Thursday, Jan 22, 2009
Selling off all our council housing maybe not such a good idea after all
24dash: Council Housing waiting list hits 1.77m
The number of households on local authority housing waiting lists hit 1.77 million, official statistics from the DCLG showed today. The figures are from April 2008, before the recession took hold. Council chiefs said pressure on councils was mounting as the credit crunch led to rapidly-spiralling repossession rates and called for more money to build homes.
The Local Government Association said one family in every 12 is now on a council waiting list and the proportion will rise as people losing their jobs can no longer afford to maintain mortgage payments. Paul Bettison, the association's housing chairman, called for the ability to borrow off council assets to buy new homes. The DCLG said the council waiting list is not an accurate guide to the number of families in urgent housing need.
15 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. fjcruiser said...
Well one has to go back to the root of the problem. An increase of 100,000 over last year's figures ? So at the height of the economic boom, there were still 1.67Mil who were on the waiting list for affordable housing.When the previous government sold all the council houses stock, what did it do with the money ? Did it put it back into new affordable housing ? Of course not. One can criticize a conservative government for being tight with public spending but a Labour government. Well the reason the stock of council houses dwindled instead of increasing, is that NU Labour cut funding to the councils so councils had to find their own ways of raising cash by selling their council houses stock. What a clever and forward looking idea!
2. plato said...
Interestingly there is a glut of new build unsold properties as well as vacant properties scattered around the cities of this land,just waiting to be purchased at knockdown prices by local councils who I'm sure could do with a few billion in bail-outs themselves. That would be putting money to comparatively good use though I suppose.
3. titaniccaptain said...
New builds will be bought up for the new council housing.............doing what to the price of the neighbours how bought at the top for 200 grand plus?.............mr and mrs skag head living next to mr and mrs middle class...........It appears that buying a house in 2007 was more risky than having an outdoor orgy in a muslim country where the theme is Imams and tarts.
The Barratt home will have the stigma that a council house used to have because the Barratt home will be a council home.
4. Imminent_plunge said...
I don't understand why, if GB's determined to spend his way out of this recession that big resources don't go towards social housing? Surely a massive social housing build now, using unemployed people who can (a) build their own houses, (b) learn valuable skills would be a more sensible use of resource than an unlimited bail-out for useless, greedy banks.
5. plato said...
titan............
When a country has a generation or two of 'reality' addicted,tunnel visioned,aspiring landlords with the mathematical genius of bingo numbers, a council house is the only safe haven.
6. titaniccaptain said...
@Plato.............true...............
If Jeremy Kyle was reading the news then prehaps this generation would stand up and rebel....................I want a complete crash to break down the stupidity we are surrounded by. This retarded social/politicaly correct rubbish that litters our country must end and realism brought back.........realism in terms of who and what we are...........as has been said so much recently we here in the u.k. produce next to nothing compared with the u.k. we were............trouble is we still think that we are that u.k. and we are not.......
7. titaniccaptain said...
Now thats a gob full!!!!
8. little professor said...
"Imams and tarts"
Had me laughing out loud :D
9. plato said...
titan.........
Yes but the structure is still in place, it just needs reviving. Maybe,just maybe this house price crash will be the stimulant. It could take people back to appreciating a house is a home,Council or not.
You know I attach an incredible amount of importance to house prices. I firmly believe they influence the very core of values and stimulate progress by giving security for that progress to be made.
It was extremely wrong fiscally and morally of any responsible government to allow unregulated lending to fuel a rocketing housing market.
Now everyone is paying the price for the behaviour this encouraged.
Of course I'm ignoring the bigger picture in this particular case,but this is a big enough picture for the man in the street.
10. titaniccaptain said...
Beautifuly put plato
11. gone-to-colombia said...
There is nothing wrong with social housing. Owning a home is not for everoine, nor should it be so. There was a time when a council estate was populated by all manner of people, the skilled, professional, semi skilled, manual workers, and a few unemployed.
This is still the case in many other European countries.
The Thatcher policy of selling this national asset of homes was just a cynical strategy to increase the Conservative vote by using our national obsession - class.
12. str 2007 said...
Got to disagree with that one gone to columbia
I personally think home ownership should be encouraged for everyone and renting a temporary measure to keep the workforce mobile.
Ownership gives a good sense of ones worth and belonging to society and security in retirement.
What is wrong is prices are far too high and people aren't educated as to how to own a house from a non vested interest. (if one exists).
13. Dbc Reed said...
Its worth reading Andrew Oswald's figures showing owner-occupation seems to increase unemployment.
(for obvious reasons).The old style council housing provision missed out on the Net.Now with the Net, relocating
for work or other reasons, would become easier for tenants of affordable local authority housing than for private sellers
and buyers.
14. bluebeach said...
Ban Christmas Lights on Council houses..... how dare they burn MY hard earned money in such a way... give them a token for a certain amount of electricity for a month, then it's up to them how they spend it, but once its gone, its time to start burning some of their Poundland and TK Max trinkets to keep warm. Teen Mums, thats another thing... no more fully furnished council houses for them.... bring back dorms..... 12 mums to a dorm, 2 stay back to look after the sprogs and 10 out cleaning for a living...
15. Gtrjazz said...
Sell the existing homes to their tenants for large discounts, and use the money to buy new homes. Worked in the past before people got upset thinking it was giving council tenants a unfair advantage.
It should be noted the councils have since sold homes to housing associations for a lot less than they would have got under the old scheme, and people who have rented for 10 years would have paid back half the homes cost in rent anyway so are not really getting such a good deal.