Council housing

[Penny]

Had a reply from the council saying that due to Covid 19 all allocation of housing is suspended. The only people they are housing are people they have a duty to house such as homeless, people in sheltered housing, street sleepers and overcrowded. They told me this months ago but this bungalow has now been empty since a few days before lockdown back in March! remember that my daughter is in the Priority Band.

We have children going back to school, we can eat out, go to pubs, go to the gym, buy and sell houses, move house but social housing has ground to a halt. I just can’t understand it. The only houses appearing on their sites (to bid on) are sheltered housing properties.

I have emailed our MP telling him all this and asking him to look into this as there must be houses all over our district where elderly people die or go into care leaving properties empty like this one and people like my daughter could be living in them and paying rent.

Two properties I know of have gone to homeless people and someone who lives in the block has told me they are never there and she doesn’t see them for weeks on end. What a complete and utter waste to allocate houses to people who prefer living rough and then we are all paying for it anyway.

[Londonbound]

Housing is in a right mess, I used to do a pizza leaflet round, 1000 houses and so many houses, don't bother mate, no one been living there for years, must have been 30-40 houses empty for years.
That's just one little area of my town.

I live in a posh town, you just cannot get a house for less than £150,000, so millions of pounds of property sitting there empty, but hundreds on the waiting list for housing.
There was a programme on tv reckoned over 100'000 house in Britain sitting there empty but we have thousands homeless and family's living in one room until suitable accommodation can be found.

And like you say houses and flats left empty , one flat up the road been empty 2 years now, lady gone into care, is she coming back? probably not.
And then you have the house clearances, elderly person dies house is cleared by the council, everything goes in the skip, nice table, nice chairs, £500 fridge freezer, sofa, chairs, beds, everything goes in the skip.
Brand new tins of food, jars of coffee, all goes in the skip, surely you could send the brand new food to the local foodbank.
Carpets are stripped and thrown leaving bare concrete floors.

Then you move someone in who has virtually nothing, from the local crisis refuge or a single mother and then they have to get everything, beds , tables chairs, new carpets everything but have no money.
The stuff isn't perfect and you wouldn't want to use the mattress but all the stuff went in the skip was perfectly usable and had been in use on a day by day basis but all has to be chucked away.

Around my area there are single people living in 3 bedroom houses, need smaller accommodation but nothing available, so are clogging up all the accommodation ideal for family's.

They should be building hundreds of cheap housing, one bedroom flats etc , but all the land is sold for a fortune and they build 5 bedroom houses sell them for £900,000.
Kids growing up can't afford to live in our town so have to move away somewhere cheaper.

One council worker got laughed out of a meeting, she said they are building houses for £300'000, affordable housing, who can afford that on minimum wage?
A house for £50'000 that's affordable.

They have brought out a new law to force people to sell or rent out empty propertys and they are starting to do that now but some of these houses i saw on my pizza leaflet deliverys are still empty. i gave up my pizza leaflet round about 2012?

[Penny]

Housing is in a right mess, I used to do a pizza leaflet round, 1000 houses and so many houses, don't bother mate, no one been living there for years, must have been 30-40 houses empty for years.
That's just one little area of my town.

I live in a posh town, you just cannot get a house for less than £150,000, so millions of pounds of property sitting there empty, but hundreds on the waiting list for housing.
There was a programme on tv reckoned over 100'000 house in Britain sitting there empty but we have thousands homeless and family's living in one room until suitable accommodation can be found.

And like you say houses and flats left empty , one flat up the road been empty 2 years now, lady gone into care, is she coming back? probably not.
And then you have the house clearances, elderly person dies house is cleared by the council, everything goes in the skip, nice table, nice chairs, £500 fridge freezer, sofa, chairs, beds, everything goes in the skip.
Brand new tins of food, jars of coffee, all goes in the skip, surely you could send the brand new food to the local foodbank.
Carpets are stripped and thrown leaving bare concrete floors.

Then you move someone in who has virtually nothing, from the local crisis refuge or a single mother and then they have to get everything, beds , tables chairs, new carpets everything but have no money.
The stuff isn't perfect and you wouldn't want to use the mattress but all the stuff went in the skip was perfectly usable and had been in use on a day by day basis but all has to be chucked away.

Around my area there are single people living in 3 bedroom houses, need smaller accommodation but nothing available, so are clogging up all the accommodation ideal for family's.

They should be building hundreds of cheap housing, one bedroom flats etc , but all the land is sold for a fortune and they build 5 bedroom houses sell them for £900,000.
Kids growing up can't afford to live in our town so have to move away somewhere cheaper.

One council worker got laughed out of a meeting, she said they are building houses for £300'000, affordable housing, who can afford that on minimum wage?
A house for £50'000 that's affordable.

They have brought out a new law to force people to sell or rent out empty propertys and they are starting to do that now but some of these houses i saw on my pizza leaflet deliverys are still empty. i gave up my pizza leaflet round about 2012?

You are so right! There are two private houses in our village which are now in a terrible state of disrepair. One has been empty about 15 years, the other 20 years. both are ex council houses where the owners died. One the woman left to her granddaughter who is now about 12 and lives several hours away and her mother can’t afford to do any work on it.The other the woman died And left it to distant relatives, again miles away, and they are not interested either. neighbours tell me that every so often someone from the council comes and looks and disappears again but we were told the council would compulsorily purchase them but that seems never to happen. The hedges hang all over the pavements, the gardens are like jungles but they could make lovely homes for people. It’s unfair on neighbours too.

