Council housing

seahorse

Several threads I’ve read recently have included comments from people seemingly very resentful about the issue of council housing. Some of the comments are so vitriol that it appears some people resent the fact that council housing even exists at all! Since these comments are very pervasive and tend to drag the other threads off topic I thought the subject deserved a thread of its own.

I’d be interested to hear what people have to say about council housing generally, and also to know: does it piss you off to see people housed in social accommodation full stop? - Or does it piss you off only in certain circumstances? And if so, what would those circumstances be?

Do you live in social housing yourself and have you anything to say about the negative stereotypical assumptions you've come across as a result of it? I dont live in social housing myself but I was raised in it and I've read a lot of nasty negative crap about social housing on here, but I'm sure there have to be some balanced and fair-minded objections to people getting social housing in some cases also, and I'd be interested to hear them as well.

Let’s try to keep it civil (some chance, lol)

RATM

I dont think social housing should be banned, there'll always be ppl in need due to whatever circumstances life throws at them.

However I do sometimes get annoyed at passing a group of flats near me- several Mercs/Audis/Beemers are parked in it. The ppl in social housing are given an advantage over the rest of us in that because their rent is so low they can then afford things like plasma TVs, nice cars, etc whereas the rest of us struggle to pay mortgages/rent every month.

I think theres a strong argument for social housing but I feel there should be time limits on it, like when the kids are grown up they should move on to rented accommodation and allow others a chance to take their space. If the state lets ppl stay in it all their lives then the sons and daughters get used to the same idea and onwards the circle continues, never really been broken because of the incentives of cheaper living.

Degsy

Does council housing get built anymore?
I bought an ex-corpo house five years ago in a very quiet road where most of the neighbours are in thier 70's.Three big bedrooms,60ft back garden,solid construction which means i dont hear noise from next door.I say these houses piss all over the shoeboxes they're ripping people off with now.

mikemac

I asked this in another thread but it wasn't answered.

How much does a 3 bed house or even a flat cost in rent?
If a 3 bed house in Dublin is maybe €1400 then what does a similar council house in a similar area cost.

I'm just interested to know, not realy making comments on it.

Degsy

micmclo wrote: »

I asked this in another thread but it wasn't answered.

How much does a 3 bed house or even a flat cost in rent?
If a 3 bed house in Dublin is maybe €1400 then what does a similar council house in a similar area cost.

I'm just interested to know, not realy making comments on it.

Probably 1400.Remember alot of "council" houses are very near to town and usually cheek-by-jowl with more "respectable" houses.

mikemac

Realy Degsy?
So the rent on a private house is the same as a house from the council? I'm amazed that DCC or another council charge their tenants over €1000 per month in rent

RATM posted that rent is extremly low for council houses and flats but you are saying it's more or less the same.

Now I'm even more confused

Fishyfreak

The rent is generally 10% of the income of the primary tenant & 5% of the other sub-tenants income.

I used to work in the Housing Section of a council and some of the people that got housed would make you sick, there are a lot of genuine people out there that need social housing but it is true what an other poster said about a cycle beginning where the younger family members have no desire to get a mortgage etc as they are so used to the social housing.

Degsy

Fishyfreak wrote: »

The rent is generally 10% of the income of the primary tenant & 5% of the other sub-tenants income.

I used to work in the Housing Section of a council and some of the people that got housed would make you sick, there are a lot of genuine people out there that need social housing but it is true what an other poster said about a cycle beginning where the younger family members have no desire to get a mortgage etc as they are so used to the social housing.

Indeed.Around the corner from me there are people who never worked yet they can afford the most expensive tracksuits,go on holidays and get drunk every day.I say cut the ****ing dole off and throw them out of thier free houses.

taidghbaby

to be fair i thinks its like most of the rest of ireland at this stage:
the majority of people are honest and deserve it-and theres a small minority of pricks takin advantage!!

seahorse

micmclo wrote: »

I asked this in another thread but it wasn't answered.

How much does a 3 bed house or even a flat cost in rent?
If a 3 bed house in Dublin is maybe €1400 then what does a similar council house in a similar area cost.

I'm just interested to know, not realy making comments on it.

