Sidney Webb
South East England
Having worked for many years in housing - and had some particular fun over the past year - it is about time that I put a name to a face - so to speak!
And so to pastures new.
Recent activity
Comments (2964)
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Comment on: Salford issues five riot-related eviction notices
So not the hundreds the press and the Right wing Parties would have had us all believing. The inference therefore that the many hundred other rioters were of non-social tenure, so only need to have their wrists slapped.
This Government, with Shapps at the head, must apologise for the great slur and damage against tenants that they set out to cause and achieved - otherwise the burning to be avenged will not be extinguished. -
Comment on: Baroness attack on families branded 'nonsense'
Well done Gavin - except Child Benefit is a universal benefit - for instance Mrs Cameron gets it and is a multi millionaire.
You have shown that you can not substantiate the claim that people are breeding for benefits - it is an sick suggestion and the Member of the House of Lords responsible should be removed from decent society. -
Comment on: Government to push through welfare reforms
If prevention is better than cure, why not right into every executive contract that their total earning, including bonuses, can not exceed 6-times the pay of the lowest paid worker.
Think how much extra profit there would be if so much was not being given to so few! -
Comment on: Councillors vote against officers' rent rise
Very rarely Jono - but I do try to keep the others in order, despite being so very tired most of the time.
It saddens me to see the family name worn with such incompetence! -
Comment on: Housing chiefs slam Shapps’ allocation comments
Thank you Cexs, you've made this old man very happy, for at least the weekend.
Now feed your challenge out into the media with whom the mutual minister and media admiration has been left for too long without question.
Come out clearer and call the propagandist demoniser for what he is - using emotive language to stigmatise a specific group and so gain support for attacks against that very group. This Minister must be exposed for what he is, and called to account befor further lasting harm is done.
Discussions (7)
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Rising Stars
A 450 word item is asked for to enter on the subject: “How do we tackle the problem that the word ‘social’ is good when followed by ‘networking’
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TSA Consultation on new 'AR' reports
http://www.tenantservicesauthority.org/server/show/ConWebDoc.21239
The report which can be found on the abo -
Duplication of Posts
Is it the irritating little advertising box that homes into the cursor and forces the linkage to sites one does not choose to go to responsible for the increasing incidence of duplicate postings.<
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Level the playing field
If the policies of Shapps are correct then what about the following ideas:
Add a 10% annual property tax to all mortgages as a means of deriving funds for new build affordable housing for -
Park Homes Reforms
Whilst I often lambast the Housing Minister for his actions, or lack of actions, his move to place Park Homes under the scope of Housing Tribunals instead of County Courts deserves congratulations
Posts (224)
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Posted in: Panorama on subletting
The solution that fits the needs of most people would be for them to have access to affordable housing. As neither the Market not the Private Sector can provide the scale of housing required to make it affordable, simply because to do so means reduced unit profits, then this can only be provided by social investment.Iin short therefore, the very same actions that were taken the last time there was a housing crisis on this scale and the economy was broke are needed now - namely a programme of social house building of a size and scale sufficient to reduce unit costs such that all can afford them, and to provide all who chose to be a social tenant to be one.
Were this done then the market for this sort of sub-letting would not exist.
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Posted in: Overcrowding with rent arrears
Whilst the rules are general, and rent arrears will normally be a barrier to moving, each case is individual and so can be argued on its' own merit.
If the rent arrear is old, or linked to a previous situation of risk, harm, or other relationship stress, is there an argument for any write-off?
Would a move to alternative accomodation mean the Council saved money, for instance, on paying the high private rent - or would the arrears be more likely to be met if the tenant was not having to pay such a high private rent for unsuitable accomodation?
Would the circumstances that require supporting qualify for special consideration, or even a charitable intervention to assist, for instance to avoid disproportionate risk of harm to either of the under-25s?
Could the 18-year old be considered for independent accomodation as a way of releiving the overcrowding?
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Posted in: Panorama on subletting
Not quite Gavin - abolishing RTB does not prohibit aspiration to own being fulfilled, it just prevents the private ownership of public assets.
It is dispicable of Shapps and his like to bang on about tenancies for life being wrong as blocking public assets for the needy and then at the same time support selling of those assets, removing them from access to the needy for ever.
Those aspiring to own property can do so on the private market - they do not need to remove a public asset in the process. If they must buy their Council house then why not introduce a scheme whereby they must identify a private sector one of the same value which can be converted to rented and co-purchased, otherwise they will not qualify to buy the one they rent now. Simple and fair, plus affordable as the exchange is like for like!
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Posted in: Panorama on subletting
I do not argue with your points Gavin
However, one of the areas that I agree with the Minister on is that a house is a home not a commodity. The best way of achieving this Ministerial aspiration is to ensure that everyone has access to decent, suitable, affordable housing. The market has not and will not provide the supply as this is not profitable. The Private Sector will not provide the affordability as this is not sufficiently profitable for their short term business planning. The only proven method for achieving the Minister's aims is to use investment to provide housing for social level rents in such numbers that they no longer need to be rationed.
My complaint is that the Minister professes an aspiration but is never challenged on his opposition to achieving it.
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Posted in: Panorama on subletting
Alpha is to correct to say the reasons for the short supply of housing is more complex than simply the right to buy - but it is also simple in that complexity. The market led consumerisation of society politics meant that a supply deficit had to be created in order to make profitability a better potential. This created the housing market which the Tories love and Labour embraced. As with the food futures market this has nothing to do with best value for money, nor consumer choice. It has everything to do with making the most profit from the smallest investment over the quickest time, and beggar the consequences in terms of human of social loss. The use of taxpayer funding to subsidise profitablility in place of increasing supply is, in my book, criminal.
However - none of this is an excuse for subletting. It is a reason to dump the damaging consumerisation of housing (something even Shapps agrees with) and bring back regulation and investment to increased supply (both of which Shapps disagrees with).
Gavin - some of the criticism of Panorama is justified, especially as the journos concerned claim to be investigative journalists, not just hacks who can trot out a press release or repeat a thread of spin.