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UK highest for homelessness in developed world.

(156 Posts)
LizzieDrip Mon 20-May-24 14:00:41

An OECD report shows that the UK has the highest number, per capita, of homeless people. This is defined as people living in temporary accommodation. Many have been victims of no-fault evictions by private landlords. The UK homelessness figure has doubled since the Conservatives came to power. So proudangrysad!

There’s a useful chart in the Financial Times but it’s behind a paywall - which I don’t pay for! If I can access it by other means, I’ll post it.

ronib Mon 20-May-24 16:15:02

Casdon of course - praise where it’s due.

Maremia Mon 20-May-24 16:19:02

I am lucky not to have Family in this situation, so I don't have personal insight into this, and I understand what Germanshephardsmum says about landlords feeling they would have to sell up, but logically, if they are selling up, and others don't want to become landlords, who will be buying? Will it be first time home owners? Is that too simplistic?

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 16:37:48

There will be people wanting to buy. Whether it’s first time buyers depends on whether they can afford to buy.

Poppyred Mon 20-May-24 16:40:21

What happened to Prince William’s plan to end homelessness??

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 16:43:43

It can’t happen overnight!

LizzieDrip Mon 20-May-24 16:56:55

There will be people wanting to buy. Whether it’s first time buyers depends on whether they can afford to buy GSM

If the scrapping of no-fault evictions caused landlords to sell up, there would be more houses on the market that were affordable for first time buyers. Much of the current private rental stock would traditionally have been first time buyer stock. Many of the people currently in private rentals pay high rents and would be able to afford mortgages for these more affordable houses. Currently many affordable houses e.g. terraced housing, flats etc are snapped up by investors for rental, thereby diminishing the first time buyer housing stock and pushing people (often young people) into renting. A win for the landlords - but for nobody else!

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 17:20:34

It’s not only the scrapping of no fault evictions, it’s also the new EPC requirement. A great many people on GN will live in homes which won’t meet the new requirements. A first time buyer not only needs to have a deposit, they also have to pass mortgage lenders’ requirements. It doesn’t follow that someone who can afford to rent will be able to buy.

LizzieDrip Mon 20-May-24 17:41:29

Ok GSM, it’s also the new EPC requirement that will lead to landlords choosing to sell. I think fewer will do so than you assert. However, if hundreds of thousands do, and the market becomes flooded with terraced houses for sale, the cost will go down (supply & demand) meaning that first time buyers will be able to afford them. So, good news - bring it on!

I agree, many of us probably do live in homes that don’t meet the new requirements … but we’re living in them, not renting them out!

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 18:04:07

I don’t know what energy rating your house has, but if it’s below C what would you have to spend to bring it up to C?

Being able to afford a house means, for the majority, being able to get a mortgage. That entirely depends on your income and the security of that income. Many can just about afford to rent but wouldn’t qualify for much of a mortgage. It really isn’t the good news that you imagine.

Maremia Mon 20-May-24 18:04:59

If I am following this properly, then, if landlord sell up, home ownership will increase. Isn't that a good thing?

Maremia Mon 20-May-24 18:05:34

Cross posts

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 18:06:04

It doesn’t necessarily follow - see my post above.

Maremia Mon 20-May-24 18:06:46

Okay, but if renters can't afford to buy, who will?

Maremia Mon 20-May-24 18:07:27

There must be a way to resolve this.

paddyann54 Mon 20-May-24 18:12:18

Isn't England STILL selling its housing stocks for ridiculously low prices? Maybe stopping them being sold decades ago would have helped prevent the current situation .People who want to and can afford to buy should buy but not council houses .Theres tens of thousands of so called affordable homes being built ..make them truly affordable and make the builders have more available on every new estate .This is a political mess started by Maggie Thatcher....only government can stop it or turn it around.The will isn't there with the tories to do it

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 18:22:33

Nor with Labour. At least the Conservatives allowed councils to retain 100% of right to buy receipts. Right to buy should be abolished.

Pantglas2 Mon 20-May-24 18:25:37

Thatcher certainly started the rot with massive council house sale discounts for sitting tenants but Blair and Brown had 13 years to right that wrong…and didn’t!

Ask anyone who bought theirs if they regret doing so given the shortage now, the answer is always no!

Casdon Mon 20-May-24 18:34:58

Germanshepherdsmum

Nor with Labour. At least the Conservatives allowed councils to retain 100% of right to buy receipts. Right to buy should be abolished.

I assume you were hoping nobody would notice that tenants can under the Tory government get a discount of up to 70% of the value of their house in England, so 100% of the right to buy receipt isn’t worth the candle. That wasn’t the case under the last Labour government, so councils actually received more money to enable them to reinvest.
As for Right to buy, it’s already happening in Wales under a Labour government. . Right to buy was abolished in 2019.

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 18:36:02

I entirely agree. It should never have happened. I wonder if Angela Rayner now regrets taking advantage of it? All very quiet on that front ..

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-May-24 18:37:28

That was to Pantglas.

MissAdventure Mon 20-May-24 18:39:03

You'd think she would have been arrested really, by now....

Pantglas2 Mon 20-May-24 18:51:10

The most disgraceful policy of Thatchers reign IMO appealing to basest instincts, all the while telling us there’s no such thing as society!

And so it proved, people were bragging at how little they were paying for houses they’d lived in for 25 years since newly built in the 50s. Some of them now have the nerve to complain their kids/grandchildren can’t get a council house 🤬

MissAdventure Mon 20-May-24 18:54:28

I bought mine, simply because a mortgage was cheaper than the rent, and I didn't want my daughter having to hide the fact that the packed lunch she took yo work consisted of bread and butter anymore.

Freya5 Mon 20-May-24 20:31:38

Poppyred

What happened to Prince William’s plan to end homelessness??

He's not in Government is he. Its a FIVE year plan. Homes have been pledged by Housing Associations. Im sure they have it in hand . He has a very ill wife to care for.

MissAdventure Mon 20-May-24 20:49:06

She is having preventative chemo.
I wouldn't call that very ill, though I'm sure it makes her feel terrible.

Not that it's anything to do with council housing.