The rents vary dependant on the size of accomodation and also on a persons income micmclo. Someone I know is renting a two bed apartment ten minutes from town for 70 euros a week; that is calculated on their income of around 550pw. Someone earning the same renting a three bed would pay around 95pw I'd imagine, or if they were in a one bed around 55pw.

Of course, you wouldnt be considered for council accomodation to begin with earning 550pw; that situation can only come about if a person has been in council accomodation before they begin full time work.

seahorse

RATM wrote: »

I think theres a strong argument for social housing but I feel there should be time limits on it, like when the kids are grown up they should move on to rented accommodation and allow others a chance to take their space.

I'd accept your other points RATM, but I dont think this is a practical suggestion, because the waiting lists for social housing are so long that a lot of families have children well into their teens before they are even allocated social housing.

mikemac

Thanks Seahorse, a percentage rate kinda makes sense.

Can I ask another question and it isn't judgemental, just a genuine question?

I know that families are prioritized and rightly so.
Imagine a family get a nice 3 bed house but we'll say the family breaks up for whatever reason.
So now we maybe have the father living on his own in a nice 3 bed house. Or maybe the mother on her own if there were no children

Would the council tell him it's needed for a family and offer smaller accomadation and or is it tenancy for life?
I don't know much about the process

seahorse

Degsy wrote: »

Probably 1400.Remember alot of "council" houses are very near to town and usually cheek-by-jowl with more "respectable" houses.

I dont know if that was a typo or what you might have meant by that Degsy, but the cost of renting social housing is well below average market rates; that's the whole point of it.

seahorse

micmclo wrote: »

Thanks Seahorse, a percentage rate kinda makes sense.

Can I ask another question and it isn't judgemental, just a genuine question?

I know that families are prioritized and rightly so.
Imagine a family get a nice 3 bed house but we'll say the family breaks up for whatever reason.
So now we maybe have the father living on his own in a nice 3 bed house. Or maybe the mother on her own if there were no children

Would the council tell him it's needed for a family and offer smaller accomadation and or is it tenancy for life?
I don't know much about the process

What would usually happen in a scenario like that is the mother and kids would be left in the house. The councils do downsize depending on family size though; in the ballymun regeneration project people with kids grown and gone were downsized to smaller accommodation to suit their new family size.

As for how slowly the housing lists move, singles on those lists have it worse of all, as there are only a very small percentage of one beds constructed. Next to that you have the single mothers of one child; that's a right pisser of a predicament to be in, because there are much less two beds built than three beds, therefore anyone with one child has a much longer wait than anyone with 2+ kids. I know one girl who's been waiting eleven years for accommodation for herself and her child. The child is going off to secondary school this year! :eek:

mikemac

Informative as always Seahorse!

But in Accomadation forum there is a thread on Unmarried Mothers and Housing and it contradicts all your posts. Seems to be a gravy train from that thread and we're been taken for fools.

I've posted three times and twice there and I'm inclined to believe the information here first.
But completly different info in both threads!

seahorse

micmclo wrote: »

Informative as always Seahorse!

But in Accomadation forum there is a thread on Unmarried mothers and housing and it contradicts all your posts. Seems to be a gravy train from that thread and we're been taken for fools.

I've posted three times and twice there and I'm inclined to believe the information here first.
But completly different info in both threads!

I'll have a read of that now for nosiness sake!

Dudess

There's gotta be social housing - not everyone is in a position where they can forge a career lucrative enough to be able to afford their own house.

Unfortunately there is a small element that takes the piss, but it is not representative of the majority - well in the case of Cork anyway. I worked in Cork City Council housing department for a while. And as for those council houses outside which there may be a new car etc, who's to say the occupants haven't bought the house off the council?

jjbrien

Degsy wrote: »

Does council housing get built anymore?
I bought an ex-corpo house five years ago in a very quiet road where most of the neighbours are in thier 70's.Three big bedrooms,60ft back garden,solid construction which means i dont hear noise from next door.I say these houses piss all over the shoeboxes they're ripping people off with now.

yes it does Mullingar has a brand new council estate at the back of the army barracks. I think there is alot of council houses new ones up in tyrrlestown as well there is also some in blanch near the town centre all built in the last 5 years.

