Property shop (priority housing) - How long have you waited?

[Ms Macbeth]

An example of a young persons expences in a Council flast on Wynne Gardens. Rent. £68.00. Council Tax ( Not sure but gets no rebate ) So we can safely say £10.00 a week. Gas £ 15 A week but more in Winter when it is cold. Electric is roughly the same, Both paid by token card. Then we have bus fares to Attercliffe for work. We have food. We have such things as toiletries and cleaning items. It is a good job this man is in Council and not Association Housing. Flats for single people with the Associations on Upperthorpe are over £100 pounds per week. How much is this young 19 year old expecpected to pay in Board if he was at home. He cannot be expected to fully support his parents. Plus the Council do not lose by this young man being with his parents. They actually gain. They would have an extra flat in the stock pile of homes waiting to be sold to associations at a corrupt price. There is corruption within Council Housing as well as other departments in the Council. Privatization of housing has made certain people rich. Regeneration for want of a better name . Has made quite a lot of people rich. Stopping Benefits of elderly relations for helping family with accomodation is wrong. People in Authority should look outside the box. But no. Sheffield would tax babies push chairs if they could get away with it. But I still say that a young person should be helped with housing not have to beg and wait over 6 or 7 years on a comical waiting list. Have to live in misery when they get a flat because the bills are far too high to allow the young person to have a life outside of the home when this person only takes home £195.00 a week. Those on benefits and ex crims with social workers, Single mums with loads of kids waiting for a home to wreck. Teen mums that need serious social education.. Drug addicts, Granny Bashers, These are the one's that benefit , The social misfits get all the help. Those that try get none.

 

Don't quite know what your point is. And would you like to substantiate the allegation of corruption in housing?

[Plain Talker]

I'm not sure about ("tommy") gunner, but we've got ("Tommy") ROT

 

let me refute your comments:-

 

An example of a young persons expences in a Council flast on Wynne Gardens. Rent. £68.00. Council Tax ( Not sure but gets no rebate ) So we can safely say £10.00 a week.

 

erm- in sheffield the MINIMUM council tax is £16.00/£20.00 for a band A property (depending on receiving a single person's 25% discount)

 

Gas £ 15 A week but more in Winter when it is cold. Electric is roughly the same, Both paid by token card.

 

1) I live in a 2-bed house, with central heating, a gas fire and a gas cooker. I pay 12.00 per week for my gas, and the same for my 'leccy, on a budget scheme thingie, spread over a year on the budget. Anyone spending fifteen quid a week on gas and light in summer, in a 1-bed flat (or actually a bedsit, which is normally what those properties are) is obviously either wired up to the local factory by mistake, or is feckless as to how they use their fuel. (do they have the heating on full, Winter and Summer, perhaps, with all the windows open?)

 

2) if you are on a token meter, instead of a credit meter, then you are financially - foolish, IMO, as you pay a far higher tarrif for usage, and a much higher standing charge for the supposed "privelige" of having a token meter. You are much wiser to have a budget card to pay weekly/ fortnightly/ monthly at a paypoint or post office. Surely, any money you are overpaying to the fuel company(ies) is better off in your pocket than lining theirs?

 

3) district heating schemes are a P.I.T.A., as you do pay £15 or so a week for that. thankfully, few properties are on this rip-off.

 

 

Then we have bus fares to Attercliffe for work. We have food. We have such things as toiletries and cleaning items.

 

bus fares to Attercliffe? the Supertram runs directly to Attercliffe from Winn (note spelling) Gardens, and Stagecoach have special offers on weekly savercards. food? the tram runs to the market, where you can get cheap fruit and veg, and meat (If,unlike me, you are a meat eater) and make quick and easy soups and stews etc.

 

Toiletries, and cleaning stuff? they don't need replacing every week.

 

It is a good job this man is in Council and not Association Housing. Flats for single people with the Associations on Upperthorpe are over £100 pounds per week.

 

Do what? Over £100 pw for a HA property? Where do you get that ludicrous figure from? My 2 bed house is £80, and that's top-end pricing.

