posted
now i was reading the daily mail usurally every day. and i seen that council housing is for the poor right? but it seems everyone in briton is on it. so does briton pay everyone in the countries housing ?like if u say i have no job and have no place to live poof they find u an appartment? makes me wanna live there lol....
Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
TK, even if you were granted permission to live in the UK you would not immediately qualify for a Council House. It is not as simple as just moving there and getting a free house. And no, Britain does not pay everyone's housing, there are lots of people in employment buying their own homes. And I only know one lass in Council property and she is s single mum with a part time job.
And as a non-habitual Brit neither would I qualify immediately for a Council house if I decided to go back to the UK and could not afford to pay private rent. I am not a priority.
Then TK you would be forced to find work or your Job Seekers Allowance would cease, and then your other benefits would dry up too. Once you found a job you could remain in the property and pay rent. Even have the option to buy if you had a good payment history.
There is a priority list for people in NEED of housing and TBH, have you seen some of the Council Estates??? I would not want to live on them!!! Rough as a badgers ass.
Posts: 11097 | From: Cairo | Registered: May 2008
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Cheekyferret is right. I have lived in council accommodation now for 4 years and I would never give my place up and iam in a full time job. I pay all my own bills etc.I just had new windows installed in every room in my home free of charge.I don't pay for repairs either. This one bedroom garden flat is so nice I dint even bother to take notice of the neighbors lol. There's enough space for me to swing twenty cats around.
I consider myself very lucky indeed.You have to thank god for everything you have in this life, as times are now so hard..
Posts: 1048 | From: If you are given a blessing you may be envied | Registered: Oct 2008
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well now what is Job Seekers Allowance and i am not downing people who can not afford a place to live. its just like seems that most abuse the privlage of getting a free appartment in the uk.. mostly people who keep having trillions of kids to keep benifits what a shame...
its basically like low rent housing right? like disabled people or people white children can get it. not a single person able to work...but in the uk they do not care if yr 18 and able to work they will put u on the list right?
Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Tina Job seeker's allowance is the benefit paid to unemployed people who are actively looking for work. Some or even alot of people abuse the System Tina, but with our new government in place, it won't be easy to abuse it any longer. Anyone can apply to be put on a council waiting list, it depends on your circumstances,people with children are more of a priority and will get housed, because the children's needs are put first.
Single people do get housed but its alot harder because there is a lack of one bedroomed council homes, but i was lucky enough to get this place, but my circumstances at the time where i guess hign priority.
Everyone has the right to benefits in the uk and if you are entitled to it, then yes you will get it.
This is why many people want to come to the uk because the system is here and it works well or it did!!!
so many people moan about our system here, they should be grateful for what they get, because in other countries there is nothing,if you have nothing then its up to your family to support you.
I'm not saying living in the UK is a life of luxury but compared to other countries it is..
posted
Anyone can apply to be put on the council housing list and you get points according to circumstances.
A single person will almost certainly NEVER reach the top of the list (and get housing) unless they have a disability or kids or other very special circumstances, or their parents were in council housing and they've 'inherited' it under old laws.
It's not particularly low rent - though those on low incomes can apply for appropriate benefits as can those renting in the private sector.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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Cheeky Ferret add someone else to the people you know that live in council housing.....I do
You are completely correct....council housing/housing association housing is for people who are in housing need at the time of applying for re-housing.
Applicants are given points for their circumstances e.g. medical needs, overcrowding, relationship breakdown, domestic violence, mental health, required to leave by a private landlord .....the list goes on. Each housing application is usually assessed on an individual basis.
I work in the social housing sector and for a while worked in housing advice/homelessness, sadly there are a lot of people that do try to play the system. Unfortunately there is not enough social housing to meet the demand, hence why the government brought in homelessness prevention into the housing agenda - the aim to try and prevent the applicant from leaving their current accommodation.
I too like Marydot would not leave my house. I live in a lovely area and the rent for me is affordable. I am also within reason able to make the house a home with decoration etc. I am fortunate that a lot of my neighbours have lived here since the houses were built.
However, like Cheeky Ferret says a lot of council estates are awful. There is one in the town I live nicknamed Beirut!
I agree with you Marydot, people should be grateful for what they get, they don't know how lucky they are here in the UK with the benefit system, health care, housing and education. Personally I prefer to work and provide for myself and family but it is reassuring to know that if I should ever require support that it is there.
