60 Days on the Estates

[purpleme12]

Did anyone watch this?
Watching it now.
Does anyone live here?

Thats just how it is. 🙈🙉🙊

That 17yo girl got shot in a drive-by right nearby there not so long ago. We had a gang war the other year too. Between Tottenham, Enfield and Wood Green. Daily stabbings, a few shootings, the news barely bothered reporting it in the end.

No one gave a fuck then and they won't going forward. Sadiq Khan didn't even address it despite repeated requests to do so. That's all died down for now but people being tooled up just is what it is, that won't change.

We don't know the full story though. Temp accommodation could be miles away from the children's schools. Or in one of those run down B&Bs. She came across as a woman who wouldn't turn down something that would benefit her kids. I'm guessing the offer would have disrupted them too much.

Yes perhaps you're right I just wasn't really sure as it didn't explain why

I was disappointed that it didn't explain why, because as PP's have said there could be many very good reasons.

If they're going to do a 'factual' documentary, the reason should've been included.

It did say at the end though that she did not want any kind of temporary accommodation because all she is willing to accept is a permanent move to a large home. Perhaps baby daddy / daddies should pay to house his/their kids!

I know it said she wanted a permanent bigger home but obviously she's been waiting a long time for that and it's still not come and I wasn't clear why she wouldn't want it sorted in the meantime (although this thread has given reasons)

I think the mentality that someone can have as many kids as they want is what needs to change, too many people sat on benefits have huge families without giving the financial aspect a thought. Kids aren't free, you need to have the personal funds to have one just like buying a car or a house. The food banks are struggling more and more to feed these families, it's just not workable to see kids as a free gift that you can have as many as you like of.

These women won't get a lot sympathy when they live in a one bedroom flat yet think they have a right to have large families in those flats paid for by everyone but themselves. She has a mouldy flat but happily brought three sets of twins into the world to suffer living in squalor! Why do these women never live with the fathers, why do the fathers never house their own children or take adequate responsibility.

The food banks are starting to struggle to feed these families, the council's haven't got tens of thousands of free large homes to put these ever expanding benefit families in.

Children are not a free gift, they need to seen as an expensive thing that needs a person to.have money and savings to have.

She was using her son's asthma as a weapon, she didn't want the TV cameras to know that she refused healthier accomodation for him while the mould got sorted. She wants a bigger house only - what makes these people think they are entitled to have funded 4 or 5 bed homes. Because you can guarantee if she does get a 3 bed she'll get pregnant again and that house suddenly won't be big enough.

Whilst the presenter is supposedly shining a light on social issues, I think it's fair to say there's an element of victim blaming that he/channel 4 want to portray. In his homeless programme, the takeaway message was basically that all of these people could have beds if they wanted, and many had accommodation but begging on the streets pays well.
He didn't need to show a mother of 6 living in a one bed, I've seen pictures of mould ten times worse in housing where there is only 1 or 2 dc. But that would just garner pure sympathy, no frothing at the mouth about how 'we' are paying for this reckless woman to reproduce. I feel very sorry for her kids and she needs to take responsibility to a degree, but I'm sure the show chose to omit certain details.

Watching it now.

Seriously who has babies when you can barely afford to look after yourself. Dionne had 3 pregnancies, the other woman at the food bank had 9 kids. Nine??? Poor kids.

It seems a miserable existence. Imagine Dionnes kids' experience during covid, cooped up in that little flat. At least she seems like a loving parent, lots of kids wont have that.

The programme is asking whether the housing estates are fit for modern Britain. Sadly it's not the buildings, its the people that need fixing. We expect councils to sort it all out, they aren't equipped and never will be.

@feralunderclass yep totally agree. Its just another way to portray social housing tenants in a certain way

I live in social housing. A one bedroom flat but because im child free by choice , am teetotal and have never been drunk and have never touched drugs no film crew would come near.

Sadly it's not the buildings, its the people that need fixing

And thats exactly what they want you to think. Thats why they dont film SH tenants like me and DH. We dont fit the narrative.

And the buildings DO need fixing. Many of them did not have mould until they retro fitted cavity wall insulation. Tenants have NO say in this whether the insulation suits the building or not. Many dont suit it. The wall cavity is there for a reason, The contractors and company fitting it get paid, the housing associations get funding so ££££ is whats behind it, and then they can sit comfy and safe in the knowledge that (because of the culture and attitude towards tenants) they can blame any ensuing mould on the tenant and get away with it. Everyones a winner (except the tenant) My DM dries clothes near, sometimes on a radiator and they have NO MOULD Because they live in their own private home so no HA has forced them to have unsuitable cavity wall insulation so they can make ££££

We dont have homes unsuitable to lifestyle. We have homes unsuited to LIFE!

I'm in a council house too @JenniferBooth , I'm not having a pop at sh tenants. I just mean that if they fix the mould, great, but it still won't mean people arent scared to walk outside their front door past 7pm. The problems are too ingrained.

bump

It was a sad watch. The consequences of growing up in poverty and squalor were laid bare: poor mental and physical health, crime, prison. Felt sorry for those young kids who will struggle to escape this life.

The presenter was a pillock though.

Why was he though? I don't think so.

The situation was dreadful. I feel very very sorry for the 6 kids growing up in the mouldy one bed flat, how is that legal? How do the kids get any privacy, quiet time to do their homework, how are they able to sleep properly without being disturbed?

She was irresponsible to have so many kids when she knew what her situation was. That doesn't let the council off the hook though, the standard of housing was appalling, bad as any Victorian slum. (Although back then there probably wouldn't have been running water even) . I was shocked.

I thought I had seen this before? Is it a repeat or have I seen hsomething similar? Did he sleep rough once?

Yes he did another programme about sleeping rough

I was disgusted watching him with those guys who covered their whole faces.

The mum said she wanted to work. But it said she quit her job a year before her child was born. Ie she made the choice to stop work.

Does anyone live on the area that this week's was about?

It said 'if you're on benefits and your earnings pass a certain threshold then you're liable for your rent'
I thought everyone, even those without jobs, had to pay for their rent from the benefits that they get given?
Is that not right?

I think so. Re. UC In the area I work someone, single parent with children, was saying they have to make up a £300 shortfall of rent. I don't know how they do that and I'm guessing the situation is similar for many.

I'm hoping to watch the programme later. Six children in a one bed flat sounds unacceptable in this day and age, regardless of the 'fault' of the parent.

I've just started watching this. It's pretty horrific. Broken Britain.

@potatoesp yes it sounds awful, but the reality is that there is not enough council/social housing to suit the growing needs of families. There was a council house series on channel 4 a few years back and a housing officer was saying that so many recipients of council housing outgrow them within 3 years as they add to their family. What's the solution? For every single person to be given a 3 bed incase they want to have 4 kids?
Even if that mum with 6 kids gets a 3 bed tomorrow, when her eldest is 16 in a few years he will be entitled to a bedroom of his own and they will be 'overwcrowded' again. I don't know why she didn't put a set of bunks in her bedroom, there was plenty of space.

@purpleme12 the issue is that there is a cap in each local authority, which is under the soaring costs of private rentals. My maximum amount is £850 pcm but my rent is £1200, which was the cheapest suitable house (I need downstairs bathroom due to disabled ds and houses with this are like hens teeth). I have to make up the £350,which I can only do because I use ds' DLA.