Thousands of children forced to grow up in shipping containers

[stumbledin]

More than 210,000 children are estimated to be homeless across England, with thousands growing up in shipping containers, office blocks and B&Bs, often miles away from their schools, research shows.

Politicians and campaigners have accused ministers of a “catastrophic failure” to address the housing crisis after a study by the children’s commissioner found the true number of children living without a permanent home was considerably higher than government estimates.

Ms Longfield said: “Something has gone very wrong with our housing system when children are growing up in B&Bs, shipping containers and old office blocks.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-homeless-shipping-containers-office-blocks-housing-a9071726.html

What an indictment of the UK that in 21st century children are being put through this. And presumably this means that many single women have found themselves with no other option than to accept this is the only option they have.

Brilliant post stumbledin

Letting market forces dictate does NOT work. Fab post @stumbledin

www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/buying/new-homes/postwar-prefabs-on-catfords-excalibur-estate-to-be-replaced-by-371-new-houses-and-flats-a116196.html
8th December 2017

Bye bye bungalows: post-war prefabs on Catford's Excalibur estate to be replaced by 371 new houses and flats

New flats on the Excalibur estate will cost from £320,000

Britain’s largest collection of postwar prefabs can be found at the Excalibur Estate in Catford, southeast London, where 187 homes were built by German and Italian prisoners of war.

Their design followed a strict Ministry of Works template: detached 600sq ft bungalows with two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen, indoor loo and bathroom plus a bit of garden.

Several dozen of the tenants later exercised the right to buy their prefab.

However, following a 10-year conservation battle, with the Twentieth Century Society siding against Lewisham council, the major part of the site will now make way for a new estate of 371 houses and flats built with housing association L&Q, the council’s development partner.

There will be a mix of private sale, rented and shared-ownership homes. Existing owners and tenants have priority to buy or rent a new home.

Six prefabs will remain, plus a sheet metal barrel-roofed church from the same era. They have been listed by English Heritage and will become community buildings.

The first phase of new homes is complete but the rest of the site will take some time to clear.

By London standards this is a cheap location, if something of a backwater.

However, it is within a 15-minute walk of three railway stations. Estate agent KFH says the properties are 35 per cent lower in price than the Greater London average.

One-bedroom flats start at £320,000, with two-bedroom homes from £385,000. The Government’s Help to Buy low-deposit scheme is available, making these flats even more affordable for first-time buyers. Call 020 3486 2250

I am disinclined to blame particular political parties. It seems to me that the main parties are pretty much all on the same page with this stuff, they may talk up the details a little differently but they are essentially all for making things better for landlords.

I wonder even about shipping containers being done up. I have seen examples that were nice and high end, yes. But most of the reading I've done on it suggests that it isn't really all that great a solution, they aren't cheap to make into good housing because they just aren't intended for that. I know people have liked the idea because so many are wasted, but that's really another capitalist problem that requires regulation, but is unlikely to be tackled because it is part of a globalist economy.

To many people not enough affordable homes being built! Simple really. Housing is a huge economy for this country, each gov, Lab and Con, have kept the demand way above the supply for this reason. The population continues to soar and what we have is this...or social housing lists 40k+ long and single mum families living out of sheltered accommodation like in my borough. It's an absolute mess tbh and it's only going to get worse.

This thread scares me. This is one a feminist board but some of these posts lack any humanity and decency.

SEmummy I agree some of the posts are terrifying. I would say though as someone who spends way too much time on FWR that I don't recognize the posting names. I think there's a group of extreme right posters who spot a topic like this in active and pile on. From the user names and posting times (13.00 through to 4.00, 5.00am often) I think some of them may be far right American trolls.

Their posts are horrible, and I think the current political climate emboldens them but I don't think they're representative.

Can we please stop conflating affordable with social . They are not the same Affordable is 80% of market rent. Social is 40% of market rent.

the reality about these regeneration practices is that council housing is abolished and is only partially replaced with fewer ,more expensive and less secure housing association homes

In 2015 it was calculated that a household income of over £52"000 would be needed to pay the average £303 WEEKLY rent of an affordable two bed home in Aylesburys SE5 postcode area.

speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/affordable-social-at-497-83-pw-for-a-3-bed-25976-pa-rent-is-it-unlawful/

Affordable? Social? at £497.83 pw for a 3 bed! £25,976 pa rent! Is it unlawful?

There are 201 so called social housing and so called affordable rent 3-bed properties in England with a weekly rent level of over £400.

How the fu*k can they be called social housing?
How the fu*k can these be called affordable?

All 201 of these are owned and managed by Clarion Housing Association and below is a table detailing the properties that will make your eyes water........................

That speyejoe2 linknus shocking

the rent charged is not 80% of full of gross market rent (GMR) to which the affordable rent model is limited to but 170% of the GMR figure for Reading!

Clarian is breaking the law and ripping off tax payers for huge sums of money

its interesting that that was your instinctual reaction @FormerMediocreMale

Not that "Good God tenants are being completely priced out.