There will always be a need for concil houses. What I would like to know is why the concil does not help the homless people who do not have a roof over their heads to get a concil house. The system needs looking at so that the really vunerable get help as it stands I dont think they are helped enough.

Dudess

Council houses tend to be built for families, that's why a homeless individual finds it more difficult to get housed.

As for the single mother getting a council house theory: if she needs something asap, she'll get a sh1t hole. In an area with serious anti social problems. The higher the standard of house you want to rent, the longer you'll have to wait.

seahorse

Have just read that micmclo. That is something I've never heard of in my life - ever. A single mother of one child I know (not the girl I referred to earlier) was recently told by DCC that an application for housing from her would not be accepted and that she could continue to raise her child in her sisters spare room in ballymun. She had to involve a TD in the matter before they had a change of mind.

The situation was that her sister had taken her in and she had lived with her for several years before having a baby. When the regeneration came about DCC wanted to save themselves a housing unit by housing them as one family, despite the fact that one sister had four kids and the other had one and was also heavily pregnant on her second!

A lot of people spend too much time listening to urban myths about the easy lives of single mothers. Yes there are some piss-takers, there'll always be piss-takers, but councils allocate housing according to family size; a single mother of one being handed the keys to a new three bedroomed house in Dublin is something I would not believe - unless I saw it with my own eyes.

Sherifu

I'd like a free house.

jon1981

seahorse wrote: »

Have just read that micmclo. That is something I've never heard of in my life - ever. A single mother of one child I know (not the girl I referred to earlier) was recently told by DCC that an application for housing from her would not be accepted and that she could continue to raise her child in her sisters spare room in ballymun. She had to involve a TD in the matter before they had a change of mind.

The situation was that her sister had taken her in and she had lived with her for several years before having a baby. When the regeneration came about DCC wanted to save themselves a housing unit by housing them as one family, despite the fact that one sister had four kids and the other had one and was also heavily pregnant on her second!

A lot of people spend too much time listening to urban myths about the easy lives of single mothers. Yes there are some piss-takers, there'll always be piss-takers, but councils allocate housing according to family size; a single mother of one being handed the keys to a new three bedroomed house in Dublin is something I would not believe - unless I saw it with my own eyes.

hey, i just noticed your thread and honestly it isnt an urban myth. there are two girls both with a child each living in a three bed house being given to them by the council. Its fact and all i can assume is that if what you say about family size being taken into account is true well there there has be a case of "who you know " going on in the DCC

Dudess

"There's two girls"... where? What's the estate like? Any girls I knew of who got a three or four bedroom house - and didn't need all those rooms - got it in Knocknaheeny, probably the most deprived area in Cork.

Guy:Incognito

Fishyfreak wrote: »

The rent is generally 10% of the income of the primary tenant & 5% of the other sub-tenants income.

I used to work in the Housing Section of a council and some of the people that got housed would make you sick, there are a lot of genuine people out there that need social housing but it is true what an other poster said about a cycle beginning where the younger family members have no desire to get a mortgage etc as they are so used to the social housing.

I had to laugh (what else can you do) the other day when a gang of women were on the radio giving out about the size of the new houses they were supposed to get when they were moved out of their flats (might have been related to the Mcnamara issue) saying that as it was they were sharing rooms in 3 bed flat with their offspring(they were still in their parents flats).

God forbid someone might suggest to these people to get a job.

jon1981

Dudess wrote: »

"There's two girls"... where? What's the estate like? Any girls I knew of who got a three or four bedroom house - and didn't need all those rooms - got it in Knocknaheeny, probably the most deprived area in Cork.

south dublin, as i said in the thread it isnt a council estate. whats the attitude? im only talking facts here

seahorse

jon1981 wrote: »

hey, i just noticed your thread and honestly it isnt an urban myth. there are two girls both with a child each living in a three bed house being given to them by the council. Its fact and all i can assume is that if what you say about family size being taken into account is true well there there has be a case of "who you know " going on in the DCC

