heaters, so I pay a fortune for inadequate heat, am freezing most of the year, and would be in what would be described as 'fuel poverty'. I think there should be a minimum standard that a place has to be in before it is re-let. Private landlords wouldn't let a place like the young couple with the newborn took in last night's episode. Just because you aren't in a great position, doesn't mean you should have to accept totally shit/damp/inadequate housing.

The thing we absolutely need is affordable commercial rental property like they have in many European countries.

"the woman at the beginning of the programme made me hmm saying foreign people shouldnt get the houses yet the two kids sat beside her on the settee are clearly mixed race"

what the actual fuck does being mixed race have to do with foreigners?

please tell me that was a brain fart and you do now realise how stupid that makes you look?

We were really lucky to get this house in 2001. There was just dp and I (not pg) and were offered a 3 bed house. In a street opposite a pretty bad estate, but we kept ourselves to ourselves and were not bothered. A few years after they emptied the estate over the road and demolished it, so apart from a few noisy neighbours its pretty good here now.

However when we moved in the house was a right state. No carpets, gaudy wallpaper (think anniglipter painted bright orange on top, blood red on bottom, dark blue ceiling and all plug/light sockets bright yellow ) The kitchen floor was cracked and uneven (took 4 years to have that replaced) The bathroom suite didnt match (white bath and toilet but baby pink sink?)

I despair at our dds' futures. We're never going to be able to buy, we live in the "poor" north in a nmw job, topped up by tax credits and hb. Either my dds are never going to move out or they are going to struggle so bad to pay private-with no help from us as we have no savings. I really hope the mps have a brainwave in the next few years on how to solve the housing crisis so the next generation dont suffer like the people on that program have to. It must feel so soul destroying and desolate (I think thats the word I mean-minds gone blank)

Forgot to mention, that while it is a 3 bed, the rooms are pretty small. dd1s room is about 8ft by 8ft (just longer than a bed both ways) Our "master" bedroom in just wider than the lenght of a bed and just under double the length. Hardly any room to move once you add drawers and a wardrobe. I cant even get a wardrobe in dd1s room because of the window and radiator, so she has to have a cabin bed.

We were also incredibly lucky- we got our house in 2000, a week before ds was born! Before that I had been in a small two bed council flat with dd1, having had to move away from living very near my violent ex. I then met my dh and we were together in the flat for two years when I got pregnant with ds. In those days, you just waited until you got to the top of the list and then got offered pretty much what you asked for where you asked for it. Looking back, I cannot believe how easy it was. The house was built in 1945 and had been occupied by the same person since then, so the council did an awful lot of work on it, replacing the polystyrene (!) ceilings and ancient kitchen cupboards, but it had already had double gazing and central heating put in. It is a solid, large, 'typical' I guess, council house of that era and we bought it 8 years ago. The road is half council and half private and now, only three of those are still council. Do I feel bad about buying it? I don't. Anyone in this position who had that opportunity would do the same Watching this series though, it saddens me that the 79 - 92 government is consistently blamed for the 'right to buy' when labour reneged on their promises to replace stock

OMG.......just watching the programme...the woman who has turned down NINE properties!!!

In my town she would only be offered two and the removed from the list :O

Am shocked that she has been able to do this.

...and now another one who HA turned down NINE properties. Am gobsmacked.......definitely does not happen in my area. No way would someone be able to refuse that number of properties.

william i just believe that everyone should have the right to decent, affordable housing. whether its private, council or buying.

sadly at the moment social housing is scarce, private rents and mortgages are vastly out of proportion to average wages

it isn't fair.

lack of rent controls in the private sector is probably a major cause of the problems we have in this country, forcing lower income people onto overcrowded social housing waiting lists. The rise of the buy to let sector is also forcing up house prices, meaning those who previously could have afforded to buy a basic starter home cannot as they are competing against landlords who find it easier and quicker to get the funding to buy.

The rich get richer, and the poor are getting poorer (bedroom tax, etc). Thanks to the Tories and their banker mates.

And this is also a problem www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2013/jun/housing-chiefs-announce-amnesty%E2%80%88-fraudsters-who-sub-let-council-properties
What happened about Abu Hamsa's wife in her 6 bedroom council house in Hammersmith & Fulham, although most/all of her children had left and she couldn't be made to move out? I wonder if she is still there?

seems to be different rules for them davros. also will she ever have to work like everyone else or maybe she does

Felt so sadwatching it tonight - surely hb could go straight to the council so that the vulnerable don't lose their tenancies.