Posts: 1244 | From: we come in peace | Registered: Nov 2006
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BUT TK. If you are single tenant and a homeowner you get a 25% discount* on your Council Tax. Just to confuse you further
Also TK, out heatlhcare isn't totally free. If you are employed and under 60 you have to pay for your prescriptions. Which tally up. Also, free is a bit tenuous when we are taxed heavily on your salary. However, it is free to those in receipt of benefits. (Why did I ever get a job!)
I know when I was a kid we couild always tell who was in Council property as the council mowed their lawns every other Monday* Not sure if that still happens.
My friend has just had new windows too... and it took 10 years for her to be upgraded from a 2 bedroom flat to a 3 bedroom house. Where she lives now is way better than the 'Beirut' she was in. And BONUS. This place has heating!
* I am referring to my Council, it may differ countrywide Posts: 11097 | From: Cairo | Registered: May 2008
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posted
Yes you do get a 25% discount on council tax if you are single, however, that means you are paying 50% more than someone in a couple because they only have to pay half each for the same amount of services.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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I get 25% discount on my council tax and to top that off I have 2 weeks a year that i dont have to pay council rent!!! e.g the 2 free rents weeks at christmas.
This is a good will jester from the council Posts: 1048 | From: If you are given a blessing you may be envied | Registered: Oct 2008
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Saying that MD, I was allowed a Christmas payment vacation on my mortgage. It is a nice goodwill gesture.
Does it only apply if you are a good payer and haven't missed any other payments during the year?
Our system is good, unless you are a single person who is employed and a homeowner and then all they do is take!!!
AAAHHH... I cannot wait to be old and get my pension, if it still exists by then! I just wanna be in receipt of some benefit from the beautiful UK government.
Posts: 11097 | From: Cairo | Registered: May 2008
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Cheekyferret - The two weeks applies to anyone even if you are in arrears with them. However, the council would expect you to consider making payments during these two rent free weeks to reduce your arrears.
It does vary from council to council, some give 2 weeks at Christmas, others give 1 week at Christmas and 1 week at Easter.
Unfortunately I do not get the two rent free weeks as I rent from a housing association and not a council.
Posts: 1244 | From: we come in peace | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
See... this site is educational. I never knew that.
I think this grace period is a good idea, especially during the coldest months when tenants need to save for gas bills (or to buy top up cards)...
Posts: 11097 | From: Cairo | Registered: May 2008
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Yeah you know what though - they're not doing you a favour - they actually divide the annual rent by 50 instead of 52 so you THINK you're getting two free week You're actually 'paying for it on account'. Convenient though nonetheless. So for those who don't get it, save the difference between annual rent/50 and annual rent/52 each week or month and you will have those 2 weeks saved up.
Like with the council tax, they divide it by 10 so you think you've got 2 free months.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
When I first moved here my gas and hot water was included in the rents lol.. but they have stopped that now, I dont have to pay water rates thou lol..
posted
yup sure am but hey we dont have that here. the only people who get any unemployment are people who just got laid off or fired from no fault of there own.. we dont get paid here to look for work.. lol go figure.and if ur single and have no place to live well here they say...IT SUCKS TO BE YOU.
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Well, after you take out national insurance contributions and tax, that's roughly 25% of my pay packet gone, which seems a lot, and feels pretty stinky, but hey ho. Could be worse. If you earn over £40,000 they take 40%. It's a fairly safe bet that at some point I'll get sick and need medical care, which never comes cheap. If I hit the rocks and lose my job, it's reassuring to know that I have a safety net to catch me... I hope, but then, who knows - maybe all the 40%ers will have become renunciates by then.
Posts: 1678 | From: New Egypt Forum - http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Dec 2009
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posted
Tina, thank you for bringing this subject up because I've always wondered about it myself. And everyone who's taken the time to explain it, I thank you as well.
I do have to wonder, though, if there are so many benefits for not working, what is the incentive to work?
In the U.S., a family can get welfare (a small monthly payments, not more than a few hundred dollars) and an allowance to purchase food items which varies depending on the size of the family, but it is anywhere from two hundred to six or seven hundred dollars a month. These families also receive free medical care - not the best, but it's free - and pay a dollar or so for any prescriptions. Those benefits are for no more than five years during their lifetime. It used to be forever, however President Clinton signed a welfare reform act which stopped "career" welfare.
Housing benefits are limited to the government paying a portion of rents, and the only people who qualify for this are elderly people, disabled people, or impoverished people who wait for years on a waiting list to be approved.
