Is getting a council house the equivalent of winning the lotto

Sweet.Science

Hear me out

The 1st thing people would think of doing if they won the lotto is buying a house or paying off their mortgage.

The thought of living in a house mortgage free is the most appealing aspect of winning the lotto . Not only that but it also
Good to know you will leave an inheritance behind for your kids

Is getting a council house the same thing ?

IF you have kids it will be rent free. Only mugs would bother paying any rent knowing you will never be evicted. Your kids also
Get to inherit it when you pass away.

People really have struck gold when they get one

Wheeliebin30

Sweet.Science wrote: »

Hear me out

The 1st thing people would think of doing if they won the lotto is buying a house or paying off their mortgage.

The thought of living in a house mortgage free is the most appealing aspect of winning the lotto . Not only that but it also
Good to know you will leave an inheritance behind for your kids

Is getting a council house the same thing ?

IF you have kids it will be rent free. Only mugs would bother paying any rent knowing you will never be evicted. Your kids also
Get to inherit it when you pass away.

People really have struck gold when they get one

And the council pays for all your maintenance.

beertons

Yes.

engiweirdo

Jaysus. Less than a minute. I smell a sockpuppet.

q85dw7osi4lebg

Yep.

incentsitive

Yes but there is something rewarding about working for a living, earning your keep, educating your family, paying your way, enjoying the ups and downs of what work and life throws at you.
I wouldn't let the word "I'm entitled to" enter my psyche or my kids psyche. You pay your own way.
Much better than a life on welfare. The only pity is that our kids will have to pay for ever increasing offspring of people like Margaret Cash with the same sense of entitlement. That to me is the real pity.
I've no problem paying for people who fall on hard times, but inter-generational unemployment and free housing and the like is a joke.
The council can keep their house, I will earn my own way through this life and not live a life as a scrounger.

Yes, I dream of the day I will get a council house in some, eh, less salubrious area of Dublin surrounded by tidy, clean houses occupied by Green Party-voting progressives who read books, listen to sophisticated music and aspire for their children to go to university.

arybvtcw0eolkf

incentsitive wrote: »

The council can keep their house, I will earn my own way through this life and not live a life as a scrounger.

People living in council estates are scroungers?.

How?.

Mr. Incognito

I grew up in a Council Estate

Scumbags and Travellers for neighbours.

Everything was in a wreck.

Couldnt wait to get out.

Deebles McBeebles

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I grew up in a Council Estate

Scumbags and Travellers for neighbours.

Everything was in a wreck.

Couldnt wait to get out.

Maybe you could clarify how much of the OP is actually true?

Sweet.Science

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I grew up in a Council Estate

Scumbags and Travellers for neighbours.

Everything was in a wreck.

Couldnt wait to get out.

You do realise the council are buying private houses all over Dublin for people to live in . When i bought my house i was outbid by the council on a number of properties beforehand

arybvtcw0eolkf

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I grew up in a Council Estate

Scumbags and Travellers for neighbours.

Everything was in a wreck.

Couldnt wait to get out.

Pretty much the same here.

Grew up in Ballymun during the 70's, 80's and 90's.

Got lucky with buying and selling houses and now live somewhere really nice.

Some clown in the council decided that buying houses in my estate and housing scumbags and travellers would be a brilliant idea.

We're pestered now with break in's, thefts from garden shed's, tools van's and a number of times a day its travellers knocking in asking if I want my tree's pruned, grass cut, gutter cleared etc etc.. All the while scoping out my house.

I record them from my CCTV and can speak through my CCTV speaker to let them know I'm watching.

I'll never sell out but I hope a level head realizes this crap isn't working and ships them out again.

I've an elderly neighbor who's been burgled twice, he's very ill and infirm. Sounds awful but I'm dreading when he dies in case the family sell the house to the council for a quick buck.

Squatter

My missus still remembers her ma crying her eyes out at a Dublin Corporation 'draw' for council houses in the early 1970's. 'Winning' a house at that draw enabled her family to move from Ballyfermot to a shiny new semi-d house in Dublin 5 which the family then purchased from the Corpo for a song over the next 25 years. It is beyond argument that 'winning' in that draw changed their lives forever and was every bit as significant to them as a lottery win.

