Horrendous housing

If all the low paid workers move out of expensive housing in London they'll have to give up work as the travel costs would be prohibitive. Then who would do the low paid jobs?

Why was the Act to make rented properties voted down? Well call me a cynic but 72 of the Conservative MPs who voted against it are landlords.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-vote-down-law-requiring-landlords-make-their-homes-fit-for-human-habitation-a6809691.html

It was also argued that making it a legal requirement to ensure that a property is fit for human habitation would cause landlords difficulties and cost them money.

Violette

How do you view the Paris rent cap / rent control regulations?

I am reading mixed messages.

Here in France some places (mainly larger cities like Paris) have a similar scheme to the Homeshare you mention ..whereby an elderly person offers a room to a young person otherwise unable to afford to live there for work ,,,but I wonder what is going to happen to thousands of OAPs like us if we are forced to return to the UK from living in Europe ....I think even at those prices a shed is going to be way too expensive ......a tent on Hastings beach sounds lovely for summer at the ages of 84 and 70 ! not sure where to spend the winter though ..probably 6 foot under !

I was in Moscow recently a wonderful city by the way, but that story is for another day.

Whilst there we caught the tail-end of a demonstration against an impending housing policy. In the 1950s people were re-housed in new low-rise flats (similar to our slum-clearance programme). I'm not sure if most are owned or rented.

The authorities now want to demolish them and move the residents to new developments. The residents do not want to move and feel that they are being pushed out, as like London many of these blocks are in prime areas, and any new flats will be far from their jobs, schools, etc.

On the sites will be built expensive flats for the rich.

Just like London, and elsewhere, the average citizen will no longer be living in the city but banished to the outskirts with inferior transport and infrastructure.

It didn't say in the article, either, whether her family ties were to that area. It said about borrowing from her mother, so I assumed she lived round there.
I felt sorry for the seven year old who had already lived in six houses, and each one getting more cramped - just as he would probably be requiring more room.
Many people of our generation moved around the country for work, not because we were forced to because of the problems of accommodation. Some obviously have difficulties now being so far away from family.
Telling people they have to move is no solution to anything. If she moved out of London she would have a lower benefit cap, £3000 less. She might be no better off.

durhamjen yes I did read the whole article and I know she was working. I agree people should be paid more and landlords are rip-off merchants.

It is quite wrong that so many are suffering because of unfit or inadequate and often unaffordable housing/accommodation.A lot of this, as many of you know, can be put down to Thatcher's Right to Buy legislation, coupled with a refusal by governments since to prioritise spending in this area.This makes housing a scarce and expensive resource, whether you are talking renting or home ownership.

However,in some urban areas now, there is a scheme called Homeshare where older people ( often empty nesters whose family do not live near to them, and some of whom have health problems) provide decent living accommodation in their homes for little money to young, single working people. The young people concerned do not take the place of trained professionals, but are prepared to give the older ones a bit of support like doing their food shopping, picking up their medication, keeping an eye open for their welfare generally or calling for an ambulance should there be an emergency.The scheme also helps to prevent loneliness both ways.

My grandfather organised this sort of arrangement himself for twenty years after my grandmother died.He lived a long way from us, but wanted to stay in his community. He always let rooms out very cheaply to two young health professionals at a time, who were each able as a result to save much more towards their own homes in return for giving him some peace of mind.He always got invited to their weddings,and stayed in touch, so I think they all felt they had had a good deal!

I now live in a low income, rural area where there are not a lot of employment opportunities and young people often move away.However, I would myself be very happy to swap space in my home for someone to take charge of the garden now my partner and I have mobility problems.....

Any of the rest of you had experience of this sort of thing?

A free market think tank would slam a rent cap, wouldn't it?

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/19/why-stockholm-housing-rules-rent-control-flat

www.cityam.com/1410171771/labours-rent-cap-plan-slammed-free-market-think-tank

Are the fairly recent rent caps introduced in Paris and Berlin fairing well?

There could be a case for the old adage 'Be careful what you wish for' when it comes to rent caps but I am trying to weigh up the pros and cons.

Half a million people in the same situation as her, having to borrow to pay the rent.
That's what is shameful.

It's the rest of it I don't believe, Peaseblossom, as well as your comment.
Have you read the rest of her story?
She's working, you know. Maybe people in London should pay more for the work she does. Maybe landlords should not ask for rents that are too high.
Labour will cap rent rises. How about that for an idea?

durhamjen I can't believe that woman gets £946 a month in housing benefit! The taxpayer must be playing an absolute fortune in these benefits, without all the others, Jobseeker's Allowance, disability living allowance etc. which I know are needed. Maybe the answer is to move to another cheaper area. London is ridiculously expensive.

What an interesting discussion and so many enlightened contributors. I'm afraid I don't have much spare time and tend to dip in and out of Gransnet but will try to keep up to date.
I often find myself agreeing with durhamjen (among others)...we've probably got similar backgrounds. From the same area too I guess?