 

 

How much is this young 19 year old expecpected to pay in Board if he was at home. He cannot be expected to fully support his parents. Plus the Council do not lose by this young man being with his parents. They actually gain. They would have an extra flat in the stock pile of homes waiting to be sold to associations at a corrupt price. There is corruption within Council Housing as well as other departments in the Council. Privatization of housing has made certain people rich. Regeneration for want of a better name . Has made quite a lot of people rich. Stopping Benefits of elderly relations for helping family with accomodation is wrong. People in Authority should look outside the box. But no. Sheffield would tax babies push chairs if they could get away with it. But I still say that a young person should be helped with housing not have to beg and wait over 6 or 7 years on a comical waiting list. Have to live in misery when they get a flat because the bills are far too high to allow the young person to have a life outside of the home when this person only takes home £195.00 a week. Those on benefits and ex crims with social workers, Single mums with loads of kids waiting for a home to wreck. Teen mums that need serious social education.. Drug addicts, Granny Bashers, These are the one's that benefit , The social misfits get all the help. Those that try get none.

 

so hang on.. make your mind up...? is this chap in his own place, or is he lodging with the parents?

 

Can we have a bit of cohesion, and continuity in your post, please? What exactly IS your point?

 

On a scale of one-to rambling, it rates about a 10.5 on my "rot"-ometer.

[tom3t0]

my best friend is currently homeless.

 

she has been homeless for about four months, and has also been given mobility priority. She has to bid for properties, too, which, for anyone on homeless priority I think is totally and utterly stinking ridiculous!

 

Now, she doesn't have to bid for them, per se, someone in the homeless section actually does the bidding for her.

 

So, Knowing that she uses a wheelchair, and has been given the priority what do the imbeciles at the council do? They send her for upper-floor flats(!) or other flats that are inacessible for her wheelchair.

 

So, not only does she have the hassle of being homeless, and desperate for accommodation, she has to endure the cretins at the housing sending her for unsuitable properties, she has the stress of having to bid, too!

 

She has bid for a number of suitable properties, over the last few weeks, but been unsuccessful with them

 

What a totally stupid way to treat homeless people.

 

PT

 

They should be in place a system better accomodated for housing the homeless, the properties for the homeless should be available immediately (somebody in a car 24/7 with the keys) it would be cheaper than having 3 people see to organising an interview.

 

Homeless = takes what offered!

 

It also makes better use of the properties.

[Gunner]

Here we have a system brought in as an experiment by the Government. It does not work . My nephew has waited for six years. He moves from home to home whilst he is still working. It seems that criminals . Druggies, Asylum seekers, Teen mums, etc. Are all first to get a home. Many single people get 2 bed houses ( not flats as is required ) Then they wreck them or become neighbours from hell. The Property Shop is a Corrupt system. However, If you have contacts in the right place or related to some politically correct committee you will soon be accomodated. Sheffield are trying to privatize all housing. Hence they keep a property empty for as long as possible, They then either demolish, or they give the house to the Housing Associations. Some of these Associations make it difficult to get a home from them by certain rules. Also houses ( see Upperthorpe ) and the high rise flats that have been taken over by these associations, Where rents were reasonable, We now find the rents have trebled. £120.00 for a high rise single flatlet. How can our young people on a low wage afford this. as well as the High Council Tax and all the ever increasing power bills. This as well as all the stupid and political correct legislation that this corrupt and government are introducing is against Human Rights. But, When have this Council or Government afforded us our rights. Only the criminals get this luxury.

[Ms Macbeth]

Gunner, I've read your posts, and there is nothing in either of them to substantiate corruption. Let me try and respond to your latest post:

 

I've no idea what system is a government experiment. Legislation around social housing changes to reflect real need in society.

 

I don't understand why someone who is in work has to wait 6 years for accommodation - lots of people on low incomes rent rooms, or share houses until they can afford something better. A council home isn't a right.