The irony (if that's the right word) is that the house - on a large corner site with front, back and side gardens and space to build a second house - will sell for a 7 figure sum when her elderly parents pass on, because it's within walking distance of Beaumont Hospital. So she and her sibling stand to inherit a cool €0.5 million each - almost tax-free - courtesy of their parent's council house. Is that what social housing policy is really all about?

As with all similar and relate threads, if its so marvelous why not do it yourself put yourself on the housing waiting list and wait until you get your free 'house'. All you need to do is keep your income under for Dublin City. €35,000. €42,000. Dún Laoghaire. Then wait about 10 years.

JustMe,K

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I grew up in a Council Estate

Scumbags and Travellers for neighbours.

Everything was in a wreck.

Couldnt wait to get out.

Me too - you couldn't pay me to go back there.

Cina

I would never choose a life on welfare than a life with a job and a career, regardless of all the perks and the potential free house. Working for a living and building a stable career is much more satisfying and makes you appreciate everything you get far more. Earning the money to pay for these things - cars, houses, phones, whatever is satisfying. Getting that stuff by not doing a thing would not be.

Plus, I'd probably be incredibly bored.

mickdw

I wouldn't fancy living in a council estate however the council used to commonly build single houses for families on there own farm, the council taking ownership of the site.
I believe they have started to do this again rurally and I've seen 2 beautiful 1.5 storey homes built not to far from me that by all accounts are council built. Considering that in the past they have sold these houses off to the tenants at maybe 25 percent of market value, you would have to think that getting one of these rural house is the equivalent of a cash Windfall of 200,000.

Squatter

mariaalice wrote: »

As with all similar and relate threads, if its so marvelous why not do it yourself put yourself on the housing waiting list and wait until you get your free 'house'. All you need to do is keep your income under for Dublin City. €35,000. €42,000. Dún Laoghaire. They wait about 10 years.

A complete no brainer. Both of my kids have done it. I'd do it myself only I'd probably have to sell one of the yachts to qualify.

Squatter

Squatter wrote: »

My missus still remembers her ma crying her eyes out at a Dublin Corporation 'draw' for council houses in the early 1970's. 'Winning' a house at that draw enabled her family to move from Ballyfermot to a shiny new semi-d house in Dublin 5 which the family then purchased from the Corpo for a song over the next 25 years. It is beyond argument that 'winning' in that draw changed their lives forever and was every bit as significant to them as a lottery win.

The irony (if that's the right word) is that the house - on a large corner site with front, back and side gardens and space to build a second house - will sell for a 7 figure sum when her elderly parents pass on, because it's within walking distance of Beaumont Hospital. So she and her sibling stand to inherit a cool €0.5 million each - almost tax-free - courtesy of their parent's council house. Is that what social housing policy is really all about?

That is a very rare an luck happenstance, but yes the selling off of heavily discounted council house has transferred wealth to some people courtesy of the government.

super_furry

Why don't we just call poor people?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

And the council pays for all your maintenance.

And if you accidentally fell down the stairs or fell off a chair while changing a light bulb or tripped on a bit of worn carpet or limo you can sue the council and be guaranteed to get €20k plus for it.

You will also get a fuel allowance, free child care even though you don’t work, free medical and free education/book and uniform allowances.

You really got it made when you get acou cil house.

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

As with all similar and relate threads, if its so marvelous why not do it yourself put yourself on the housing waiting list and wait until you get your free 'house'. All you need to do is keep your income under for Dublin City. €35,000. €42,000. Dún Laoghaire. Then wait about 10 years.

Ah Jaysas. That sounds like way too much work.

Wheeliebin30

mariaalice wrote: »

As with all similar and relate threads, if its so marvelous why not do it yourself put yourself on the housing waiting list and wait until you get your free 'house'. All you need to do is keep your income under for Dublin City. €35,000. €42,000. Dún Laoghaire. Then wait about 10 years.

Because we’re not scroungers?

We have some pride dignity and respect.

So we’re not allowed have a say about issues instead we should go and do the very issue we’re not happy about??????

Squatter

mariaalice wrote: »

That is a very rare an luck happenstance, but yes the selling off of heavily discounted council house has transferred wealth to some people courtesy of the government.

Courtesy of successive governments!

