Selling off council homes

I'm amazed. So "homeless mothers and their children" simply have to go where they are sent? And close to 500 family units a week? That doesn't tie up with the number of 2707 families over a period of two years.

I think what is happening can accurately be described as social cleansing.

In April this year the Independent reported:

"More than 50,000 families have been silently shipped out of London boroughs in the past three years, an investigation by The Independent can reveal.

"Leaked documents obtained by this newspaper expose the true scale of the “social cleansing” taking place across the capital as a result of welfare cuts and soaring rents................

"The spike coincides with the Coalition’s introduction of the benefit cap and “bedroom tax”, both of which have made it significantly harder for poor people to afford housing in London..........

"Official figures – which the authorities have previously refused to publish – show the problem is much worse than campaigners feared. They show that councils are currently moving homeless mothers and children out of their boroughs at a rate of close to 500 families a week, with numbers continuing to rise.

"Some 2,707 families have been moved out of Greater London over the last two years, the figures show, to locations including Manchester, Bradford, Hastings, Pembrokeshire, Dover and Plymouth."

're the "social cleansing" Dj if that is so, where are people going?

I think that's a bit of a sweeping statement.

Teachers used to get preference, as did council workers, firemen, etc. It wasn't just nurses, it was anyone who had to move to a different area, and a good idea it was, too. Otherwise where would those essential workers live?

In London at the moment there is a lot of social cleansing.

www.theguardian.com/money/2015/oct/12/soaring-london-house-prices-sucking-cash-out-of-economy-study-says

There were lots of different categories of eligibility Ethel, that was the one that I fitted in...

grannyknot why did you have to work in the nhs? isn't that unfair on those who might say work in a factory or a call centre etc, were they not good enough. I don't think that would be allowed now.

river our first property (1 bedroomed flat) in the UK was bought with help from Peabody. It was a brilliant and simple scheme: I qualified for an interest free loan from them, which I then repaid on a sliding scale when I sold the property. (In other words they made a profit if I made a profit). The flat I bought was ex-Council.

I had to (1) work for the NHS and (2) could only buy in certain boroughs. The amount I could borrow was restricted too, and I thought I'd never find somewhere in the given price range but I searched and I searched and I did

Thank you river I was finding the conversation about social housing interesting.

Back to social housing - in London there are council estates, housing associations, 'Peabody'-type estates in areas such as Mayfair, Chelsea, Belgravia and Knightsbridge .... imagine that!

I'm sure by now many are privately-owned and working class Londoners who would have once lived there have been despatched to the back of beyond.

They were built for the 'working man' so that people on low incomes could live in decent housing. I don't know the status of the Peabody, Guinness and other such properties but I do hope that they are not classed as Housing Associations and sold-off to the private sector.

Peabody

Having a job could stop someone falling into depression to start with, then they might not need to be cured of it.

annie I assure you I do not need that reminder and that comment is hurtful to me.

I agree with you that good services are needed, but in my fairly limited experience s (i.e. over the past 15 years) of UK mental health services (through my job) I don't think that mental health services have ever been really good, even when there was available funding. As far as I know, they have historically been the "Cinderella" services along with e.g. drug and alcohol services. Please correct me if I am wrong ...

Grannyknot, you were able to force yourself,good for you, let us not forget the many who only manage to find the energy to hang themselves

Grannyknot, I said bungalows in response to a post which said there were social housing bungalows empty in her area.

Nina, sorry if I didn't word my post clearly, the government claim getting a job helps depression and I say - not if you can't get out of bed, wash your air, eat,p little, eat too much, panic meeting people . What helps people with mental illness is an improved mental health service not one suffering from cut backs as is happening now

theconversation.com/will-camerons-200-000-starter-homes-really-help-solve-the-housing-crisis-48842

A problem with affordable homes.

dj tower blocks are an abomination the world over. Vertical ghettos. I had to go to Lewisham for work the other day and literally cringed as I came out of the station and all these huge new built tower blocks loomed over me. I detest them.