 

Asylum seekers don't get council housing, they aren't eligible. Young mums will probably get somewhere if they have nowhere else to live, but thats because local authorities have a duty to ensure that families that include children have somewhere to live. Thats been the case for many years. Druggies, criminals etc - there is a higher percentage of people with social problems who live in social housing as they are unlikely to have the means to buy or rent privately. However, many ex criminals and many drug addicts are homeless and get no priority for council housing.

 

There are still more than 40 thousand council homes in Sheffield, and tenants voted for estates either to remain in council ownership or to transfer to housing associations. It costs money to leave a property empty, and the council rarely sell off individual homes outside the Right to Buy. Housing associations don't have exactly the same rules as the council, but they still supply social housing to those who meet the criteria for it. I don't know what you mean by 'certain rules'? Don't know what you mean by 'Upperthorpe' either.

 

I've had a quick look at the weekly rents charged for some council flats from Sheffield Homes this week - unfurnished 1 bedroomed range from £41 to £54, 2 bedroomed £57 to £58. Furnished 1 bed £67 to £74, and there is one furnished 2 bed at £80. Even a house for around £60. Nothing anywhere near your figure of £120 per week.

 

Which of your human rights is affected by government legislation, or by the way the council lets its homes?

 

I don't see any evidence of corruption in what you posted, sorry. I think you just don't like the government or the council, because the rules don't suit your nephew.

[Gunner]

McBeth

Sorry, But I guess you either work for the Council or you have not done your research correctly. We hear, See and experience this corruption every day in Sheffield and other places. Corruption may be a strong word, But they have lived and worked with this for ages. Kelvin Flats, Well that was one of the first where i experienced this. But this Council cannot destinguish between Corruption or Mistakes anymore. They seem to take this as normal. Wrong. It is the right of every individual to have a home or a decent place to live. I guess again that you come from a fairly affluent family that have not experienced this. The benefits system is unfair to many families whilst pandering to those that know how to abuse it. But a home is a right. Yes we have shared housing. But some people like myself would not like or addapt to this. Then we have Hostels, Many filthy and expensive. Many where abuse of young men and women is commonplace. As for high rents. Please do your homework again. There are many flats over the price and rents I have quoted. I refer you to the high rise on Upperthorpe. I was rand last month with the first offer in six years for my nephew. They mentioned before they even told me that the rent was very high. I was asked " Would my nephew be able to afford £118.00 per week ". My nephew does have a support worker. He is not asking for any difficult area. Yet he has worked all through leaving school at 16 without time off. He was told by housing that he could have priority if he fitted the certain ethnic groups. These included drug addicts If you work for the council. I suspect you do, You may contact me and have my explicit permission to look into this. Yes I say Corruption because this is corruption. How do we account for the fact that certain applicants that have family on area and estate committee's manage to get a flat in their own area with the family they come from. This after being on the waiting list ( this does not exist according to one member of staff ) for only a few months. I am informd that houses that are empty for a cetain length of time are on the list of homeless properties held for the homeless. That they are empty because people do refuse them and they remain on this list. Many are in degenerate area's where even a scum bag would think twice before taking. The regeneration projects have caused much of this suspect corruption. There are many questions that need to be asked. Many anomolies and even short cuts taken by contractors in order to make larger profits. It is amazing just how many so called new companies have made vast profits in this area. Even the alarm systems that tenants were able to have fitted at a small cost ( granted ). On top of their rents. This was one big con. The expensive system was laughable. The work on homes is substandard. In may cases dangerous. I had an inspector from health and safety look at windows fitted under this project. He agreed with me but stated. " They have no authority against the Council. I have my own OPINION same as many others. Yes I say corruption. In many areas not just housing. I have this right to this opinion. Just as people have a right to a home .

[Ms Macbeth]

I don't work for the council, I have worked in the past for housing organisations so I understand the legislation. I'm not affluent, far from it, I'm retired, but I've worked all my life and have been a council tenant, a private tenant and a homeowner.