Well if that is true it is an issue that ought to be raised with local politicians. There are large families waiting donkeys years on social housing and others working their arses off paying mortgages on similar properties. I can assure you that the criteria for allocations in DCC and ALL of the Dublin councils is supposed to be based on family size, and if that is going on, well then, it's no wonder people are getting pissed off about it.

jon1981

seahorse wrote: »

Well if that is true it is an issue that ought to be raised with local politicians. There are large families waiting donkeys years on social housing and others working their arses off paying mortgages on similar properties. I can assure you that the criteria for allocations in DCC and ALL of the Dublin councils is supposed to be based on family size, and if that is going on, well then, it's no wonder people are getting pissed off about it.

i totally agree it should be raised, they only reason i know its true is as i said i know the people involved and heard it from the horses mouth!

seahorse

Dudess wrote: »

"There's two girls"... where? What's the estate like? Any girls I knew of who got a three or four bedroom house - and didn't need all those rooms - got it in Knocknaheeny, probably the most deprived area in Cork.

He's referring to women discussed in the thread link micmclo posted earlier Dudess. Those women live in south Dublin apparently.

mikemac

jon1981, I wasn't trying to contradict you by linking to your post. Just vastly different info in the two threads.

But if you feel it's unfair then we can't do anything.
Report it!

jon1981

micmclo wrote: »

jon1981, I wasn't trying to contradict you by linking to your post. Just vastly different info in the two threads.

But if you feel it's unfair then we can't do anything.
Report it!

ah yeah sure i dont mind, its good to get the official stance on this anyway.

mikemac

Cool, glad that's sorted and I've learned loads here.

Under €100 a week in rent you say Seahorse?
My local TD is a renowned crook but he has loads of influence, I'll see can he sort me out with a nice flat for myself :pac:

seahorse

jon1981 wrote: »

i totally agree it should be raised, they only reason i know its true is as i said i know the people involved and heard it from the horses mouth!

Well, I'm very surprised to hear that to be honest jon1981. I'd agree that there probably is a case of 'who you know' going on there because that is just unheard of in this city.

There's no way I'd be willing to listen to anyone tell me that is widespread and rampant in this city because I know it's not. I've met many single mothers and you can take it from me, they'd be fukin godsmacked to hear that, and angered also, because most of them have been waiting bizarre lengths of time and are still waiting and have a two bed shoe-box apartment to look forward to at the end of it. Incidentally, any single mother who has two daughters or two sons would be particularly hopping about the situation you describe, because if you have two children of the same gender you are automatically allocated to a two bed. That is fine, in my opinion, if the children are somewhat close together in age, but I've heard of incidents where a woman was told to put a toddler in with a teenager because they both were the same gender, which inevitably lead to stress and whinging and rows.

I just hope you don’t think those examples you've seen represent the general way of things jon1981, because I can assure you that they don’t. If you (or anyone else) wants to check it out for yourself just give any one of the councils a call and ask them what the rules and guidelines for a social housing application are. The very first thing they will ask you in order to process your application is how many prospective tenants there are.

jon1981

seahorse wrote: »

I just hope you don’t think those examples you've seen represent the general way of things jon1981, because I can assure you that they don’t. If you (or anyone else) wants to check it out for yourself just give any one of the councils a call and ask them what the rules and guidelines for a social housing application are. The very first thing they will ask you in order to process your application is how many prospective tenants there are.

no i dont, as i have read in the paper about the slums that families have to live in. but i was just outraged with these girls in particular, i didnt want to believe it. And in fact i might look further into this. If i bring it up with my local councillor im sure she will tell me to mind my own business.

Fishyfreak

Jon1981, ring DCC and ask them for a copy of a document called "The Scheme of Letting Priorities". All of your answers will be in this document.

There would be uproar if a 3-bed house was allocated to a one-parent family, the people on the list would be out for the Area Housing Manager's head and so would the senior management. It simply doesn't happen.

mikemac

jon1981 wrote: »

If i bring it up with my local councillor im sure she will tell me to mind my own business.

