30 ms·
I understand where you are coming from, but for me the issue is more about affordable housing. It's basically gentrification of an area and forcing poor people
by niffydroid 5y ago
I understand where you are coming from, but for me the issue is more about affordable housing. It's basically gentrification of an area and forcing poor people out.
I cannot remember by law how much % of a development has to be deemed social housing, but it is generally a requirement now days since councils cannot really purchase or build properties. Now days you will not see any sort of massive council estates being built any more, which is why these developments have to have social housing.
You can trace this all back to the 80s when the government privatised council housing stock and allowed people to buy their social housing.
I grew up on a council estate and it can be hell, it's the same families and group of people which cause most of the issues and it comes in waves as they get rotated around the various council estates in the region. The estates are generally neglected by the council as well.
Near me an ex 3 bed council house, with a dodgy raft foundation, breeze block ends and a timber frame goes for £210,000! You'd be looking at a mortgage of around £800 per month, and if renting it will cost more. You've now also got to deal with the housing benefit (from the government) changes. Before it would be straight up paid by the council or government to the property owner, recent changes means people are given the money to pay for the rent (I think you can opt in for it to go directly to landlord) which has reduced the social housing stock even more as landlords do not want deal with the payment issues. With how bad the benefit system has become and is being run, after reforms, people are often in arrears or not getting the money because the system is just borked.
Poor people are very much getting priced out of areas where they live, with a lack of social housing stock available combined with a chaotic benefit system, they are very much forced out into other areas, if they they do get somewhere, then bare minimum will be done to maintain it.