selphie Posted November 20, 2010 Share Posted November 20, 2010 Social housing should be cheap otherwise there would be a lot of homeless people in Sheffield unable to afford somewhere to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handypandy Posted November 20, 2010 Share Posted November 20, 2010 When council rents come in line with 'the market'.................'the market' will change. When interest rates rise to a more normal and sustainable level, the market will change again. In fact I think the market will change beyond all recognition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted November 20, 2010 Share Posted November 20, 2010 Social housing should be cheap otherwise there would be a lot of homeless people in Sheffield unable to afford somewhere to live. Housing benefit is applicable whether you rent privately or from social housing, so that is a red herring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted November 20, 2010 Share Posted November 20, 2010 Housing benefit is applicable whether you rent privately or from social housing, so that is a red herring. Would you rather people requiring housing benefit had access to social housing, or private rented housing. Should housing benefit be paid to a council or HA, or maybe a private landlord... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 Compared to what? I don't see how things can be over- or under-priced, except by comparison with the market value. Compared to wages. How else would you assess the relative cost of something like housing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaFan Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 I think the point is that market mechanisms don't work in the way that people expect them to. In theory, buyers and renters can drive prices down by refusing to pay silly prices. In reality landlords peg rents at similar prices to each other and housebuilders don't build on all of their land in order to keep prices up. Because of this, people end up spending quite high percentages of their income on housing. Until such time as everyone is paid a high enough wage to be able to afford market prices and rents, we need social housing to provide roofs over the heads of those on low incomes, whether working or not. The alternative is people living in extremely overcrowded conditions, which takes us back to the slums of the early 20th century and before. There's a reason we tried to make those history. So no, council rents should not be market rents. Plus, putting the rents up will only increase the housing benefit bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaFan Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 It depends. http://www.sheffieldpropertyshop.org.uk/thisweekprop.asp? 2 bed bungalow Abbeydale £75 2 bed house Arbourthorne £55 edit; there a 1 bed flat @ pitsmoor going for £98.07 ??????/ If it's on Carwood they have district heating at around £13 per week which is included in the rent. Is it housing association? Their rents are higher than council. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Star Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 Should council house rents be at normal market value? If not, why not? If so, why so? Council housing should be for people who cannot afford market rates - people who are absolutely on the bones of their backsides - and noone should take these houses long term, they should be turned around pretty sharpish, ideally within a year... Whe you are working you can afford rent or a mortgage, but when you are out of work you may not have that sort of cash... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 Compared to wages. That makes no sense at all, since the two are entirely different things. You might as well say that apples are underpriced compared to a Mercedes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 I think the point is that market mechanisms don't work in the way that people expect them to. In theory, buyers and renters can drive prices down by refusing to pay silly prices. Is it not rather the case that they keep prices down by not affording silly prices? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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