Affordable in its true sense is the right word.

But it is true that the Government, in fact started by Labour changed the meaning of how the word affordable is used in the housing sector.

Labour had a very Tory view of people on benefits. These people who made bad choices need to be shown how most people live. ie make them pay rents that are based on rents in the area not what the premises actually are, which is what the Fair Rent system was (and still is for a few tenants old enough to have been renting prior to 1988(?) It was originally introduced in 1915

re the points about pensioners downsizing (tough luck that you are meant to through out all your mementos and furniture that you have accumulated ). There is a scheme that allows HA / Council tenants to move out of cities to more rural or seaside towns.

Which sounds great, but then you start to wonder why are these (often bungalows) empty?

I remember going through this with a friend and it soon becomes obvious that if you are in a city you can usually just pop round the corner to a local supermarket, and not much further to your GP's surgery. And visit family on public transport.

Many of these bungalows are in cul de sacs with no local amenities, let alone public transport. Presumably they were originally designed on the basis that everyone has a car.

So why would a pensioner move away from the location they know and have friends and family in, and support networks to a remote, isolated location where they could end up unable to do their own shopping and not seeing anyone for days.

But here's the link www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/renting/seaside-and-country-homes

YY @stumbledin Preceded by an eight month rent strike in Glasgow in 1915 at the most involving 20"000 households. which forced the Gov. to introduce rent controls.

The problem was not that the government sold all the council housing stock it was that they would not let the councils use the money from the sales to build more housing stock!!

We are now in such a terrible state that it will take decades to build enough affordable housing to get the lists down!!

And in the mean time we are still sending Aid to other country’s!!

Decent housing should be available to all in this country!! this is a national disgrace and our politicians should hang there heads in shame at the fact that families are living in such awful conditions.

Its not just RTB. Its regeneration. Council homes have been demolished and less sociial homes have been built in their place as the links ive been put on here show. Council homes have been transferred to housing association through LSVT. Basically the privatisation of public housing along with fewer rights for tenants. Councils are subject to the FOI (Freedom of Information Act. Housing associations are NOT.

RTB was a big part yes but its so much more.
These changes go further back than 1980. And its much more than RTB

Foreign aid comes from a different budget.

www.24housing.co.uk/news/strong-message-for-housing-providers-in-latest-population-statistics/

Strong message for housing providers in latest population statistics

Stats show extent to which population is ageing – illustrating the need for housing to keep up.
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Bill Tanner
11:27 August 23, 2019
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New UK population stats send a strong message to housing providers: Get a grip on the hold of the old.

The Office National Statistics (ONS) says that by 2050 one in four people in the UK will be 65 and older – up from around one in five last year.

Overall, 65-plus is the fastest growing group.

“The structure of the UK’s population is changing: People living longer and having fewer children means the age structure is shifting towards later ages,” says Sarah Coates, Centre for Ageing and Demography, ONS.

In June, 24housing reported a cross-party alliance pushing for later living as a housing priority.

A high-profile group of MPs, Lords, charity leaders, and business leaders publicly declared their support for a major expansion of the UK’s Retirement Community sector as a specialist housing priority over the coming decade – seeing the sector quadrupling in size by 2030 to 250,000 people.

The sector already accounts for 75% of all projected growth in the UK’s supply of specialist housing for older people from 2024 onwards.

The ONS references projections that pitch the population share of later-life age groups increasing further in future years.

By 2041, the 1960s’ baby boomers will have progressed into their 70s and 80s, and by 2068 there could be an additional 8.2m people aged 65 years and over in the UK – a population roughly the size of present-day London.

This, ONS says, would take the UK’s 65-plus age group to 20.4m people – accounting for 26.4% of the projected population.

In 1998, around one in six people were 65 and over (15.9%); this increased to one in every five people in 2018 (18.3%) and is projected to reach around one in every four people (24.2%) by 2038.

Comparatively, an estimated 20.5% of the population were under 16 years old in 1998, decreasing to 19.0% in 2018 and a projected decline to 17.4% by 2038.

Again, in 1998, 63.6% of the population were aged between 16 and 64, down to 62.7% in 2018 and a projected decline to 58.4% in 2038.

Within the UK, the older population comprises higher proportions of the populations of rural and coastal areas rather than urban areas.

One traditional measure used to consider the impact of an ageing population is the Old-Age Dependency Ratio (OADR) – which measures the number of people of pensionable age and over per 1,000 people aged 16 years to State Pension Age (SPA).

In 1998, the OADR was 300; by 2008 this had increased to 307, suggesting increased dependency.

In 2018, the OADR decreased to 295.

However, the UK’S OADR is projected to increase into the future, reaching 360 by 2038.

While there are increases to the number of people above State Pension age, the ONS acknowledges seeing the number of people aged 65 and over and in work being higher than ever.

Using an alternative measure that takes into account the contribution of older workers, analysis found that economic dependency has shown an improvement, despite the population becoming older.

Another strong message for providers comes with cohabiting families being the fastest-growing family type and more young adults living with their parents.