Ah Jon, you need to learn that if you want help in Ireland you don't contact your councillor, you talk to your TD.
That's where the real power is.
As an example a councillor can't get you a hospital appointment but a TD certainly can if that's the extra help you needed

That's where you go if you want to raise this

jon1981

Fishyfreak wrote: »

Jon1981, ring DCC and ask them for a copy of a document called "The Scheme of Letting Priorities". All of your answers will be in this document.

There would be uproar if a 3-bed house was allocated to a one-parent family, the people on the list would be out for the Area Housing Manager's head and so would the senior management. It simply doesn't happen.

sure one of the girls told my mam how the house had fitted wardrobes and the likes and that DCC came and removed it all , its this standard practice? i know its hard to believe but this isnt a case of i heard it from a friend of friend, this is 1st hand

gurramok

seahorse wrote: »

Well if that is true it is an issue that ought to be raised with local politicians. There are large families waiting donkeys years on social housing and others working their arses off paying mortgages on similar properties. I can assure you that the criteria for allocations in DCC and ALL of the Dublin councils is supposed to be based on family size, and if that is going on, well then, it's no wonder people are getting pissed off about it.

Family size, is that all the criteria?

Reason i say is that i know of a mother of 3 expecting a fourth allocated a 3bed house in the DCC area.
These are p1sstakers but its not a p1ssake as a i describe. Now, she is on social welfare for about maybe 8 years. Her 'partner' who does not work seems to have loads of dosh(3 nice cars(SUV included!) as part of household) along with affording the kids with luxuries, he lives with her 'illegally'.

It looks to the untrained and trained eye that the state is paying this woman to have kids as she does not work(nevermind him) while housing her without any maintenance chasing on the partners part.

And guess what, from a recent conversation with the partner, they ain't gonna get married ever and i'd tell you its nothing to do with love as the reason why not!

Fishyfreak

It used to be a practice to sort of "standardise" each house, but that was many many years ago.

Common sense is used these days so if the house contains nice things like fitted wardrobes they are left there.

I remember showing a family around a "buy-back" house, it was fabulous, it even had a jucuzzi bath. These houses are few and far between but some lucky families get real gems. Others get some real dumps.

gurramok

Fishyfreak wrote: »

Jon1981, ring DCC and ask them for a copy of a document called "The Scheme of Letting Priorities". All of your answers will be in this document.

There would be uproar if a 3-bed house was allocated to a one-parent family, the people on the list would be out for the Area Housing Manager's head and so would the senior management. It simply doesn't happen.

Just seen this, see my post above. One parent families with kids are allocated 3 bed houses. I've witnessed this firsthand in DCC.(they were allocated the house in Sept '07)

gurramok

Fishyfreak wrote: »

It used to be a practice to sort of "standardise" each house, but that was many many years ago.

Common sense is used these days so if the house contains nice things like fitted wardrobes they are left there.

I remember showing a family around a "buy-back" house, it was fabulous, it even had a jucuzzi bath. These houses are few and far between but some lucky families get real gems. Others get some real dumps.

Do they still 'standardise' each house?

I'd agree with the DCC sending out contractors to refurbish houses even if there was nothing wrong with them, it's surreal!

In my known case, the DCC stripped a house which had nothing wrong with it. refurbished it and the womans partner who wasn't on the DCC's radar just happened to strip it again for his own purposes!

Mr. Presentable

Dudess wrote: »

There's gotta be social housing - not everyone is in a position where they can forge a career lucrative enough to be able to afford their own house.

Unfortunately there is a small element that takes the piss, but it is not representative of the majority - well in the case of Cork anyway. I worked in Cork City Council housing department for a while. And as for those council houses outside which there may be a new car etc, who's to say the occupants haven't bought the house off the council?

Dudess, with all due respect, it is not a minority. I live in a former council owned house, on which I pay a mortgage, while a new council development across the road from me has "single" mothers, with their men living in, two/three cars, no jobs for anyone, all with more disposable than I (and my also working wife) have. They, and their kids, while not owning anything, have therefore no respect for anything, so the road is littered with their trash, they dump illegally (why pay bin charges when everything else is handed to them), party all night, race their BMWs and Subarus up and down all night. They are, Dudess, a lazy bunch of leeches. Please don't try to patronise me with how they are needy. They are not needy, they are consciousless users.

