Social housing

[DaveR]

only 9 years to go

So...wait 9 years and THEN be offended 

[Merddin Emrys]

I'm building up to it 

Croeso y Cymru 

[Nemesis]

I hope you are joking when you ask where Bodafon Fields are. If not words fail me !

[Merddin Emrys]

I know where BODAFON fields are.....

[Yorkie]

And I am a SENIOR CITIZEN who moved here with my WELSH wife 25 years ago.   We too bought our place outright.  I wished my kids lived here also, but like so many other youngsters these days, they have had to leave home to find decent jobs in England or elsewhere.

I have tried to "fit in" but get fed up of some of the regular comments about the influx of people from outside of Wales... Just wait until you get the influx of emigrants that the major English cities have seen over the past 50 years.   Then there will be something to gripe about.  Immigrants getting social housing ahead of the local populous, it's all in the media.   

[dwsi]

On my family farm, we are currently in the planning process for building 3 houses. 1 of these houses will be offered voluntary by us as social housing. During a meeting with the housing association, we said we wanted this house to go to locally born people. The housing association told us we weren't allowed to do this, they said if there was a couple from Birmingham that wanted a house then they would get it first.

[Fester]

OOhh Llechwedd..... Can is open, worms everywhere!

[DaveR]

Immigrants getting social housing ahead of the local populous, it's all in the media.

It's really not. I know of a couple from Hong Kong who received a lovely new house in Rhos under the shared ownership scheme. How could they have possibly qualified for this scarce accommodation when they had only recently arrived in the UK, whilst young couples whose families have lived here for generations are still looking for their first home to buy?

[Ian]

"Shared ownership housing schemes are usually intended for people who cannot afford to buy a suitable home in any other way. However, the way in which this is defined will vary considerably with some shared ownership schemes merely being restricted to first time buyers and others to applicants living within a certain borough. Generally, priority goes to the following groups in the first instance, in order of priority: existing social tenants; serving military personnel; and then on equal priority ranking, local priorities as set by Local Authorities. "

From http://www.shared-ownership.org.uk/

[DaveR]

Nonetheless, this Chinese couple found themselves living in a lovely shared ownership house. They've now returned back to Hong Kong.

[Yorkie]

Wasn't Hong Kong something to do with the British until just a few years ago?   We had too many colonies and now suffer the consequences!     

[DaveR]

Wasn't Hong Kong something to do with the British until just a few years ago?   We had too many colonies and now suffer the consequences!     

It certainly was, Yorkie. But I wonder if we would receive any social housing if we went to Hong Kong?

[Yorkie]

Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programmes through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower-income residents. It is a major component of housing in Hong Kong, with nearly half of the population now residing in some form of public housing. The public housing policy dates to 1953, when a fire in Shek Kip Mei destroyed thousands of shanty homes and prompted the government to begin constructing homes for the poor.

Public housing is mainly built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society. Rents and prices are significantly lower than those for private housing and are heavily subsidised by the government, with revenues partially recovered from sources such as rents and charges collected from car parks and shops within or near the residences.

Public housing estates are typically built in remote or less accessible parts of the territory, but urban expansion has left some older estates now deep within the inner city. They are found in every district of Hong Kong except in Wan Chai District. The vast majority of projects consist of high-rise buildings, and the recent buildings usually contain 40 or more storeys.
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Whether we would qualify for accommodation or not I do not know, but my Sister-in-Law had no problem with accommodation when she and her family were living there.   Perhaps someone else knows the answer?

[Fester]

I have been to Hong Kong many times in my life, and it is one of my very favourite places.

It is incredibly vibrant, clean and brilliantly managed in terms of infrastructure and public transport.
A very impressive city / state in many ways.

It is also a terribly over populated island and peninsula.

I don't know why Wan Chai is excluded from Social Housing developments, it is a sprawling metropolis of markets, bars and urban life.   Brilliant, if a little seedy.

[Llechwedd]

The point I was trying to make is that oap's come here from England and buy up flats and houses at inflated prices which locals can't afford.  They are a huge drain on the infrastucture just talk to anyone from Social Services. If many houses are to be built then I think that they should be for locals who can afford thenm rather than yet more non locals.  I wan't having a go at you Merddyn so why take offence you are not old yet.