And it isn't all that rare. The owners of every council house (and there are hundreds of them) in the vicinity of the Northside shopping centre are in the exact same serendipitous situation. Charlie Haughey's decision to locate the new hospital in Beaumont all those years ago made them all winners in the social housing lottery!

greencap

Squatter wrote: »

My missus still remembers her ma crying her eyes out at a Dublin Corporation 'draw' for council houses in the early 1970's. 'Winning' a house at that draw enabled her family to move from Ballyfermot to a shiny new semi-d house in Dublin 5 which the family then purchased from the Corpo for a song over the next 25 years. It is beyond argument that 'winning' in that draw changed their lives forever and was every bit as significant to them as a lottery win.

The irony (if that's the right word) is that the house - on a large corner site with front, back and side gardens and space to build a second house - will sell for a 7 figure sum when her elderly parents pass on, because it's within walking distance of Beaumont Hospital. So she and her sibling stand to inherit a cool €0.5 million each - almost tax-free - courtesy of their parent's council house. Is that what social housing policy is really all about?

Another issue is why she had to move from Ballyfermot in the first place.

Lenience then, lenience now.

Theres plenty of space in the arse end of connaught to send repeat offender types to live.

Squatter

greencap wrote: »

Theres plenty of space in the arse end of connaught to send repeat offender types to live.

I suspect that you are writing from bitter experience. As a matter of interest is your probation officer able to claim mileage for visiting you over there?

kneemos

Like winning the Lotto and giving it back a bit at a time forever.

greencap

Squatter wrote: »

I suspect that you are writing from bitter experience. As a matter of interest is your probation officer able to claim mileage for visiting you over there?

you got something against repeat offenders?

Graces7

As a council tenant I am deeply offended by the gross generalising insults here.

Thought we had progressed past the idea that being poor was a disgrace?

If you can work, earn your living, buy a house, then you are blessed. So why carp at anyone else? Why not enjoy all you have?

eviltwin

I live in a council house, I bought it. I would say maybe 40% of the houses here are privately owned. I wonder do I get labelled a lazy scrounger because of my address?

Squatter

greencap wrote: »

you got something against repeat offenders?

Not really. I genuinely enjoy seeing my taxes given to defence lawyers under the free legal aid scheme.

Cina

Graces7 wrote: »

As a council tenant I am deeply offended by the gross generalising insults here.

Thought we had progressed past the idea that being poor was a disgrace?

If you can work, earn your living, buy a house, then you are blessed. So why carp at anyone else? Why not enjoy all you have?

Grace, nobody in here has said "being poor is a disgrace". Most replied have said that they prefer to work over not working. Nobody has criticized those who get a council house, just said they are blessed to have gotten one.

This is just another example of you getting crazy defensive and making sh*t up to try fit your argument. Get a grip.

greencap

Squatter wrote: »

Not really. I genuinely enjoy seeing my taxes given to defence lawyers under the free legal aid scheme.

nothing legally wrong with a home in connaught.

Plumbthedepths

Sweet.Science wrote:

Hear me out

Sweet.Science wrote:

The 1st thing people would think of doing if they won the lotto is buying a house or paying off their mortgage.

Sweet.Science wrote:

The thought of living in a house mortgage free is the most appealing aspect of winning the lotto . Not only that but it also Good to know you will leave an inheritance behind for your kids

Sweet.Science wrote:

Is getting a council house the same thing ?

Sweet.Science wrote:

IF you have kids it will be rent free. Only mugs would bother paying any rent knowing you will never be evicted. Your kids also Get to inherit it when you pass away.

Sweet.Science wrote:

People really have struck gold when they get one

You have no idea what you are talking about. However your nonsense will appeal and resonate with many .

Sky King

Sweet.Science wrote: »

When i bought my house i was outbid by the council on a number of properties beforehand

Fk me that's really annoying! Your head must have been wrecked.

engiweirdo

eviltwin wrote: »

I live in a council house, I bought it. I would say maybe 40% of the houses here are privately owned. I wonder do I get labelled a lazy scrounger because of my address?

You do, but only in the clandestine comfort of boards and peoples living rooms. I wouldnt worry too much about it. Easier to kick down than look up.

Squatter

greencap wrote: »

nothing legally wrong with a home in connaught.