Dinter

seahorse wrote: »

I've met many single mothers and you can take it from me, they'd be fukin godsmacked to hear that, and angered also, because most of them have been waiting bizarre lengths of time and are still waiting and have a two bed shoe-box apartment to look forward to at the end of it.
.

And just think of all the hard working, tax paying people who are going to be paying a mortgage for a bizarre length of time and will have a two bed shoe box apartment to look forward to at the end of it.

seahorse

gurramok wrote: »

Just seen this, see my post above. One parent families with kids are allocated 3 bed houses. I've witnessed this firsthand in DCC.(they were allocated the house in Sept '07)

I'm pretty sure what Fishyfreak meant was one-child families gurramok.

seahorse

Dinter wrote: »

And just think of all the hard working, tax paying people who are going to be paying a mortgage for a bizarre length of time and will have a two bed shoe box apartment to look forward to at the end of it.

I have already mentioned mortgage payers in a previous post Dinter; you needn’t worry that anyone's forgotten about them! I'm not in the enviable position of being able to afford a mortgage myself; I've been renting privately for seventeen years in this city.

adam.number3

nipplenuts wrote: »

Dudess, with all due respect, it is not a minority. I live in a former council owned house, on which I pay a mortgage, while a new council development across the road from me has "single" mothers, with their men living in, two/three cars, no jobs for anyone, all with more disposable than I (and my also working wife) have. They, and their kids, while not owning anything, have therefore no respect for anything, so the road is littered with their trash, they dump illegally (why pay bin charges when everything else is handed to them), party all night, race their BMWs and Subarus up and down all night. They are, Dudess, a lazy bunch of leeches. Please don't try to patronise me with how they are needy. They are not needy, they are consciousless users.

I wasn't going to bother posting on this thread, as what usually happens when you tell the truth about this stuff, is that a few misguided but well meaning bleeding heart people, will come on and shout you down (or worse ban you!). Fact is, I'm in a very similar situation to nipplenuts, having bought an excouncil house. I can't get over how much fraud there is, and probably would not have believed it until I started living here. They have so much disposable income its sickening. Especially as the rest of struggle to pay crippling mortgages and working all gods hours to make ends meet. Then they sit back and complain. One neighbour has a daughter, who now of course is a single mum, giving out about her not getting a council house and how terrible it is, while she, an able bodied woman sits at home all day, with her layabout partner. No intention of ever getting a job, they are on the gravy train. And laughing.Slipped into state aided retirement at the age of 40. What ever happened to single girls who gets pregnant giving their children up for adoption. Why do the rest of us have to fund the rest of their lifes. Why are we rewarding them? I'm all for helping them out while they are pregnant, but why should that continue for the next 18years... While there are plenty of loving couples wanting to adopt. There's something gone horribly wrong in this country.

chopperbyrne

adam.number3 wrote: »

What ever happened to single girls who gets pregnant giving their children up for adoption. Why do the rest of us have to fund the rest of their lifes. Why are we rewarding them? I'm all for helping them out while they are pregnant, but why should that continue for the next 18years... While there are plenty of loving couples wanting to adopt. There's something gone horribly wrong in this country.

My boss is heading to Vietnam tomorrow morning for six weeks to adopt a child. Fifteen years ago they would have had very little trouble adopting over here.

BraziliaNZ

could these stupid bitches not just stop knocking out these horrible little urchins and maybe work or something? Or wait till they are financially secure enough to have babies with their loving partners? Why is it that I can't afford to live in Ireland and was on a pretty decent wage, I have to share houses with strangers yet they get free flats and houses, and then complain about the size. Jesus christ it makes my blood boil.

ronbyrne2005

Ya have to ask where are the fathers of these kids to look after them.