 

You do have a right to an opinion, but please don't confuse your opinion with fact on every issue. I quoted council rents, £118/120 pw certainly isn't for basic rent. You can check out these facts on Sheffield Homes website here http://www.sheffieldpropertyshop.org.uk/filterpage.asp? You didn't make it clear if they were for housing association or private rented.

 

The benefits system is another topic, if you know people are abusing it, report them.

 

If you have evidence that housing is being allocated outside the rules, then I suggest you put in a complaint, either to Sheffield Homes, the council, or directly to one or all of the councillors in your area. Same applies to evidence of corruption in other council departments. I can't really add any more as you obviously have your own beliefs about how things are.

[Plain Talker]

They should be in place a system better accomodated for housing the homeless, the properties for the homeless should be available immediately (somebody in a car 24/7 with the keys) it would be cheaper than having 3 people see to organising an interview.

 

Homeless = takes what offered!

 

It also makes better use of the properties.

 

I think I made it perfectly clear, in my post, Tom, that my friend who's case I related in the post you quoted is, like me, a wheelchair user, and that the properties which she'd been offered were patently unsuitable,for a wheelchair user, as they were upper-floor flats/inacessible flats.

 

Now, if you could have suggested to me, a means of getting her, and her electric wheelchair up any number of steps to a property in a block of flats where there is no lift or ramped access, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

 

My friend had very specific needs, IE an accesssible property.

 

There was no point in the homeless section offering her a property to live in, that she could not actually get to the front door of, to get inside, was there? Because that would be as nonsensical as leaving a property empty.

 

Since that post of mine was made (in summer 2004), my friend has, fortunately, been rehoused, and has a lovely little flat, which is accessible, and has the adaptions which she needs (shower room, level access,etc) but it took her a good eight months, and that with a priority to get the property. It is completely on the opposite side of the city to her family and support, but, it came up, it was adapted to her needs, it was accessible, so she took it, despite being so out-of-the-way.

[Albert T Smith]

When someone applies for a home I understand that they submit a application which is then added to those who have or are expected to apply.

A Sub Committee then makes the decision of who will be offered the first chance of tenancy or the chance of the first refusal.

 

How does a applicant know that when they apply that their application will be added to the initial applicant list and not put in the waste bin?

[Ms Macbeth]

When someone applies for a home I understand that they submit a application which is then added to those who have or are expected to apply.

A Sub Committee then makes the decision of who will be offered the first chance of tenancy or the chance of the first refusal.

 

How does a applicant know that when they apply that their application will be added to the initial applicant list and not put in the waste bin?

 

Before anyone can bid for a property, they must already have filled in a registration form, and have been accepted on the register. They can bid for any property that is advertised, although there are guidelines regarding who can get what size and type of home. Every advert carries information such as 'age 60 and above' (for some flats), 'suit single person or couple' etc. They also state whether they are intended for people with priority, or for people who are bidding purely on waiting time. If its waiting time, the advert also gives an indication of how long is needed, ie 'approx 3 years waiting time'. This is based on how much waiting time the last successful applicant had for a similar property in the area. The advert may say 'priority applicants' which can include homelessness,demolition, overcrowding, disability and other types of priority. Some will specifically state 'preference will be given to people with mobility priority' for obvious reasons.

 

Each week, all the bids for a property are looked at. For example, if a flat is designated for over 60s and is to be let on waiting time, the most likely person to be offered it would be the bidder who has the longest waiting time and is over 60. If it was to be offered to someone with mobility needs, then the offer would likely go to the bidder who was awarded mobility priority before other bidders with the same priority. The main problem is there are not enough council properties, and when a suitable one becomes available (as in PT's friend's case) they aren't always in the areas people want. So if someone has priority (which isn't easy to get) but don't bid on suitable properties, a decision will be made to offer them one which in most cases they must accept or lose priority.

 

Thats about as clear as I can make it, someone else may be able to simplify the system a bit more. People can check their registrations on line, and see previous lettings of properties. Its not a perfect system, but whatever system is used for letting council homes it won't suit everyone.

 

To answer your question about putting them in the bin - I certainly don't think that happens. What would an impartial group of people gain by getting rid of the bids?