One of my holiday homes is near Roundstone, so I concur with that wise observation. It's very hard to get staff to keep it clean, though - we badly need more Eastern Europeans out there.

Rochelle

eviltwin wrote: »

I live in a council house, I bought it. I would say maybe 40% of the houses here are privately owned. I wonder do I get labelled a lazy scrounger because of my address?

No, not because of your address...

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Well, with a lotto win, you could buy a really nice house. With the greatest of respect, council houses are usually a bit grim. So, no.

greencap

Squatter wrote: »

One of my holiday homes is near Roundstone, so I concur with that wise observation. It's very hard to get staff to keep it clean, though - we badly need more Eastern Europeans out there.

if its good enough for you and good enough for the help, then its good enough for anto and dayo.

the decent people of ballyfermot could wave them off.

Graces7

Cina wrote: »

Grace, nobody in here has said "being poor is a disgrace". Most replied have said that they prefer to work over not working. Nobody has criticized those who get a council house, just said they are blessed to have gotten one.

This is just another example of you getting crazy defensive and making sh*t up to try fit your argument. Get a grip.

the word "scrounger"?

And no call for personal critique insults !!!!!! Clearly touched a nerve. I have a perfect grip thank you. We hear little but gripes re council tenants when so many of us are genuinely in need. This is not being defensive by the way. We have no need to be defensive. Just making a point that few council tenants are in fact scroungers.

Graces7

greencap wrote: »

nothing legally wrong with a home in connaught.

I hope not...:D

Graces7

mickdw wrote: »

I wouldn't fancy living in a council estate however the council used to commonly build single houses for families on there own farm, the council taking ownership of the site.
I believe they have started to do this again rurally and I've seen 2 beautiful 1.5 storey homes built not to far from me that by all accounts are council built. Considering that in the past they have sold these houses off to the tenants at maybe 25 percent of market value, you would have to think that getting one of these rural house is the equivalent of a cash Windfall of 200,000.

Yes I rented one such in Donegal. You can recognise them wherever you go. Had been built for the parents who had since died. A very good house that was.

johnnyskeleton

Graces7 wrote: »

As a council tenant I am deeply offended by the gross generalising insults here.

Thought we had progressed past the idea that being poor was a disgrace?

If you can work, earn your living, buy a house, then you are blessed. So why carp at anyone else? Why not enjoy all you have?

I think it's because for many people, they work and earn a living but aren't able to afford to buy a house. It isn't millionaires in Foxrock who complain most about social housing, it's the people who have done the right thing by society's standards for years who are struggling and are no nearer to getting secure accommodation for themselves, only to see someone who doesn't, in their eyes, work as hard or doesn't follow the path set out for people, and ends up getting greater security of accommodation than others.

So basically, the resentment comes from someone who works harder and pays more taxes than their neighbour, but has less benefits than their neighbour.

It's the same with healthcare. Someone who works just above the minimum wage and pays taxes gets sick and has to decide whether to spend €60 going to a GP, which would be a significant expense for them. So they only go when they are really, really sick. When they do go, they see people with medical cards going to the GP over a tickly cough or other minor ailement. There is undoubtedly a perception bias, and the people who overuse the medical card would be an exception, rather than the rule, but people see this and they start to think that society sees them as a cash cow to pay for other people to have a better service than they do.

I'm not saying that the above feelings are right, or edifying, or that the should form part of a political ideology. But it's not looking at reality if the debate is shut down as merely criticising poor people.

In order for our society to work properly, the systems must reward work, and the harder one works the better one's life should be. Currently, a lot of people don't feel that that is the case. I don't think addressing the fact that people feel this way about how our social state works is in any way suggesting that someone being poor is a disgrace.

JupiterKid

I am rather angry at posters on forums such as this one who think that anyone availing of social welfare/disability or in a low wage job struggling in this nightmare housing market is a wastrel and a scrounger and if they find themselves homeless or on the local authority waiting list, then tough sh*t for them.

The callousness, lack of any shred of empathy and wanton bitterness on some of these forums is shocking and frankly disgusting. It's a case of "I'm doing alright Jack, so I will see fit to sh*t on others from a height." Or alternatively, "well, I have a 4 hour commute a day, so anyone trying to secure a dwelling in Dublin on a low income can go jump!"

