Wealthy Council Tenants could lose homes

[Midnight_Fairy]

I had to hold my tongue yesterday some "mutual" friend commenting about young mums in council houses. Yes we do have a council house but we pay rent. She has a private house, big house etc and she gets FULL HB paid. I had to hold my tongue I can tell you now!

 

[chel27]

Council housing is not intended as a home for life! I think people are confusing council housing with an owner occupied property!

I couldnt disagree more!!!! I have lived in council accomadation for about 9 years now and My partner works part time and I have 3 children, one of which has disabilities.
I was tempoary for 2 years and then made "permanent" meaning I have security and for as long as I pay my rent, which I do every week I am entitled to live here.
Im sorry but if I went into private renting I wouldnt afford and have no security plus we need addaptions for our home so can you still say I shouldnt class this as my home for life?? your theory doesnt work IMO.

It isn't my theory; it's a fact! Social housing was always intended, and should remain, for people who are in dire situations or who have other contributary factors that mean they NEED social housing (which might include someone like you and Tegan's Mama - I don't really know your situation tbh so can't really comment on specific people, I am talking generally).

I just don't know when this society reached a point where people, in general, believe that those in social housing have a right to stay in that housing for life, by virtue of the fact it was their home at one point because they had a need for that help. If your circumstances change (and clearly you are different because you have a disabled child so your circs won't change), you shouldn't be able to, nor expect to, stay in housing that is there for people who have no other option besides a cardboard box/hostel!

but yes it is a theory because when you go to the council for the reason you do, you are not told that you only get your house until you are able to afford to rent/ buy so its not made out in stone, hence the reason why some people do tend to abuse this system.
If they were to turn people out of their houses when they can financially afford to rent/buy it would just encourage ALOT of people to sit on their backside and not get a job as yes the council is a safe option.
There are so many genuine reasons to as to why some people NEED council housing and I am one of them and always will be as my son will always NEED adapted needs not to mention my partner alos has disabilities.
I am sure I read somewhere that people who now get council houses fully pay 80% of a normal rent charge so the difference is much the same to renting. I do totally agree people who can afford to get their own place should do.
Now I quote something my housing officer told me (these are not my words) she said there are so many ethnic minorities that come to england and because they have nowhere to live we have to house them, i think personally thats another area that needs looking into as it is using up alot of our council housing for people that do need it. FACT!!!

 

[xxembobxx]

Council housing is not intended as a home for life! I think people are confusing council housing with an owner occupied property!

Now I quote something my housing officer told me (these are not my words) she said there are so many ethnic minorities that come to england and because they have nowhere to live we have to house them, i think personally thats another area that needs looking into as it is using up alot of our council housing for people that do need it. FACT!!!

That issue was raised on the Dispatches/Panorama housing programme and the housing officer denied refugees or ethnic minorities got any sort of priority. And yet I can go to a couple of estates in Leeds where English as a first language is unheard of. Of course we have to house refugees as we don't allow them to work.
I got a council flat when I was 17 - I had to wait 3 months. My kids won't even consider council housing as an option as they will be going to work and know there isn't a chance in hell they would get one nowadays. I don't think there are much less properties just that the demand has increased so much.

 

[Eternal]

im likely enough to have always owned my own home.

I can kind of see both sides to the argument

firstly those who people are saying should move out, buy or rent, it isnt always that easy. do you realise how much more private renting is? i mean seriously i can see the appeal of council housing, i would live to be paying such a small amount for a home compared to our mortgage sometimes. We looked at private renting when we thought out house wasnt going to go through and its a lot of money, you can suddenly expect someone to be able to afford 1/3 to 1/2 more money a money on rent. And mortgages are a nightmare, you have to have a really good credit score and be lucky at the moment and have a huge deposit. Most mortage companies are wanted at least 25%, most houses are still over 100,000k, so you expect someone to have saved over £25,000 in how long?

however the point of view is that council house should just be a bridging gap for everyone, except cases of diability etc, but it should be seen as a stop gap for people to be able to save money and get out of council housing.

I think the main issue really is the price of private renting, why would someone move out and pay so much more rent than they need to? i think if the price of private renting came down and the access to mortagages bacame easier then people would move on, its not that they are selfish they just need to support their families too.

 

[Celesse]

We'd be mad to give up our council flat. Both of us are working at the moment and when baby #2 arrives only OH will be working. We technically could afford to rent privately, but it would be insane to do so. Our flat is 2 bed, ground floor, nice area. Its a 6 story block, but all the other residents are older so its quiet and without trouble and we get the communal gardens pretty much to ourself. Rooms are big enough.

Our current rent is around £275 a month. The exact same flat if private rented would be £400/£450 a month. To get a 3 bedroom house and actually improve our accomodation would be £600min.

My first responsibility is to provide financial security for my family. To move to a private rented property would be a very bad move financially. The only reason to change from being council would be to own and if it makes financial sense to right-to-buy the property then that is what we will do.

 

[smokey]

What some need to bare in mind though is when some people originaly moved into a council place it probably wasnt in their mind it being a home for life, it just endedup being that way.
My parents have live in their council home for 25 years and believe me it wasnt with the intention of being where they where going to grow old in.
They got the place originaly because my dad just got out of the army and they had a young family but as time went on private housing rent just got more and more ridiculous and there was no way they could afford to buy or rent.

Untill recently they have been moderatly comfertable because my mum worked 3 jobs and my dad worked 2 but still didnt bring in enough to buy or rent elswhere.
They are far from comfertable now becausemy dad is now disabled so cant work and my mum had to give up work to look after him.
So 25 years later they are still in the same council house and it looks like thats where they will stay.
Why do people see the world so black and white? there are 101 reasons why a family may have or end up in council housing for a long time or even life.

The same with us we cant afford to rent privatly even though we are farely comfertable money wise so untill the day we can afford to buy or wheatever it looks like we are here for the long haul, it wasnt our intention but thats just the way life goes.

 

[charli87]

i just read the article, but havent read other replies. i cant believe people earning over 100k a year are in council properties there is no need for them to live in them when they are earning that sort of money.

id love to have a mortgage and my own home but it just isnt going to happen, ive worked full time since 16 (now 23) and so has oh. we have pretty much no savings (couple of hundred for emergencies) and there is no way we could save. we earn the bare minimum but dont get any help from housing benefit, also just a basic level of tax credits. we are literally left with a few £s at the end of every month, when neither of us go out, we dont smoke and dont have a car.

council is not something i ever wanted to go into, but i have to provide for my child and this is the only way. i just pray in years to come if we can save money we can get out of it.

also around here, private renting is only about £150 per month more than council but with no security of always having it. plus to private rent here we need around £2000 up front to pay the fees, rent in advance etc, for us that just wasnt an option.