I also don’t agree with homeless people most of whom have mental health problems or drug/alcohol problems being housed like this. They need to be in supported Accommodation where there is somebody on hand to help them with problems. It’s not the job of neighbours (who try to be friendly) to be lending people money until their Benefits come through, lending them milk or sugar or answering their door to them at all times of the day and night.

[Pet66]

This is my thought on the people who have inherited the houses, but can't afford to maintain them, sell them, as seen to a builder, and cut the loss. Any money made could be saved for the Granddaughter for future use. A builder would at least do them up to a decent standard. Or there are house auctions?

[bowlingbun]

In our area, the council will do a deal with an absent home owner, bring the house up to good condition on the understanding that they can rent it for a few years, and then return the property redecorated. Seems like a good idea to me, but for families in genuine need.

[Londonbound]

We used to have a supported living? scheme i think it was called in North Yorkshire, for anyone with issues mental, health, disabilty etc.
There was a few charitys owned big houses, and provided accommodation, you got your own room, shared the kitchen etc, and did jobs around the house.
There was a support worker on hand to help and emergency help, say someone ill in the night, the supported living scheme paid for the rent and support charges.

But i don't know if that exists now.

It just costs too much money, where we live used to be supported housing, but all the support has gone, no warden, no support worker, nothing.
You are supposed to be independent, and do things for yourself, but like you say left to friends and neighbours to provide the support, lend money when the benefits don't come through, make phone calls when the heating goes wrong.

They are building in north Yorkshire what they call "extra care housing" Brand new facility's, a massive building for 50 people, you get your own flat, own front door, emergency night time care on hand, restaurant there, community lounges etc
To replace home care, carers travelling around from person to person, all the disabled people and staff are under one roof.

They are lovely brand new buildings, no worry's about the roof or fixing the drains, its all provided, worry free housing.

[Melly1]

Londonbound,
be interesting to see if the providers can fill the new building .... these are cropping up but often councils won't pay sufficient funding for folk to live there. Also a lot of these new build flats are VERY small.

Melly1

[bowlingbun]

In our area, the New Forest, they built some "extra care" housing for people coming out of long stay hospitals. However, they were only paying staff minimum wage, so no recognition of the very specialist care these people needed. They could earn more in Tesco! The needs of those with learning difficulties and autism are still not understood by those who should know better.
Here's this week's example. I've been complaining to the Ombudsman about the failure of Hampshire to provide him with direct payments so he can employ staff with knowledge of his hobby, steam engines. In some areas, my son has the understanding of a 3 year old, as he was brain damaged at birth, but he can light up and drive our 10 ton steam roller and understand how the " Venturi" effect works to put water in the boiler!
Not many people understand this unless they have engines of their own, hence the need for a specialist.
The Ombudsman has just decided that "if he wants a Personal Assistant and Direct Payments he can ask for them himself"!!
This is ridiculous. He likes jelly, he has jelly in the cupboard but the only way he gets a jelly is if I ring up staff, he never asks for it himself. That's part of his brain damage! He hasn't go a clue what "personal assistant" means, or "Direct Payments", all he knows is that he wants someone to "help" him with engines, and to take him to steam shows. He had one girl who took him to the largest steam show in the world wearing what my son descibed as "ballet pumps". A 600 acre site on the side of a hill in Dorset. The show cost my son £40 to get in, no reduction for carers, but they were back at his flat by 2pm!

[Penny]

In our area, the New Forest, they built some "extra care" housing for people coming out of long stay hospitals. However, they were only paying staff minimum wage, so no recognition of the very specialist care these people needed. They could earn more in Tesco! The needs of those with learning difficulties and autism are still not understood by those who should know better.
Here's this week's example. I've been complaining to the Ombudsman about the failure of Hampshire to provide him with direct payments so he can employ staff with knowledge of his hobby, steam engines. In some areas, my son has the understanding of a 3 year old, as he was brain damaged at birth, but he can light up and drive our 10 ton steam roller and understand how the " Venturi" effect works to put water in the boiler!
Not many people understand this unless they have engines of their own, hence the need for a specialist.
The Ombudsman has just decided that "if he wants a Personal Assistant and Direct Payments he can ask for them himself"!!
This is ridiculous. He likes jelly, he has jelly in the cupboard but the only way he gets a jelly is if I ring up staff, he never asks for it himself. That's part of his brain damage! He hasn't go a clue what "personal assistant" means, or "Direct Payments", all he knows is that he wants someone to "help" him with engines, and to take him to steam shows. He had one girl who took him to the largest steam show in the world wearing what my son descibed as "ballet pumps". A 600 acre site on the side of a hill in Dorset. The show cost my son £40 to get in, no reduction for carers, but they were back at his flat by 2pm!

I shouldn’t laugh Bowlingbun but the girl who turned up in ballet pumps sounds familiar to me. When my daughter was doing “independent travel” the first woman got lost finding our house (we have deliveries from all over the country and drivers always find us OK.). She was half an hour late and then rang me to say she was lost. She couldn’t understand why I found that funny! . Another woman came to do the same and turned up wearing 6” high stiletto’s to travel on a bus with my daughter and go for a long walk before catching another bus home. Do they actually have brains?

[Cloudygal]

We haven't had good experiences with support workers either.

Penny

The girl who was supposed to do the independent travel training..omg..what hope is there for the young person if she got lost to start with!

BB

Why on earth wont they let you ask for a direct payment. Makes no sense at all?