Housing crisis watch

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

Update from my end of the housing crisis - I have an assessment at a hostel (in Camden!) on Friday. I don't know if that's an assessment for emergency accommodation something more permanent or something in between - nor do I know what I'm being assessed on - but hopefully I'll have a bed on Friday at least.

This is Camden's spiel on its 'hostel pathway'. Seems to be a fair whack of social engineering in there which might be fun - pity the poor sod who tries to 'raise my aspirations'. The hostel looks nice though.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

Hope this works out for you.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Housing crisis watch

Yes, good luck.

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

I am in this hostel for at least 8 weeks! It is like student accommodation.

In the process I found out that Camden Council have merged their Housing and Adult Social Care departments, which I guess is how a hostel specifically for vulnerable single adults, with support workers, concierge staff, therapeutic/educational/training stuff to sign up for, exists. The manager emphasised that there is no coercion regarding programmes, but I will be very interested to see how the 'pathway' works. I'll try and write about the process if I can manage.

I actually need support so I'm quite happy to be here and feel safe (at least for now). Can just be quiet for a bit.

[Sits]

Housing crisis watch

Glad you're in there for a while DM. Look after yourself.

[laverte]

Housing crisis watch

That's good news. I hope you can write something about the pathway, I'd be keen to read that.

Enjoy the quiet.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

Sounds encouraging, DM.

[N est à?]

Housing crisis watch

Really good news, DM.

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

Well, I'm enjoying my off-West End hostel with the ensuite shower and friendly, respectful staff. Shame there are still shedloads of homeless people on the streets of London and I guess the rest of the country. I know I go on about this, but if I had less support I could very easily be on the street or dead by now. It is an urgent issue.

[Ginger Yellow]

Housing crisis watch

Didcot and "North Essex" to become garden towns. Supposedly they'll be getting up to 50,000 new homes, thanks to a whopping £1.1m of government funding. By my count, that gets you maybe 10 cheap houses. But this money also has to go toward "funding transport improvements, good schools, and community amenities". WTF?

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

the end of social housing

What can one say? How many people who grow up in council housing can ever expect to buy their own place without winning the lottery? I know I can't, and growing up it never even occurred to me as something to aim for.

Another step in plunging Britain back to the 19th century, or beyond.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

Ginger Yellow wrote: Didcot and "North Essex" to become garden towns. Supposedly they'll be getting up to 50,000 new homes, thanks to a whopping £1.1m of government funding. By my count, that gets you maybe 10 cheap houses. But this money also has to go toward "funding transport improvements, good schools, and community amenities". WTF?

The homes will fund and sell themselves in those places, surely?

[linus]

Housing crisis watch

delicatemoth wrote: the end of social housing

What can one say? How many people who grow up in council housing can ever expect to buy their own place without winning the lottery? I know I can't, and growing up it never even occurred to me as something to aim for.

That's part of the economic reality in many countries, with cities like London, Paris, NYC, SF or Vancouver becoming unaffordable.

It's due to several socio-economic phenomena. First, there is a concentration of wealth, these cities have not been affected by economic declines because the weathiest segments are concentrated there.

Second, there has been a huge increase in demand for housing due to the breakdown in families. When a couple divorces, most commonly the father has to move out and find another flat. Also, more people are single, which means greater overall demand for housing. This social phenomenon accounts for most of the growth in housing demand in the industrialized world, well ahead of overall population growth, which has been more moderate (though urbanization is a major factor too).

Third, in places like Paris or SF, supply has not kept up because cities are already overbuilt, or in the case of SF or London, anti-growth policies restrict new housing construction and the development of a denser urban fabric.

Finally, cities like London and Vancouver have been affected by the rise of global capitalism and the creation of a mobile elite from places like Russia or China, which is pricing out the locals.

Moving out to a cheaper urban setting might be a good option.

[Ginger Yellow]

Housing crisis watch

The homes will fund and sell themselves in those places, surely?

The homes? Sure. Which raises the question of why the government is taking credit. The rest of it? £1.1m isn't going to get you very far.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

The rest of it? s106, council tax on all the new houses. I'm surprised how much is being made of this £1.1 though.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

Third, in places like Paris or SF, supply has not kept up because cities are already overbuilt, or in the case of SF or London, anti-growth policies restrict new housing construction and the development of a denser urban fabric.

I don't get this. There's housing going up everywhere there's space. The reason London isn't particularly densely populated is that lots of it is "suburban" in its housing- lots of semis etc.

[caja-dglh]

Housing crisis watch

Daily Mail link, but incredible story.

Basically - someone rented a house, changed their name by deed poll to that of the owner and got a passport in that name. They then sold it for 1.3 million to an all cash buyer, using Foxtons, with the buyer only realizing they had been robbed when they tried to renovate and couldn't get the land registry documentation to proceed with renovations.

Cash gone, Foxtons claim it was a fraud they could not have anticipated / prevented.

[Ginger Yellow]

Housing crisis watch

Well, it was the existing owners (Max Hastings and his wife) that were being robbed as much as the buyer. I have very little sympathy for the buyer, as they don't seem to have done any of the usual checks (ie land registry) before buying, and were quite willing to pay over a million quid in cash to some account in Dubai rather than to, say, the seller's solicitor's account.

[ursus arctos]

Housing crisis watch

Indeed, I was going to ask how common that kind of transaction is.

It would certainly send alarm bells ringing here in NYC

[E10 Rifle]

Housing crisis watch

A Parliamentary Conservative party liberally sprinkled with landlords votes down attempt led by one of Labour's better MPs to make them behave with basic humanity.

[E10 Rifle]

Housing crisis watch

Some unseemly shenanigans just round the corner from where I live.

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

Disabled people challenging bedroom tax in court

How long have we had a 'supreme court' anyway? Did it used to be something else, or is it new fangled?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Housing crisis watch

Use to be the "House of Lords", or "the law lords". Became Supreme Court in 2009.

[N est à?]

Housing crisis watch

To be more cool like in America and TV and that

[delicatemoth]

Housing crisis watch

Early April fool?

This... this looks like not terrible news. What are they up to?