I can't even bear the upmarket ones.

annie where does it say the answer to severe depression is to get a job?! But of course it is widely known that to combat or counteract mild to moderate depression is getting active and social contact including preferably having a job.

I've often at times throughout my life had to force myself to put one foot in front of the other to get through the day, always with long-term positive results.

I was watching Homes under the Hammer the other day and was surprised to hear that a London council owned flat on sale had a covenant saying that it could not be bought as a live-in only as a buy to let. Apparently this is a way for councils to keep all the money raised. So I do understand why they are doing it, but I do think it is another detrimental step to the provision of affordable housing.

river that is interesting, I too can attest to the humblest of homes in the South African former "townships" being immaculately kept, often with crochet doilies on every surface. Also when we sold our house in South Africa (to come and live in the UK) the woman who bought it from us, a Mrs Xaba, as the new owner, berated me for not polishing my front verandah with red "stoop" polish and actually sent a young female relative with those old-fashioned floor brushes and a tin of polish who polished that stoop on her hands and knees till it shone in preparation for the hand over

Thanks dj - re the grammar

(Oops, just seen the time, I'm off to my Pilates class now).

I think that was Anniebach's point, nina.

theconversation.com/demolishing-iconic-tower-blocks-is-an-attack-on-whole-idea-of-social-housing-48918

Here's an interesting point of view.

Anniebach
the answer to severe depression is to get a job
How does someone do that when they can't even get out of bed in the morning or communicate with others ?

Grannynot I think I know where you're coming from regarding run-down former council properties.

Thirty-odd years ago, even in London, council houses were affordable to buy particularly with the generous discounts. However, some of the people who bought wouldn't normally have qualified for a mortgage; some may have lost their industrial jobs in the coming years; family break-ups, whatever so there would be no money to overhaul the property.

I do agree that there is no excuse to neglect a property that you live in for decades, whether an owner or a tenant. A young South African colleague was searching for a house to buy on a council estate out near Dagenham, the nearest affordable area for her and husband. She was astounded at the state of many of the properties that were for sale ....... stinking filthy carpets, cat & dog poo on display, totally unkempt gardens, grimy windows. They did in the end find a very nice house that had been well kept.

She'd been a district nurse in SA and commented that the poorest tin shack/mud hut in the black townships that she visited were always clean and tidy.

I think there a strong drive to want to own your own home, in the UK at least. And along with that comes the urge to make it your own by stamping your own character on it and 'beautifying' it.

This may be a sweeping generalisation, but around here there seems to be a generational divide in the remaining council houses. Some are beautifully kept, nice front gardens, driveways or paths weeded and clear, curtains or nets clean and fresh looking, ( a fluffy, contented cat in the window ) etc.. Others have black bin bags in the front garden, old rusting cannibalised cars, knee high grass and weeds, tatty curtains and window ledges pulled high with rubbish and a couple of pit bulls dogs barking behind the back gate.

The former are rented by the 'older' generation the latter by young families.

OK an over exaggerated observation, but not too far off the mark!

ducks down and hunts for cover

No, Grannyknot, you were right first time - who.

"He said: "There is in this country a deeply ingrained desire for home ownership. The Government believe that this spirit should be fostered. It reflects the wishes of the people, ensures the wide spread of wealth through society, encourages a personal desire to improve and modernize one's own home, enables parents to accrue wealth for their children and stimulates the attitudes of independence and self-reliance that are the bedrock of a free society." "
Michael Heseltine who was housing minister at the time. Nothing about community here. Just all about home ownership and wealth.
I wonder what he thinks now.

Before the pedants jump, I think that should be "whom I gather ..."

annie I don't quite know what you're getting at - the young women in the block of flats next to me (two flats and I get to know them because I am constantly signing for delivery of Amazon parcels) - are in social housing, have children, and have partners (who I gather aren't supposed to live with the women, but they do, as you do).

The high turnover is because what usually occurs is a second pregnancy comes along and the one bedroom flats are then too small. I don't know where they move to.

I'm not being critical, I'm just saying what I happens where I live. Most of the young women are lovely - and there have been many over the last ten years - and they are good mums, their parents visit, all very normal.