There is an organisation which provides temporary accommodation and training to disadvantaged young people.

"The Foyer Federation is a not-for-profit organisation that helps to transform the circumstances of young people who have faced barriers in their lives. Since 1992, we have worked with young people to create new approaches developing the skills and resources they need to thrive.

Our ground breaking campaigns and initiatives are led through a network of 120 accredited learning and accommodation centres known as ‘Foyers’. These Foyers provide up to 10,000 16-25 year olds per year with mutually agreed, tailor-made programmes which give the young people access to housing, learning, personal development, training and employment opportunities in line with their needs and goals."

foyer.net/

I think that is what Burnham is trying to do in Manchester, Welshwife.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/can-ever-end-homelessness-manchester-13051592

Life is very hard for young people who have no support from family when they are starting off.
I agree about young people having a helping hand - those who need to move location for training or work are often in particular need - also those who have been in care.
I often wonder why we do not have special places for homeless people to have a bed in a place of safety with warmth and facilities. Once on a downward spiral it is difficult to get back up.

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/14/housing-benefit-coalition-people-claiming

Here's that article that Luckylegs mentioned:

Spirit of Rachman still walks the streets of London
Britain's housing boom has provided lots of opportunities for unscrupulous landlords

www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/31/high-cost-of-renting

What you failed to mention LL was that the article was written in 2010 and that it claims that the Conservative government was just as culpable when it gave council tenants the right to buy their homes at knock down prices.

There are homeless people camping on Hastings beach this week. That's Home Secretary Amber Rudd's constituency.

Luckylegs, your tory government won't allow that. No housing benefit for those under 25, minimum wage of £7.05 for those 21-24.
How do you expect them to be able to find anywhere to live on that amount? Just over a thousand a month, 50% on rent?

So depressing, radicalnan, people preferring to live in vans.
People can't afford cottages any more. They are for holiday lets in the countryside now. Locals can't afford them now.

An article in the Guardian headed The Spirit of Rachman Still walks the Streets, condemning the last 10 years of the Labour Government as instrumental in allowing and turning a blind eye to this type of housing. I am afraid I tried to bring the article up and put it on here but got in a mess. Just type in the heading and the newspaper and read the facts. It us a disgrace putting people in such places. It should not be happening. We all know of traffickers who keep their victims as slaves in disgracefully overcrowded conditions and how they are dehumanised. Young people in my City sleep rough, in the coldest of weather, just a sleeping bag and a plastic bag with their bits and pieces in, no wonder they turn to drugs, they must think life is without hope. We need work programmes, apprenticeships, hostel for them to give and give them a purpose. I am passionate about young people, being given a chance, that starts with living somewhere clean and safe, if only a small room that us theirs, with natural light and heating.

Looking at the size and construction vales of many new builds it won't be long before we have another tranche of unfit properties and will be glad of a shed to live in.

I have lived in some very old places, one was over 300 years old, what did we know then about building homes that we don't know now?

I have seen new builds so close together that windows can't be opened, nowhere for bins to be stored, poor sound proofing etc. to add insult to injury they are often called 'Old Mill Pond Cobble Street' or some such nonsense implying a heritage & charm they clearly don't have.

Why are we still building the same sorts of houses? I have a summer house in my garden here the kids set up camp for summer visits, it is far superior in construction and design (they have to use main house facilities) than the very grotty, dangerous, bedsits they have rented in the past. The streets of Bristol are lined with people living in their work vans through choice because they would rather do that and have money to spend, than be in a house paying through the nose for it.

People are just making different choices now, too many people chasing too few resources can't be cured even by higher subsidies because, we simply can't go on building forever, the way are are attempting to do now, covering all the land, causing flooding, and building things that won't last.

We need a whle new thinking but the same designs are being rolled out nationwide again........there used to be cottages, I lived in one that were all connected in a terrace, you had one, then if your family expanded you could have two, tied cottages they were. This enabled people to stay where they had lived their lives when their family had grown up and gone, there is very little flexibility in today's designs, unless we count the sheds.

I looked at some fabulous granny annexe packages for my dad to come and be here with me, sadly he died before we could get him moved but they are wonderful and more gardens could possibly take them but for planning restrictions.......cheap too and pretty instant.

Much better just to have a different government.

We need to demand another U turn & provide serious support to housing associations who suffered huge cuts. Relying mainly on developers is forcing prices up.

I see Rudd announced another sly U turn today, announcing a Commissioner to oversee response to domestic violence and tackle long-term effects.

Excuse me but who has decimated that local support and forced the demise of many local voluntary organisations. Now they are boasting about creating a new response but little inform of funding needed over and above to get back to 2010 level superb example a pathetic leasership and stable government. Perhaps you May supporters can justify how you can boasting about elasterplast repairs to a service decimated by the Tories? What we do need is stronger leadership on housing and local government infrastructure support. Not a short term first aid box.