Friday, Jun 29, 2007
Govt. built 18,000 council houses last year
Firstrung: Council house waiting lists could soar to two million, Shelter warns
In 1966, the year Shelter was formed, the Government built nearly 200,000 council homes, but last year that figure was less than 18,000.
Shelter has warned that council house waiting lists could soar to two million within three years - a rise of almost one million since Labour took power...At present the waiting lists stand at just
Posted by converted lurker @ 11:32 AM (58 views) Add Comment
18 Comments
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1. wage slave said...
The contempt of both the Conservatives and New Labour towards the hardworking people of this country is nothing short of scandelous.
They sit in their taxpayer-funded houses in and around Westminster and work out more and more ways to treat the population like sh1t while furthering their own interests.
Housing is a basic human need, how any government can live withemselves while there is 1.6 million waiting for a home beggars belief.
These politicians are evil scum.
Rant over.
2. sovietuk said...
If you travel to other countries alot and see how they treat their citizens you soon realise how guilty the scumbag politicians in this country are of treating their electorate like sh1t and not just with respect to housing. There is an unpleasant side effect of this.
- If the State does not respect the citizens then the citizens will not respect the State.
3. Planning4acrash said...
Government doesn't build many council houses but developers have to provide 50% of units as affordable housing in London and some parts of the South East, so, these figures will be distorted by not including affordable units provided by private developers as a result of planning regulations.
4. shipbuilder said...
Before the flood starts, please let's recognise that not enough council homes are being built even for British citizens. This is the root cause of the problem.
5. Boarder said...
Why should the government be building houses?
They seem to be given out to people who have children they cannot afford, or low productivity.
It gets people addicted to other peoples money, and not expecting to work for things they want.
I see it as jerrymandering the vote.
6. Wisebear said...
So, what's the problem?
Just wait your turn it's only 112 yrs! (2,000,000/18,000)
7. Numbo said...
They will probably build any new ones on flood plains, but thats another story...
8. enuii said...
Half empty new-build appartments should be confiscated by the state from greedy developers to fill the gap!
9. p. doff said...
There is not much incentive to build new council houses when the occupiers will excercise their right to buy at a huge discount, thus removing those council houses into private ownership. In this area, the discount is now capped at £16,000, but the councils pre-discount valuation lags behind the real market, and the property has often been grossly undervalued in the first place.
To quote an example, in a certain locality in this area, terraced council houses sell on the open market at around £95K. I have seen cases where the council has valued them at £75K-£78K. After discount, the council tenant pays around £60K. I frequently do mortgage valuations where the buyers are borrowing substantially more than the discounted purchase price (as there is already ample equity to do so) and the extra probably gets spent on debt consolidation or plasma TVs.
IMHO this is a great giveaway swindle that robs other hard working taxpayers of money, and is also a disincentive to building more council houses.
I don't know why the council doesn't just hand over about £35 grand to anybody who walks into their office pleading poverty! They could then put down a decent deposit on buying a house in the private sector!!!
10. Rep013 said...
enuii, interesting concept.
With our rental agreement about to end and us having to move to a new house we were in the EA's sorting out the new property and all over the walls of their rental department were posters offering LL's the opportunity to rent their properties to the council or "Blue Chip" companies as they are always look for "good" properties.
They will not build whilst there are so many LL's offering their properties at "over inflated" prices. Then they will still not build as this will bring the value of their assets down and make them the same as everyone else. At the moment politicians only way to be on the "pedestal" that they should be on is via wealth rather than their actions. F**kers
11. wage slave said...
They should get rid of the right to buy, or if they won't do that, why not give private tennants the right to buy ?
That should kill BTL.
12. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.
13. Orwell said...
I know the score P.Doff, I have seen in some Northern towns, mortgage companies queuing up behind private ytenants to lend the money to exercise the option, effectively pressurising those who did not want to do it. In a disrepair action I once handled where the tenant was also threatening the Local Authority with a very large damages claim (supported and touted for by claims handlers). I asked very surreptitiously why they were excerising the right to buy and they told me that they were told that they could have a cheap mortgage and then there would be a back to back sale (despite effectively being unlawful for a number of years). It transpired that the mortgage company were going to buy it back under trust!
Effectively therefore the Local Authority were selling to a mortgage company at a heavy discount!!! An undervalue in Insolvency terms but there we are its only shucks social housing ! What does it matter?
And this was 'New' Labour era and also New Labour Council.
In South America they call this....
14. monty said...
p.doff
I couldn't agree more. The right-to-buy remains the biggest sell off of the family silver this country has ever had.
One of my questions remains unanswered. Before right to buy kicked in, home ownership in the UK stood at a paltry 49%. We're now at 70% (I think) down from 71% last year. How did anyone think this was sustainable? You literally have to build houses and then give them away, don't you? If your average council house dweller couldn't afford to buy a house, or even rent one, in 1977 what little economic miracle has occurred in the last 30 years to have changed that?
15. p. doff said...
Monty. Not an economic miracle - just money sloshing around the system.
Did a valuation last week on an ex council house where the original 'right to buy' owner had remortgaged so many times to fund a lifestyle, she was on the point of being repossessed. She approached one of those internet companies who buy houses dirt cheap and had accepted an offer of £75K when the house was probably worth over £110K. She thought it was a good deal as the buyers were allowing her to stay in the property as a tenant - at the CURRENT MARKET RENTAL!!! I'm not permitted to comment, of course.
So, the upshot is that the original council tenant has spent all the purchase discount paid for by taxpayers. She has also spent a good deal of the increased equity due to HPI. She is now a tenant once again (paying a higher rent), but the property has gone to the private sector at a knockdown price, and now forms part of somebodys BTL portfolio. The taxpayer is screwed and it's all legal!!! In fact, probably sanctioned by Gordon as all that money being spent probably keeps the economy going.
Incidentally, the second biggest sell off of family silver is MOD property (houses on RAF & Army camps) but that's another story.
16. sirgoogle said...
MoD property
Beware. You just never know what is buried in the Garden!
17. Scottow said...
Would like to comment on these lists. There was a story recently about a guy in Walsall who lay dead in a council flat for six years.
Among other points were
1. Officials came to his flat chasing rent but left when he didn't answer the door.
2. In 2005 there were 2000 empty council dwellings in Walsall out of 25000 ie void rate of approx 8%.
Dont know if this is typical but doesn't seem as though there's a crisis in Walsall.
18. Scott said...
There is a crisis in Walsall of a different kind, which is why people do not choose to live there!