Soldato
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Depends on your view point.
I quite like the idea that I can go to any country in the EU and not be discriminated against.
Councils spent £3.5bn on temporary housing in last five years
- Thread starter Danthus
- Start date
Depends on your view point.
I quite like the idea that I can go to any country in the EU and not be discriminated against.
Soldato
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Or you could listen to Thatcher at the time council houses were sold when she said "Owner occupiers tend to vote Conservative, Council tenants tend to vote Labour."
Soldato
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There was no "inheritance" as such. It was a case of the local authority had a property with sitting tenants who still wanted the property to live in. For the council there was only a clerical change instead of having to go through a process to interview new tenants etc. Less work.
Why are they insistent on building houses though?
Are high-rise flats more expensive in terms of £ per person they hold? I'd doubt that very much.
If it costs £100k to build one house that can sleep 6 people, then that works out to be around £50 million to house 3,000 people. Which would be the equivalent of 1500 flats in a tower. Certainly saves space and all that.
Now that most tall buildings have lifts, you can't even argue that you need a ground floor flat because of a disability.
It just seems to be a case that everyone "wants" a house.
Are high-rise flats more expensive in terms of £ per person they hold? I'd doubt that very much.
If it costs £100k to build one house that can sleep 6 people, then that works out to be around £50 million to house 3,000 people. Which would be the equivalent of 1500 flats in a tower. Certainly saves space and all that.
Now that most tall buildings have lifts, you can't even argue that you need a ground floor flat because of a disability.
It just seems to be a case that everyone "wants" a house.
Yes they've gone very quiet on that. There's quite a few houses being built in the village I live in, much to the disgust of the local nimbys.
Average price in 300k plus though, and that's not going to solve the housing crisis.
They don't need to build more houses, people just need to move to areas where there is oversupply rather than under supply (ie: the North).
People don't want to do that though, when the council will just stump up the cash regardless.
People don't want to do that though, when the council will just stump up the cash regardless.
The rich people who see homes as a means-to-profit will complain about rents and house prices being driven down, not to mention half the MP's are probably on the same money train.
TPTB are reluctant to build high-rise apartments because of the social problems that arose from previous experiments in the '50s and '60s. If that could be overcome then I agree it's a good potential solution, but you'll never know until you try it.
True story.... The original design of the tower blocks etc were originally deigned with each apartment having a balcony more open outside space per apartment. It was a TORY Minister who through out all the ideas of people needing a private open space/balcony etc as he decided the common people didn't need such things.... A whim in other-words. This still permeates through today.
You're not discriminated against though, are you? You're simply allowing for those who are native to this country to get first dibs on whatever token scraps the government throws out to appease the population. There's nothing stopping you from getting a job, buying or renting your own home or even banging a nice hot English chick. Nothing at all.
I have always felt that high-rise is wasted on inner cities.
Imagine something like Petronas Towers, built right out in the country and surrounded by parkland. Much nicer (And a lot less environmental impact!) than row after row of tacky little poverty spec new build houses.
Just do what Vancouver did. (Below is not what they did exactly, just added things)
Empty house = 1% Tax per annum.
Fail to declare = 2% Tax per day.
Falsely register renovations = Forced to sell property, possibly criminal charges.
That'd kill it dead.
Empty house = 1% Tax per annum.
Fail to declare = 2% Tax per day.
Falsely register renovations = Forced to sell property, possibly criminal charges.
That'd kill it dead.
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Soldato
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The way your post reads suggests you have a rather lopsided view of the world and/ or a lower than average IQ. To be honest this deterred me from engaging in debate with you but then I thought, what the heck, this guy deserves a chance.
What I am saying is, out of the 5 million benefit claimants in the UK only around 350,000 of them are from outside the UK. That is less that 10%.
To blame the UK housing crisis i.e lack of housing and expensive rent on 350,000 people is ridiculous. Don't forget, some of these people are asylum seekers from outside the EU and some of the ones that come from within the EU may well of come here to work, paid taxes and subsequently lost their jobs.
Now here's where my point of not being discriminated comes in to the equation, currently, because we are in the EU and we have freedom of movement I can go to any of the other member states and claim benefits.
At least 30,000 UK citizens are doing the same, while not a huge number it works both ways.
If we were to put nationality first that would be discriminate and I wouldn't want that treatment if was to try and claim in an EU country.
Migrants, whether they are refugees, economic or not can come to the UK and start a life and claim government help when they fall on hard times, we can leave for another EU state and do the same.
I am glad the UK councils give out housing based on need and not nationality.
People should listen to the "Government give £500k house to ex Somalian pirate and his 11 children" headlines.
This country, like many others was founded on immigration and has relied heavily on it through out history. All of a sudden we are surrounded by entitled imbeciles who don't want to share.
Pah. £3.5bn is small change when it comes to our rigged housing market. What about the £9.3bn that taxpayers paid to private landlords in 2015?
This country's housing market is total and utter nonsense.
This country's housing market is total and utter nonsense.
..and if all the people who didn't need to be in council houses, joined the real world and rented or bought their own house instead of sponging off the state.. there would be more council houses available.
No. Who are these people, is there number?