A friend of mine got a big mortgage to buy an ex council house and the house next door was occupied by a woman with 4 kids by 3 partners, one of the fathers was living "illegally" with her and providing her with cash but she was also getting social welfare money for the 4 kids and herself and cheap rent while my mate was working all the hours he could and doing his degree at night to look after the future of his 2 young kids. The neighbours lived the life of reilly and had loads of spare cash (the guy worked as a mechanic part time when he felt like it) and had loads of time to spend with kids while my mate rarely saw his. This is common around all mixed council/former council house estates all over Dublin as many friends etc have witnessed.
I don't mind people in tough times getting a propety rented to them cheaply for a few years but lots of these people get into social housing and stay there all their lives while not working and their children and grandchildren trn out the same. The kids from such environments usually end up in jail for violence or theft or drugs. We need tougher rules for the chancers and help those genuinely in need.

Carrigart Exile

Fishyfreak wrote: »

The rent is generally 10% of the income of the primary tenant & 5% of the other sub-tenants income.

I used to work in the Housing Section of a council and some of the people that got housed would make you sick, there are a lot of genuine people out there that need social housing but it is true what an other poster said about a cycle beginning where the younger family members have no desire to get a mortgage etc as they are so used to the social housing.

Housing is a basic human need, there should be more social housing not less, social housing should be open and free to all based upon need (points system), the current lack of social housing has been filled by private sector greedy landlords and an almost impossible housing purchase market.

Abi

micmclo wrote: »

Realy Degsy?
So the rent on a private house is the same as a house from the council? I'm amazed that DCC or another council charge their tenants over €1000 per month in rent

Not true. A council home, no matter what part of the country you live in is means tested. You are located where you are located based on your family circumstances / availability of housing. There are houses you cannot ever buy however, these are houses on the RAS Scheme or what is called 'voluntary housing'. These are private houses and apartments that are bought out by the council and leased to a tenent.

Someone else at the beginning of this thread said that the council offer people homes with low rent so they can afford lifes luxuries such as plasma TV's etc. That is a pile of it tbh. They offer low rent based on the wage packets within the home, and exlude what is nessesary to survive by the way of light, heat, groceries etc. If there are plasma screens and mercedes outside rented homes, then someone is telling a porky on their annual housing reviews.

Edit:// Of course I support the need for council homes. If they weren't given out, there would be a hell lot of homeless people. I dont think that is the way forward. The pure idocity of the idea of not having them boggles the mind. It bridges the gap between the well off and the not so well off. Council homes are aimed mainly at families and the elderly. To assume that all families in council homes are dole-jockeys is out-the-window stupid. And whats the solution with the elderly? Tell the crinkly spongers to get a job?

Top idea.

RATM

Abigayle wrote: »

Not true. A council home, no matter what part of the country you live in is means tested. You are located where you are located based on your family circumstances / availability of housing. There are houses you cannot ever buy however, these are houses on the RAS Scheme or what is called 'voluntary housing'. These are private houses and apartments that are bought out by the council and leased to a tenent.

Someone else at the beginning of this thread said that the council offer people homes with low rent so they can afford lifes luxuries such as plasma TV's etc. That is a pile of it tbh. They offer low rent based on the wage packets within the home, and exlude what is nessesary to survive by the way of light, heat, groceries etc. If there are plasma screens and mercedes outside rented homes, then someone is telling a porky on their annual housing reviews.

You misquoted me there-if you read back you'll see that I didnt say the council offer ppl homes so they can buy plasma TVs. I said that they are at an advantage over other ppl in that because their rent is so low they can afford luxuries better that your average working Joe who is struggling with rent/mortgages. And if you want to see a council estate car park with Mercs and Audis sitting in it then PM me and I'll tell you where it is so you can go see for yourself, I pass it twice everyday. I often see several of them fixing taxi sighs to them in the evenings.

Even if it is the case that these ppl own their council houses they have still had an unfair advantage over the rest of the population because the reason they can fund their houses is coorelational with the fact they've had cheap rent most of their lives.

Don't get me wrong, Im all for social housing, in fact I think we need and should have more of it. However I feel that when it can be proven that a family is earning say 70% of the national average wage they should then be forced to move on. This is the only way we're ever going to break the cycle of the social welfare dependent underclass the system has created. Its now 2008 and anyone with a bit of ambition can secure themselves a decent paying job. A lot of the ppl in these council houses are of the opinion that socialism should fund their lifestyles and thats the worrying part, it becomes generational and the cycle never gets broken.