It is difficult for councils to go anywhere near resolving the local housing crises when their budgets have been so severely cut and there is so little social housing stock still under their control and available for the newly homeless because most of it has been sold.
When my husband was training to be a nurse, we lived in hospital accommodation - one of a crescent of prefab bungalows which had, I think, originally been used to house prisoners of war. It was actually OK, though it needed quite a bit of heating. But the windows were quite high and I found it depressing only being able to see outside if I stood up.
I think any sort of "emergency" accommodation is only suitable for use on a very temporary basis. Shipping containers may be OK for childless couples or singles but I can't believe they are ideal for families. However, I think one or two rooms in a rundown hotel, with parents and children having to use that room for sleeping and living is far worse - and these B&B emergency placements have been around for some time and increasing year on year.
As others have said, the whole housing situation is completely out of control. My view is that in the long run paying housing benefit to private landlords is like pouring money into an ever growing pit. Governments must bite the bullet and invest heavily in social housing and stop right to buy or provide much less favourable terms for tenants who want to buy. Figures have shown that a significant proportion of what was formerly council property has, over time, been snatched up by private landlords. Thatcher talked of the great "property owning democracy" but now there are far fewer people who own their own homes or can even contemplate doing so.
I also think that there should be far less leeway given to people to object to new housing developments. Where my Mum lives in Suffolk, most housing and business proposals are vehemently opposed by residents. Yet they bemoan their shops and pubs closing down, their post office being precariously kept open part-time by volunteers, their local secondary school facing closure and their buses being reduced in frequency.
Most people see the Green Belt as somehow sacred but I'm inclined to think that some of the land designated as such is of little aesthetic or practical use and could be used for small housing developments.
As for RosieLeah's comments that illegal immigrants and feckless people are probably responsible for their own homelessness, she should know that if you're an illegal immigrant it would be most unwise to present yourself to the council demanding to be housed. And to characterise those who fall on hard times as probably being to blame for their predicament suggests little experience or understanding of the various curve balls that can throw people's lives into disarray. Thankfully, at least on Gransnet, it appears that most people are not so judgmental.
