Why do the fully employed folk in the Inverclyde area have to pay for private accommodation? When you go to one or indeed all of the "Housing Associations", their so-called points system only benefits those who have mental health issues or a drink problem or if you are lucky enough to have had a child/children. If you do not fall into one of these categories you have no hope of getting housed for at least 10, maybe 15 years. Why do we get punished for working full time! This has to be discrimination, is it not? I would be very interested to know other people's opinion on this subject

A very disgruntled employed person

I was starting to think I was the only person who felt this way. I was so glad to read this comment someone had made. Currently I live with my parents and I plan on getting married and trying to start a family but as me and my partner work full time we are desperate for our own house and to get the ball rolling. I honestly didn't have any idea that getting a decent start in life would be this hard. I don't think it is right that people who want to do things the right way are put down. I want to be given a chance in life and to be able to have a flat and start my life properly. This makes me so angry knowing I will need to pay double the price on rent for a private let.

Julie

I totally agree with this post. The system is weighted against hard-working young couples, also those looking to relocate to this area. Years ago there was housing available to incoming workers. Now it's either pay over the odds for a private rental -- money that could be spent paying a social housing rent or buy a house. Not many young people/couples are able to save the amount of cash expected by banks for a deposit to buy a house. Would it not be better for the housing associations to have more people who are capable of paying a fair rent than a large number of tenants dependent on housing benefit?

Yours

Social Conscience

I’m fully employed and I recently had to rent a house which is costing me £450 in rent alone. Why can't I get a council house? Not everyone has enough money to get a deposit together in order to buy their own house. To me this type of system encourages people to be unemployed, and/or have children in order to get a half decent house. In my eyes this is discrimination against people who are willing to work, and stay in a job to pay their way.

Thank you,

Denise

Looks like this is just another instance of prejudice against decent citizens.

James

I too the other day was saying to my wife, we both work, we have a child, and yet we are destined to live out our days in a close. I would love to have a garden to look after with my child but we have no way of getting one. Why don’t they dish out these horrible 60-year-old closes to the people who don’t actually earn anything and give the folks that are willing to pay a nice home to look after. If I want a car I need to go pay for it. Because a troubled soul has issues, one of which is not working, they can’t just walk into a showroom and get a free car, so why should housing be the same? Working folks should have a better way of life after all we are earning it. I also know when the day comes, the people who I share a close with and mooch will get the better house in the new scheme if they ever knock my building down.

Chris

I'm afraid I disagree with previous comments on this thread. Nobody is owed a house by the government, whether working or not. It is up to individuals, not the state, to house themselves. When people fall on hard times we have welfare support to help and make sure people have what they need to survive. Cheap housing should not be expected as a given and it is greedy and conducive to laziness to believe so. Yes, private rents cost more than council rent. Get used to it. You are owed nothing.

Claire

I was born and raised in Greenock and have been on the council waiting list since I was 18. I am now 36 years young, married with four children, in full time employment and the only house I have been offered was top floor of a close with junkies on either side. I have been told by certain folk that I will never get the chance to have a nice house in an area I want unless I buy one. I have had to move to Ayrshire, away from my work and family and commute back and forward. So even young families dont have a chance of a good start in life.

Joe

Readers are pointing out that it would be better if the housing associations rented to those who can afford a fair rent. The problem is that the housing association gets paid by the government if their tenant cannot pay, so they don't care who they rent to. Claire, I don't think you have read the previous communications on this subject. No one has said that they are entitled to a subsidised rent house. The point is the fairness of the system whereby hard working families seem to always be at the back of the queue, versus the unemployed, drug addict, alcoholics who seem to have no problem getting to the front of the queue.

James

I could not be happier with the comments listed above. It sounds like this is something that is close not only to my heart but to a lot of the decent hardworking folk within Inverclyde. This has been on the lips of young and old for a number of years now and I fully back the submitter and others of this thread. It seems this is something that has been boiling on and is starting to boil over and people need to make a stand to show that it is the hard working classes taxes that are paying for these so called free loaders to stay in some of the newest homes built within the area. I was lucky enough 12 years ago that the market was stable and the banks were lending 100per cent mortgages but I recall a time when I lost my job and things started to get tough so I went to see about getting onto the council list; basically it was a wasted journey, so another option I looked into was shared equity but again my perusal was at a loss.

It makes you think if it really pays to be working class. I just read an article saying that not only is the cost of paying a mortgage on a new home at its lowest in 14 years, but the cost is well below the average over the past 27 years. If this is true, which I have my doubts, where is this happening? because the last time I looked it was a lot harder than the media are making out. Without a good deposit of say 10 to 15 per cent, some even more so, you can’t get a mortgage and keep your interest rates low enough so you have that extra bit of cash to decorate/new carpets all the little things that people like doing in the first home. It seems a long reach away and I only hope certain rules change for the young as it appears to be an uphill struggle. Good luck for the future that lies ahead.

Paul

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