Elederly To Blame For Housing Shortage?

[FredPuli43]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article3903989.ece

(Hope you get enough before the paywall limit. Couldn't find it free)

Apparently immigrants and the elderly are to blame for the housing shortage. And, adds the housing minister, the elderly are more to blame than the immigrants. That means me and AOG, for a start, and goodness knows how many other ABers.

What are we doing wrong? Is it like bed-blocking; die or be put in a secure home for us? I have four bedrooms but use only one; is that it? Do we buy second homes and leave one home empty?

What do you think?

[factor-fiction]

I think Mosaic is referring to Liz, Charles, Andrew, etc, cazzz

[cazzz1975]

lol they do earn money for the country though factor..

[emmie]

cazz i am fully aware of the surplus bedroom tax, and also that those who are already pension age are exempt. Some now 60 year olds will work on, because for one thing the pension age has changed, if born in 1954 i think it is you will have to work to 66, i would have to check that data though,

[Gromit]

hypognosis

The Telegraph paywall is easy to bypass, just clear your history and cookies.

[cazzz1975]

the housing shortage is not caused by elderly, its caused by the selling off of council properties and not replacing them

[emmie]

cazz so the women you mention are in were family homes.
so would it better if they moved out and gave them to other families, what happens if the children, grandchildren come to stay, and where will these 60 year old women move to? if they can't, don't want to move in with their children, or some wouldn't want to, you have to find them some place to live, and as i said the single one bed properties are not that easy to find and again where would they be? if out of the borough, county, how would you feel if someone told you that you have no choice but to move away from family, friends. This matter wouldn't occur if they build or renovate homes left almost derelict by councils.

[emmie]

and had a bizarre policy on housing people who have had no stake in UK -
one thing if you have paid into the system but quite another to be given social housing if coming here with your family in recent days. Seems unfair wouldn't you say, and that policy is not just for the capital, and has been going on a long time - it should be a balanced and fair policy on people's needs and who has paid into the pot, not given something for nothing, as in anyone who continues to breed yet never worked a day in their life because of sheet laziness. or those immigrants who have paid nowt into the pot, seems bizarre and totally unfair.

[emmie]

the capital is in the midst of a large housing build, most is private not social housing. Because private is more saleable, you charge the earth for a house here, let alone a one bed - even so called fringe areas command high fees on rent and buy - as i already mentioned many of our housing builds are being bought from overseas investor, so how does a singleton, or a couple get to buy here or rent come to think of it.

[hawksley]

Nick Boles,Tory, Planning Minister.another con Pratt who has just shot himself in the foot, and lost a load of votes for the cons.

[factor-fiction]

Yes hawksley, if people choose to ascribe words to people that weren't said.

[zebo]

We are a retired couple with a 5 seater car, can I swap it for something more suitable, a 2 seater Porsche maybe, thus freeing up 3 extra seats?

[emmie]

did Nick Boles not say it then? besides all governments in recent years have failed and failed again on housing policies. Surely if farmers stop farming and give over their land, sell it to property developers, won't that mean having to import more foodstuffs. If it's dairy farms and it's unprofitable perhaps, but that is often down to the wretched supermarket monopoly on buying milk.

[maggiebee]

I personally think the royal family should downsize. How many rooms do the Queen and Phillip need? Or any of the others of the firm for that matter. How many rooms does Buck House, Balmoral, Sandringham etc. etc. have that all need to be heated and stand empty. Who pays for all of this? I live on my own in a three bedroomed house but I have no intention of downsizing. Family may have flown the nest but they visit and I love my home.

[emmie]

she can't very well greet the Sultan of Brunei in a downsized semi.

[factor-fiction]

As far as I can see, despite the wording of newspaper headline and this thread title, Nick Boles did not say "old people are to blame".
From the bit i can read from that article the article says "the planning minister said that the rise of four-generation families has led to an “intense” housing shortage, adding that an ageing population was putting more pressure on housing supply than immigration."

I'm defending the suggestion that he said old people are to blame. What he said was factually correct.

I'm not defending in any way this government or previous governments (and maybe councils) who I think are to blame for the lack of housing, particularly single bedroom social housing.

[maggiebee]

Well maybe the Sultan of Brunei should downsize too? Only joking - but why do they need SO MANY residences. Keep Buck House, get rid of the others.

[Old_Geezer]

If the elderly had kids that now need housing then surely they are responsible ? The problem is the growing population after all. (Although the authorities usually like to find scapegoats to blame/punish instead.)

[anotheoldgit]

Yes it is frightening, I was sent this the other day, I am sorry but I do not know the source.

/// An attitude is building among politicians suggesting that older people are to blame for societies ills and should be punished.
They are living too long and are a drain on healthcare, they must sell their property, empty their savings if they need care, forfeit winter fuel allowances and travel passes.
Former Labour Health Secretary Alan Millband in a report on the decline of social mobility commissioned by Nick Clegg, said last week young people are suffering because too much money is being spent on the old.
The old, he said, should be made to pay to give young a better chance in life.
most politicians daren't voice such explosive solutions because they fear losing the huge and influential so called grey vote, and yet these ideas are coming more into public debate.
And quite revolting things happen by stealth, the worse of which is the Liverpool Care Pathway, where the dying are denied nurture and nourishment ostensibly to bring about a dignified death but in effect to speed them on their way.
The LCP has been discredited but it has been replaced by the Integrated care Pathway, which amounts to the same thing.
Family doctors are paid £50 for everyone they put on Care Pathways in their own homes because this relieves pressure on hospitals. ///

Makes frightening reading doesn't it?

[FredPuli43]

So what the minister is really saying is that we've got too many people! Well, that's a shock. And nobody saw that coming.

The Swiss have an answer to part of that. Foreigners can't buy any home in Switzerland, but they can buy ski chalets, and that only with the approval of the local government. (If I had one, I'd call it El Ederly, to fit the typo in my headline)

[emmie]

they know we have too many people, and more coming, so please explain how we solve this problem. to blame the elderly seems reprehensible