The stats show that, since 2008, there have been an additional 700,000 cohabiting couple families – a growth rate of 25.8%.

Meanwhile, more young adults are living with their parents.

In 2018, the first age at which more than 50% of young people left the parental home was 23.

Two decades earlier, more than 50% of 21-year-olds had already left home.

Young men aged 20 to 34 living in the UK are more likely than young women to be living with their parents – 31% and 20% respectively.

In addition, the ONS acknowledges increases in the numbers of people living alone.

Between 2008 and 2018, there has been a 6% increase from 7.5 million to 8 million.

This increase was driven primarily by the increase in the number of older men living alone: a 55% increase for men aged 65 to 74 years and a 20% increase for men aged 75 years and over.

In 2018, nearly half of those living alone (48%) were aged 65 years and over and more than one in four (27%) were aged 75 years and over.

UK Population Overview 2019 – Main Points

In mid-2018, the population of the UK reached an estimated 66.4m
The UK population’s growth rate in mid-2017 and mid-2018, at 0.6%, was slower than any year since mid-2004
Long-term international migration to and from the UK has remained broadly stable since the end of 2016 and has also continued to be the main driver of the UK’s population growth
In 50 years’ time, there is projected to be an additional 8.2 million people aged 65 years and over in the UK
After decades of improvement to life expectancy, the latest figures show a slowdown in improvement – life expectancy at birth remained at 79.2 years for males and 82.9 years for females in 2015 to 2017

Thanks to whoever posted this link to the 2011 documentary about council housing. It is definitely worth watching . It reminded me that my doctor uncle on principle started married life in a council house in the days when they were allocating them to those who were in work, promised to keep the place nice and comply with a lot of rules and that kind of buy in - that rich or poor you could get one as long as you worked hard, that it was universal in that sense even if you were a doctor was perhaps what kept it good.

Then the 2011 film shows that it reached its best and peak by the 1970s because they had removed the requirement that it was only for the working class from the legislation. Then a big change by a Labour Government in the 70s so that housing need became a key feature and those not working got priority which utterly changed it - instead of being something you aspired towards that was shared by rich and poor in return for the taxes they paid it became sigmatised and full of people who were not working, who were not following the rules of cleaning the windows once a week etc. Sadly Labour seems to have been well meaning but caused that change for the worse.

When it was universal with a mix of people in it it worked better.

Far better than the crappy flat I grew up in London in the 1960's with a single mum, tenement style place with one bathroom and toilet for 10 people, no heating, no double glazing, mould, damp and rats.
It would have been heaven for us. I slept in the kitchen as there was only one bedroom which was also the living room.
Looking back I cannot believe I thought this was normal! But it was and I amused myself with all kinds of cheap hobbies.
It really depends what the shipping containers are like, some of them are beautiful conversions and people choose to live in them.

Please pass your crystal balls over here, I-Told-You-So-Gang. Not everyone is blessed with your psychic abilities which magically enable you to know whether you will lose your job or get beaten up whilst pregnant. You smug fucks.

@madcatladyforever look a little further upthread. The shipping containers are so hot people are resorting to sleeping outside on the walkways.

@Xenia you have it arse about face Its the Tories who see social housing as the housing of last resort.

Its called the residulisation of social housing.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-rise-and-fall-of-council-housing-56139

The policy shift reflected a political division between Conservative politicians who believed council housing should properly be reserved for the neediest (the market would provide for the rest) and those on the left who saw it as serving ‘general needs

In the 1980s, residualisation may have been a partly unintended consequence of housing policies pursued with varying ideological intent.

Since 2010, and more so since the return of single-party Conservative government in 2015, we’ve seen something further: welfarisation – ‘a conception of social housing as a very small, highly residualised sector catering only for the very poorest, and those with additional social “vulnerabilities”, on a short-term “ambulance” basis

@madcatladyforever Couldnt an older person have said the same to you back in the 1960s

That your flat was better than the one they were lining in in 1930

We have a housing crisis in this country. Far too many people and nowhere near enough housing especially when Maggie thought letting people buy their council properties was a good idea.

Councils and housing associations can't just magic up housing can they?

The UK, despite what some people say, is overcrowded. Far too many people and not enough housing or work, roads overcrowded, trains overcrowded, NHS can't cope, the education system can't cope.

There is no quick or easy solution. I am not sure there is even really a solution unless tons of money is going to be given to councils and housing associations to build new properties.

The selling off of council places must have been one of the most stupid ideas ever.

No, of course a shipping container is not an ideal home but it is better than being on the streets or even in a B&B.

At least if you have children the council will try and help. If you are single or even a couple but have no children you don't usually have a hope in hell of getting any help.

I saw the item on the news but showing one family with 4 children and another with quite a few was, in my view, not a good idea. Why have so many children?

Too many people have children but can't afford them and just expect to get help from everyone

Ah the old "be grateful for what you get" right wing ideology. Be grateful for living in a shipping container sweat box.

Years and Years is here.