Quote:
Originally Posted by jinx
This is what happens here, with generation after generation being dependent on welfare. I didn't realize it was the norm in the UK.
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Just to reiterate what Dana said - council housing was the standard option after the war for working class people. It was really appreciated because private landlords didn't labour under a fraction of the regulations they do now and renting was always a gamble. With the council as your landlord you were not going to be kicked out without notice, have your rent doubled or live in somewhere hazardous to your health.
Certainly, living in London - or on its outskirts - you had to have property in the family if you weren't renting.
My Grandad lived all his life after the war in council accommodation. Syill does - his bungalow is council owned, built specifically for pensioners as part of a new estate in the 1980s. He worked hard all his life in low paid, low skilled jobs and now has a decent standard of living as he was lead to believe all the years of paying in Social Security. He's better off than many single men his age living in their own houses. He won't leave anything behind for Mum or Uncle Jim, but again his generation and his class never expected to, and his children certainly don't expect it.
I grew up in a council house. My parents still live in it now, although they bought it in the 80s. Mum says she wishes she'd never bought it because the repairs and maintenance would still be paid for by the counil if they hadn't, and it probably needs rewiring. They are on a list for sheltered housing with a housing association (like Dana says, private associations fulfil this need now). As Dad gets older, they'd like to move somewhere where he doesn't have to worry about stairs, DIY or gardening.
It is a different culture here. We pay higher taxes, so hard working people will take help that's offered without the same stigma as in America. Yes, council housing did get a bad name in the end, but certainly things like child support and state pensions are seen as rights, not welfare.