daveh Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Without trying to be contentious (although some will think that I am), why should the council provide subsidised housing accommodation as a rite of passage? I can recall decades back having to scrimp money together to rent a tiny flat for my wife and young child. Why should that not be the case now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smaadrink Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 ^^I agree with you whole heartedly,children should be had when the parents can provide for and support them,without state handouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 I've got a great idea, lets chemically sterilise everyone until they can pass enough tests, financial, health, CRB etc Then only fit and proper people can have children and they'll have studied well enough to bring their children up to government guidelines. What a wonderful world that'd be. Planning a pregnancy is one thing, but kids come when kids come. And TBH better younger folk have kids when they can't afford it, than older folk spending all the NHS budget having kids when their bodies can't do it naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Without trying to be contentious (although some will think that I am), why should the council provide subsidised housing accommodation as a rite of passage? I can recall decades back having to scrimp money together to rent a tiny flat for my wife and young child. Why should that not be the case now? Nowhere in the original post does it say they are seeking subsidised housing (does this mean housing benefit?), nor that they can't afford to rent privately. They are just seeking housing - somewhere to live, as far as I can determine. They're trying to locate that 'tiny flat for the wife and young child'. In Shetland you have a choice between council, Hjaltland and private renting if you can't afford to build, yes? It makes sense to try and get on the council list as the majority of available properties would be with the council, I suspect. I would have figured that being homeless would qualify as, um, being homeless, but I don't understand the ways of the council. I wish them the best of luck in finding a place to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 point is that everything private for miles surrounding Calback ness is full of oil workers and no amount of scrimping can compete wi that. Nor could any hotel workers wage ever dream of building on golden house sites in brae. Running out of ideas now?. Theres toytown , any ideas how to get in there? Maybe the complainant there is still reminiscing about good old pre-thatcher era Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pleepsie Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 ^^I would do it myself but I live Lerwick and the council will not take them on if they move in with family. Seems to me that they are seeking subsidised accommodation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted March 21, 2010 Report Share Posted March 21, 2010 Without trying to be contentious (although some will think that I am), why should the council provide subsidised housing accommodation as a rite of passage? I can recall decades back having to scrimp money together to rent a tiny flat for my wife and young child. Why should that not be the case now? I don't think (and I could well be wrong) that there is nothing in law to state that a Local Authority has to provide social housing. However, there is a duty that if they maintain a Council housing list that they have to ensure they stick by their policies and that it is fair and just. I think there is one borough in England that no longer has any housing stock since Right to Buy. If they do have housing stock, they can only spend on housing what is brought in via rents and grants from central government (or for charging for repairs under joint ownership schemes, etc.). Social housing was always intended for people most in need - those who could not afford to buy or rent within the private sector. It is the Children's Act that puts obligations upon a Local Authority to assist those with children facing homelessness. I don't know everything so I could be wrong, but that's what the situation used to be like anyway and it may well have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 ^^I would do it myself but I live Lerwick and the council will not take them on if they move in with family. Seems to me that they are seeking subsidised accommodation. As I asked in my post, does this mean housing benefit? What is 'subsidised housing'? You pay your rent to the council just like you would private accomodation. edit: Aaah, google is my friend. I see. I was wrong. It seems to me that there isn't much choice in Shetland regarding accomodation. If you can't afford to buy anything there are that few private places to rent that you are somewhat forced to try and get a council/Hjaltland place, even if you could afford private. What are the other options? Pitch a tent? Move? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 Without trying to be contentious (although some will think that I am), why should the council provide subsidised housing accommodation as a rite of passage? I can recall decades back having to scrimp money together to rent a tiny flat for my wife and young child. Why should that not be the case now? Not one for voicing my opinion but..stir stir........ being a council tenant, it states that you will not be given a council property if you own a property/home. However, when workers come into the island to work then they are given council properties, eventhough they may own a flat/house. Personally, I think they should be offered a relocation package that may include a deposit to privately rent, as no doubt they rent out their home while working here. If this was the case then surely this would free up quite a lot of housing stock and reduce housing waiting lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 you would also run short of teachers,doctors, nurses and the rest. its a massive move and if there is some doubt about were your going to be living your going to have people pull out. with the building of accommodation for the workers on the gas plant. could total not be persuaded to build the accommodation up to housing standard and either give or sell it cheaply afterwards. maybe even share the cost of building. what is annoying is that people assume that your moving up here with tonnes of money. i know some do but most essential workers are not rolling in cash. i don't know about the council but the nhs has cut back on permanent contracts so no relocation packages. the housing migrating workers get is usually long term empty. so the rent is a plus and as they are in full time employ they are not a drain on housing /council tax benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveh Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 with the building of accommodation for the workers on the gas plant. could total not be persuaded to build the accommodation up to housing standard and either give or sell it cheaply afterwards. maybe even share the cost of building. That is an excellent idea and one that should definitely be explored by the council. As an alternative, the council could pay a percentage of the building costs on the understanding that it is handed over to the council when the gas plant building work is complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 seem to remember that's how all the housing debt started, all those extra houses for folk coming up for the oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longdog Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 Not one for voicing my opinion but..stir stir........ being a council tenant, it states that you will not be given a council property if you own a property/home. However, when workers come into the island to work then they are given council properties, eventhough they may own a flat/house. Personally, I think they should be offered a relocation package that may include a deposit to privately rent, as no doubt they rent out their home while working here. If this was the case then surely this would free up quite a lot of housing stock and reduce housing waiting lists. Stir stir away , workers that come to the islands are not allowed a relocation property any more, they are allowed expenses to make so many trips up to try and find a property. They never were given them anyway they have to pay rent like anyone else, and the choice of location is pretty non-existant. As we found to rent a property is very difficult, was actually impossible for us in the time scale we had, we tried, even harder to do from a distance and with a dog and baby. That plus there are so few to rent tha aren't short term winter lets, or to small. And no we don't rent our property out where we came from while we're here, we're trying to sell it so we can buy up here, we moved here. We and others make a massive commitment to up sticks and come to Shetland away from friends and family support. With out such housing support ,as PaulB ,said you'd soon run short of lots of necessary workers. I think the change from offering relocation property might be seen to do just that over time. For instance, why there are loads of locum GP's and dentists from abroad? May be because Shetland doesn't have enough, home grown ones? And they often do commute back and forwards from where ever they originate so the money doesn't necessarily even go in to the island economy. You might have guessed I don't think much of the 'incomers get it all,take our hosuue, jobs and women, poor us' zenophobia that some have. Rant over Anyway, back to the original thread. In the dim and distant pass I too was told that if I wanted a council house my parents had to declare me and my wife at the time and baby daughter homeless. We had 3 families with 2 babies in my mam and dad's 3 bed semi (that's 6 adults, 2 babies and 2 dogs). But that was irrelevant, as we were family we were advised that we formally needed to be 'kicked out' to find acommodation. Luckily, I got good work after not too long and bought a place, when houses were still cheap and you could get a 100% mortgage. No chance of that now though eh?.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longdog Posted March 22, 2010 Report Share Posted March 22, 2010 seem to remember that's how all the housing debt started, all those extra houses for folk coming up for the oil. Odd i thought loads of housing was built because of the oil such as Firth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 ^The SIC had a large house building proramme in the 1970's to accomodate oil workers. This was financed by borrowing money and according to this article £45 million of that debt is still outstanding. http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/2010/March/news/SIC%20rocked%20by%20housing%20grant%20cuts.htm Shetland Islands Council is the only local authority in Scotland to receive housing support grant. The annual grant of £1.2 million helps service the authority's huge £45million housing debt, incurred in the ‘70s when the council embarked on a huge council house building programme for workers moving to Shetland to build Sullom Voe oil terminal. This housing debt is a millstone around the SIC's housing strategy, even with the grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts