Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaC
Shame is all well and good but it doesn't stop people being made homeless.
I couldn't give a rats behind for who's at fault. What concerns me is the social cost of largescale repossessions.
Yesterday morning I visited a constituent. Her husband was laid off work. When you are in rented accomodation and unemployed the benefits system will assist you with rent. If you own your house, however, the benefits system will not assist you to maintain your asset. They put the house on the market but the recent slump in our area means they were not able to sell. They were also not able to keep up with the mortgage payments and on the 1st of this month their house was repossessed and they were evicted. Now this woman, her husband, their 13 year old son and 17 year old daughter are all living at a friend's house. It's a one bedroom terrace, in which lives their friend, her partner and a teenage son on the sofa. There are now seven people living in a one bedroom house.
They keep trying to bid for association (ex-council) housing on the open letting system...but when more than one person bids, the winner is decided by points...points which increase with length of time on the list. This family stand no chance of getting a house through that system for about 6 months. Though the benefits system will assist with rent, they do not cover moving expenses, downpayments and deposits. Since pretty much all their meagre savings went on trying to stave off the repossession of their home, they cannot pay those costs and are therefore unable to take on a private tenancy. They've been offered hostel places, which would break up the family and have them living in different towns. Their son would have a journey of several miles to get to school.
The husband has worked his whole life, since the age of 16. She used to work but was forced into inactivity by ill-health.
It could be argued that they bought too much house, given the lack of fall-back should the worst occur. They had a three bedroom house in a cheap part of town. Not exactly greedy.
Again, I don't really care about the moral dimension of credit. All I care about is that there are seven people living in a one bedroom house, and a family in crisis because the raft they built wasn't strong enough to weather the storm.
|
Is there a housing crisis in the UK also Dana? Are you having similar issues with mortgage companies as the US?
BTW, I completely agree with you on all points you've made above. My shame on you comment was simply taking tw at his own words for the sake of continuity. I think I've argued my point fairly clearly in the last few pages.