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Squatter wrote: »

My missus still remembers her ma crying her eyes out at a Dublin Corporation 'draw' for council houses in the early 1970's. 'Winning' a house at that draw enabled her family to move from Ballyfermot to a shiny new semi-d house in Dublin 5 which the family then purchased from the Corpo for a song over the next 25 years. It is beyond argument that 'winning' in that draw changed their lives forever and was every bit as significant to them as a lottery win.

The irony (if that's the right word) is that the house - on a large corner site with front, back and side gardens and space to build a second house - will sell for a 7 figure sum when her elderly parents pass on, because it's within walking distance of Beaumont Hospital. So she and her sibling stand to inherit a cool €0.5 million each - almost tax-free - courtesy of their parent's council house. Is that what social housing policy is really all about?

All I can think is good for them. I think the aim is for people to be miffed reading this but it’s not happening for me. They won the draw. It’s not like it was an entitlement that they expected. Fortune smiled on their family.

Berserker

incentsitive wrote: »

Much better than a life on welfare.

Is it really though? On welfare, you have a permanent safety net and a guarantee of a consistent standard of living. You don't have that as a working person.

mariaalice wrote: »

As with all similar and relate threads, if its so marvelous why not do it yourself put yourself on the housing waiting list and wait until you get your free 'house'. All you need to do is keep your income under for Dublin City. €35,000. €42,000. Dún Laoghaire. Then wait about 10 years.

How can people on welfare taking in €50,000 a year get council housing then?

JupiterKid

Look, its clear that there are a lot of seriously disaffected angry people out there, and that is very understandable. Exhausting daily commutes, being squeezed every way, feeling that they are ignored by the powers that be.

I suggest turning your anger on the government and the policymakers who have created this mess, and not those who are on welfare or those who are really struggling to keep a roof over their head.

Gimme A Pound

Sweet.Science wrote: »

You do realise the council are buying private houses all over Dublin for people to live in . When i bought my house i was outbid by the council on a number of properties beforehand

Don't see how this negates what Mr. Incognito said.

If you're referring to one-off council properties in mostly private developments, you should have specified it.

Apart from the scumbags making people's lives a misery, nobody would choose to live in an estate full of the problems he and Makikomi and kcdiom experienced - cheap rent or not. As you can see, they all left.

You're very sheltered if you think absolutely every council tenant is a freeloader. There is no way everyone can afford a mortgage, you know this. And now people can't even afford private rent. Not all jobs pay enough. And what about those who are disabled or long-term ill, or lost their job and are too old to be hired yet too young for a pension. What about those whose spouse died or left them?

People are saying with irony and without irony that it's easy. No it isn't - not to get somewhere decent anyway. When you get on the housing list you have to wait. If you want something quickly, it'll be an absolute sh1t-hole. If you want somewhere nice, you'll be waiting years and years.

Squatter

Graces7 wrote: »

the word "scrounger"?

And no call for personal critique insults !!!!!! Clearly touched a nerve. I have a perfect grip thank you. We hear little but gripes re council tenants when so many of us are genuinely in need. This is not being defensive by the way. We have no need to be defensive. Just making a point that few council tenants are in fact scroungers.

How did you manage to find a council house on that God-forsaken island of yours Grace?

Huntergonzo

Depends really, I actually used to work in a council maintenance department for a few years so I have plenty of experience in this area. Generally speaking I found the older generation to be more respectful (with plenty of exceptions of course), whereas the younger generation tend to be more, gimme gimme gimme (but again not across the board). Also women tended to ring in a lot more often than men.

Now I can't give exact figures but I would say that roughly speaking about 50% of our annual budget was spent on about 20% of the tenants. These were the people who wouldn't even change a light bulb in the house, 'cause the fúckin useless council should do it for me'.

Without question a disproportionately high amount of money was spent (wasted being a more appropriate term) on the halting sites, not a PC thing to say of course but factually true.

The majority of tenants were fine though, they called in as they were entitled to do for various repairs to be carried out.

As a matter of interest, where I worked, 78% of the tenants were unemployed, but you have to take the elderly and disabled into consideration aswell. They weren't all dole lifers, although sadly many of them are and will forever be.

If you want to see exactly what's being spent on the maintenance of LA houses, check out NOAC's LA service indicators 2017, page 44.