Should kids live in tower blocks?

People in social houses can love their homes just as home owners do. Their children have left home , they, like home owners, want their grandchildren to stay with them.

When my daughter visits me she has to stay in a hotel, sadly she hasn’t any children, if she did they couldn’t stay with me for holidays. I pleaded for a two bedroomed property so my elder daughter could live with me and I could care for her, no, we were allowed two one bedroomed properties .

Good question Annie. I can imagine the outcry 4allweknow if the government slapped a bedroom tax on private homeowners who had a spare room as a way of managing the housing shortage. I feel extremely sorry for those who are being forced to move from the area they have lived for years with a supportive local network, because they rent and can't afford to buy a place.

Perhaps we should refer to social houses as social homes because they are peoples homes. Some seem not to realise this.

Living with the threat of losing your home in a few years is hardly going to encourage anyone to keep theirs looking nice is it? Imagine investing time and money on doing up the garden or nicely decorating your home only to have it snatched away as soon as one of the children move out ?

If there were more good quality bungalows and/or small homes available ( my dads LA bungalow is really quite luxurious ) then perhaps more would be encouraged to consider downsizing . It can’t be forced .

4allweknow, do you live in social housing or own your home?

I don't think anyone of any age should live in a soulless tower block. They are truly horrible places, not homes.

I was brought up in social housing. 4 children with parents. There were goid differences in ages of us all and when one child moved out parents moved to different house to accommodate smaller family. It was the done thing as rent reduced each time and freed up propery for others. Yes, people should move. Doesn't the bedroom tax encourage this.

Possibly gilly but apparently some developers in this country are interested and Sadiq Khan is a fan of this type of development for innovative solutions to London's housing crisis. It is a very impressive scale of build-out, far greater than we achieve over here. They've delivered lots of affordable very nice houses at a human scale very quickly

It's very difficult to compare a country like Sweden with a population of less than 10 million with the UK and its population of over 66 million, though Lazigirl.

Someone mentioned housing in Sweden on here so I had a look. Why are they so much more innovative than we are in this country? I looked at one of their "new town" projects (Vallestaden) and it was an eye opener. High density living, but built with communities in mind. Nothing like our grim, neglected inner city high rises at all. They have planned narrow streets, diverse houses, landscaping and communal social facilities, and encourage a socially mixed community because of the range of housing.

We are not making any mention of the annual population increase , immigration, people living longer , all adds to need for housing.

They’ll be the matchboxes with no garden to speak of crammed into the middle of the development up a shared drive Legs. Snatched up by young families. No room to swing a cat.

IMHO no-one should have to live in high rise flats. Today I visited a friend in her lovely 1 bed flat, 3rd floor with a lovely view, I did venture onto her balcony, not a good idea as I suffer from vertigo!! Loneliness is a dreadful problem for the elderly so I don't see this as a solution. Look at most new developments 3/4/5 bed houses with high price tags to match, where is the "affordable housing" that is supposed to be build within each new development?

Three bedrooms isn’t overly large especially if you have family regularly coming to stay, the big houses I was referring to have five or six bedrooms and enormous rooms.

I live in a 3 bedroomed house and have no intention of moving, i have lived here for 34 years, and someone in the family is usually visiting or staying, also my eldest son lives in Spain and he and family stay here when visiting
If i could find a nice 2 bed bungalow i would consider moving, but this house is very private and secure, no one can access my back garden as surrounded by high fences and trees, and 2 lockable doors at each end of a passageway,from the front
The biggest problem is that there are not enough smaller properties to move into, and i wont move into a flat,i have a lovely garden and would miss that and my cats and dog need a garden
Why should the elderly be moved into flats highrise or otherwise,
I am just on the edge of an estate in a lovely area with no trouble and no rowdy children,or teenagers

I live in the house that I was brought up in. A 3 bed semi detached. It is owned. As an older person dealing with a huge garden I would like to downsize to a 2 bed bungalow. I realise that I will have to buy a property and that is fine. With the long history of living in this house, 3 generations now, I find it very difficult to find a house which seriously attracts me. Probably it is the emotional tie. Sense dictates that I will have to move eventually, there are stairs in the house and although there has been a stair lift here in the past I really would prefer not to.
It really does not make much difference whether we are talking about owned or council we have to look for housing to suit our needs but there does not seem to be enough suitable houses either for rent or purchase

The problem is there is not enough social housing being built in various sizes suitable for the needs of the population.

Its also the tax on selling your house, its put us off selling though we are not down sizing as we are already in a rather small house.

There are many areas where the size of house is very much a status symbol and you’re judged on what you have. Single elderly people and older couples refuse to budge because that’s what they’ve worked all their lives for. Until it becomes fashionable to downsize this situation won’t change.

No they should not be in tower blocks and yes if some people were to give up their homes for a family that would be ideal but it doesn’t work that way. Not enough social housing in this country anyway.

I have lived in a council house but now I am lucky to live in a modern 3 bed house that we have bought but if I was on my own or one of use became unable to manage the stairs and the garden then I would sell up and move to a small retirement flat or whatever I could afford. It has nothing to do with whether you live in Council or your own place, nobody can make you move you would only do so if that is what you wanted. As for kids living in tower blocks, it nearly broke my heart to hear kids say all they wanted was a garden or safe outside space, this is a need for every child and should be their right.

I don't think anyone has suggested that older people should be moved away from where they have always lived and the same level of support would surely be available whether you lived in a three bedroom house or a bedsit.

My MiL lived in a 3 bedroom council house for most of her married life and even when she was on her own had no intention of moving out. No amount of reasoning would make her change her mind. As long as she paid her rent on time the council put no pressure on her to move even though there were smaller properties available. When she died the house went to a family with 4 boys who'd been living in a one bedroom property. My own father moved out of his 3 bed council house which we'd been brought up in and moved into a one bed flat in sheltered accommodation. He had a view of the river and could keep an eye on people in the street and was quite happy until his death.Where I grew up, people put their names on the council waiting list and usually started married life in a council house/flat before buying a house and moving out. As a teacher I was also eligible for a council flat!

A friend of mine swapped her too big house for a little bungalow 'privately' even though they were both council owned.
But the idea that older folk can be moved away from where they've always lived, just when they need most support, is horrible.

In the seventies the London council that I worked for began to convert a proportion of their stock of large houses, as they became available, into two smaller properties. They were then offered only to people living alone in large houses and- hey presto - two large houses for one. It seemed a great scheme and I wonder if it is still happening. There is a lot of sentimentality of course attached to your home, but the horrible truth is that if it is social housing then it is supposed to be managed in the interests of all in need of it. There must be lots of older people living alone in larger properties who would love something smaller and easier . I have moved a lot and have almost always been lucky in liking the houses, but my home is the contents of the house and the people in it - and they have always come with me.