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[Katejo]

Hello ladies.

Public sector housing has to be rationed when demand outstrips supply and I recall that a points system was often used. The more dire your situation, the more points you were awarded which seems reasonable and is similar to the triage system used in medicine.  When Thatcher brought in the right to buy scheme public sector housing declined but the government prevented Councils using the money to build more affordable homes to replace the ones sold off. Consequently a buyer's market was created which favoured private landlords and kept all house prices high. The one thing the scheme didn't do was solve the housing shortage.

I think providing good quality public housing is the duty of a decent government and it's a scandal that things have been allowed to become so bad.

Wishing you well ladies.

K.

I agree 100% Kathleen 👍

So do I 

[Annie0710]

I need to make a correction. Corbyn actually said he will build 100,000 houses A YEAR for the next 5 years.  Where he thinks he is going to build them is another matter as is where is all the money coming from?

I don't know why people close their eyes to the fact that our population has increased by millions over the past few years and they all have to live somewhere.  it stands to reason. 

it seems to me that if you can flout the rules you will get housed. If families say they are evicting one of their adult children they get a house. If girls get pregnant they get a house, if you trash a privately rented house and don't pay rent you get evicted and then rehoused ..... how crazy is that? 

If you sit patiently and wait you get nowhere.  One of my nieces and her partner were on the housing list for over 10 years despite both having full time jobs.  She was told by the council she was not priority because they had no children.  She could easily have made that happen but they wanted to do things in the right order so they continued private renting which was expensive and not very secure.  Finally they have got a shared ownership house and now have children but it was a real struggle to get there.

i also know someone who went to the council following a marriage breakdown and he was told he had no chance at all of getting a house as he was “white, single and employed.”  He complained and told them he would take his story to the national press.  Within a week he was sent a letter saying that if he didn't accept a certain bungalow they were offering him they would remove his name from the housing list.  That was a joke because his name wasn't even ON the housing list. They were just worried about being named and shamed. He took the house!

Once I agree with you PF
back in 1986 when I was 19 and getting married I applied to the council to be told unless I get pregnant before the wedding I won't get a house, I wanted to get the wedding over with first so we applied to buy and thankfully managed it

Fast forward to 2009, I fled an abusive relationship and ended up sofa surfing .  I asked the council and they said at 43 and working I have zero chance of being housed.  So I had to stay at family/friends for the unforeseeable future, one friend I stayed at had 4 teenage daughters, 3 got pregnant close together, never worked in their lives and Lo and behold all got housed !!!  I never did x

[CLKD]

Well done on leaving Annie!  Different Councils have different schemes. 

We need more Council flats and not new builds of 3+ bedrooms which are out of financial reach for most.  I couldn't afford to move into our village now  and after renting for 4 years, we bought our 1st semi - £16,000   

[sheila99]

The population explosion has caused house price inflation, it has nothing to do with selling off council houses (which I didn't agree with). Private landlords starting renting houses out because of a change in the law with ASTs which stopped lifelong tenancies at a peppercorn rent. No country can cope with millions of immigrants in a short space of time and we are suffering the consequences. They need houses, doctors appointments, school places etc etc so of course all these things are overwhelmed. Ruining our countryside with miles and miles of urban sprawl isn't the answer, we need to limit the population increase instead.

[Sparrow]

The reason our house prices are so high, compared to other European countries, is that there is a housing shortage in general.  Solve that and it relieves the pressure.

Social housing has always been allocated on a points system and children and the vulnerable are always at the top of the list.

Most immigrants live in privately rented accommodation.

Housing associations no longer get the grants that they used to from the government. Therefore they have to build private and shared ownership houses to fund social housing and this reduces the quantity available.

Councils are hindered by government when it comes to the building of new council houses.

Families living in temporary accommodation is at an all time high, so why would councils be able to house single employed people??

[CLKD]

The Council Estates that we lived on were cul-de-sacs.  Both at Numbers 3 and 4 in different villages.  We never knew those at the bottom  .  After the right to buy went through the remaining houses were used for problem families.  So yep, cars on bricks, oil on the roads, grubby curtains  .

A mixed housing estate was built in our area 15 years ago: 1 bus in and 1 home daily.  No playground for the kids.  No GP surgery etc..  In the middle of no-where ......... young people felt very isolated.  10 miles from the nearest village with facilities.

[Pennyfarthing]

The population explosion has caused house price inflation, it has nothing to do with selling off council houses (which I didn't agree with). Private landlords starting renting houses out because of a change in the law with ASTs which stopped lifelong tenancies at a peppercorn rent. No country can cope with millions of immigrants in a short space of time and we are suffering the consequences. They need houses, doctors appointments, school places etc etc so of course all these things are overwhelmed. Ruining our countryside with miles and miles of urban sprawl isn't the answer, we need to limit the population increase instead.

Agree 100% Sheila!

[CLKD]

It isn't possible to stop population growth.  Even China didn't succeed in their 1-child policy.  And if there is a tragedy such as Aberfan or War, whole generations disappear.

[sheila99]

You can't stop people having children (except in China) but we can stop rampant immigration. It isn't the natural slow increase that's caused the problem,it's millions of immigrants in a short space of time. They all need somewhere to live whether it's rented, council or owned. Demand outstrips supply so the price goes up and everyone who didn't buy their home years ago suffers.

[Sparrow]

House prices have been too high for decades.

One of the most important changes is 'one person' households.  People are choosing to remain single. Marriages break up and also the increasing elderly population, all mean less family homes.

I personally don't believe immigration to be the cause at all.

[CLKD]

I don't believe that immigration has much impact .......... because the people are in and out of the UK all the while.  The numbers are not often published in the Press so we can't get an overall record.

[sheila99]

So if they don't live in houses where exactly do they live?? How can we possibly have millions more people and and expect it not to make any difference?
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/

[Sparrow]

We build more houses 🏘.  Simples

[sheila99]

We build more houses 🏘.  Simples

How short sighted can you get? Perhaps you don't care about the countryside and the environment but some of us do.
I'm glad you've admitted that's the reason why we're building thousands more houses though.

[Sparrow]

We build more houses 🏘.  Simples

How short sighted can you get? You obviously don't care about the countryside and the environment but some of us do.

Sheila99, just because I disagree with you there is no need to be rude

I live in a far more densely populated area than you do and only around 8% of the UK is built on.  People need houses, end of in my opinion.