Health benefits? Hahahahahahaha. It is so expensive to purchase insurance out of pocket and employers used to provide, or pay a large portion of the cost of insurance premiums, but that is hard to come by. There is a new federal law that requires everyone to buy health insurance, however if it was at all affordable we would have all had it to begin with. When we file taxes in 2011, we will pay a fine for not being insured.
The big issue at the moment, because of the economy, is unemployment benefits. Those are payments made bi-weekly to people, as Tina said, who lost their job due to no fault of their own. Typically the maximum amount of time for unemployment payments was 26 weeks, however because of the economy it has been extended to 99 weeks. There are people - millions of people - who will lose those unemployment checks December 1st as this last extension will expire and Congress will not extend it again.
These are the people I feel sorry for and the people I worry about because, after losing jobs many of them have had for decades, and their homes, they have nothing else to lose. The situation is so dire that state governments are placing armed guards in unemployment offices and communities are making local laws which prohibit tent cities and new homeless shelters.
I remember when the economy was bad in the late 70s and early 80s, but that is not nearly as bad as it is now.
Be thankful your government looks out for you like that.
Posts: 758 | From: Here. There. Everywhere. | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
It's very expensive to live here with few benefits unless you are completely poor with no transportation or anything of value, basically destitute.
When I lost my job I called about a program to go back to school without having to pay. I didn't qualify because I already have a degree, never mind there were no jobs in my field at the time.
The unemployment benefits only last about 6 months and then you are on your own and even if you don't have a job you are no longer considered unemployed. Go figure that one out.
They offer a one time help with your mortgage of 1000, but you have to sell your car to get this. So you loose prospect of being able to get a job, at least here in Texas where everything is so spaced out.
You can get food stamps but it is not much and it is painstaking to get it.
Health care is expensive. I was paying out of pocket $300. a month for health insurance and when I went to have a small surgery I had to pay $750, up front to the doctor, $7000. up front to the hospital and then 20% of the total cost. I didn't get it and canceled my insurance.
Basically, it is hard living in America unless you land a great job that pays $50,000 a year. I am talking to live comfortably. You can make it on 30,000. but if your single and that is it, it doesn't go far.
Aint that America, home of the free! Posts: 770 | From: www.cafepress.com/tahrir_square | Registered: Jul 2010
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quote:Originally posted by D_Oro: It's very expensive to live here with few benefits unless you are completely poor with no transportation or anything of value, basically destitute.
When I lost my job I called about a program to go back to school without having to pay. I didn't qualify because I already have a degree, never mind there were no jobs in my field at the time.
The unemployment benefits only last about 6 months and then you are on your own and even if you don't have a job you are no longer considered unemployed. Go figure that one out.
They offer a one time help with your mortgage of 1000, but you have to sell your car to get this. So you loose prospect of being able to get a job, at least here in Texas where everything is so spaced out.
You can get food stamps but it is not much and it is painstaking to get it.
Health care is expensive. I was paying out of pocket $300. a month for health insurance and when I went to have a small surgery I had to pay $750, up front to the doctor, $7000. up front to the hospital and then 20% of the total cost. I didn't get it and canceled my insurance.
Basically, it is hard living in America unless you land a great job that pays $50,000 a year. I am talking to live comfortably. You can make it on 30,000. but if your single and that is it, it doesn't go far.
Aint that America, home of the free!
here here.its cheap in iowa at the most part, i could never fathem paying 1000$ a month for rent like they do in az... ewwwww
Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
nothing is that straighforward is it? but sometimes it appears to me that if you are honest and work, and then need that safety net, you are penalised ...........
unless you know how to play the system
why the juxtaposition of council estates to Beirut?!?!? Ive been to Beirut and some of it looks far better than some of the council estates Ive seen !
when I got divorced, back in 1997, and moved from Luton back up North, I did consider going down the Income Support/Council Housing route, instead I got a job, finished my degree, bought my own home (its not much, mind you) got Masters degree, got promotion, so far so good .......... but my current conract of employment with the NHS is due to expire in 2013. who knows what will happen then. everythings down to funding (as usual) but if I did ever need that safety net, I hear there are big holes in it ............ as a home owner I may not qualify for much help, I heard I'd be expected to sell my home and live off my savings. why should I be penalised for having saved!!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Posts: 712 | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
I agree. Seems crazy that the government are talking off and on about making you take out some kind of private pension policy for when they do away with state pension, yet wouldn't consider being a homeowner as making financial provision for when you retire, and if you lost your job they encourage you to cash it in and live on that.
Don't know how you go on if you've paid into a private pension if you lose your job. Getting way to complicated for me.
Posts: 1678 | From: New Egypt Forum - http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Dec 2009
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