People in Oxford in urgent need of housing are being offered properties as far away as Cardiff and Birmingham by council officials.So..? If they really are in ‘desperate need’, they’ll take it, won’t they?
John McNulty, a solicitor for Oxford firm Turpin & Miller, is fighting to keep several families in the city and has accused city council officials of ‘dumping’ people outside the area.That’s generous of him. Doing it out of his own pocket, is he? Or are these people getting legal aid (on top of all the other benefits)?
Ah, well. Bring on the sob-stories!
Mother-of-two Elysha Britnell , 22, has been living in temporary accommodation controlled by the council in Cowley for two years, but was shocked when told she should move out of Oxford for the first time to live in Birmingham.
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She says she has no family or friends outside of Oxford, and has never lived anywhere else.
She added: “I’m Oxford born and bred. If this appeal fails I’ll be completely homeless. I have got nowhere else to go. Even if I go to Birmingham, I may as well be homeless, because I have nobody there.”Oh, you seem like the type of girl who makes friends easily…
Single mum-of-two Lisamarie Richards was offered homes in Birmingham and Cardiff, before she says she was given a final offer in Cheltenham. She said she has until the end of the week to find somewhere else to live after her private landlord in Bampton Close, Littlemore, decided to sell his house.
Miss Richards, 32, said she spent months trying to find another home, but was priced out of the rental market.
Miss Richards, mother to Charlie, 11, and Oscar, one, said: “I will have no-one. I’ve never lived out of Oxford.
“It is heartbreaking to watch my son come home from school at night and cry.”You know what’s ‘heartbreaking’, Lisamarie? Looking at the eye-watering levels of tax we shell out to be squandered on people like you.
The council is, of course, in blame-avoiding and finger-pointing mode:
Scott Seamons, Oxford City Council’s board member for housing, blamed the cap on housing benefit. He said: “Due to cuts in the Local Housing Allowance, it’s become increasingly difficult to place people with private landlords in Oxford.
“There’s too much choice for landlords, so they’re refusing people on benefits.”Oh, if only people weren’t free to make a choice, Scott, eh?
He added: “Our first choice is absolutely to keep people in Oxford. I don’t want to see people being pushed out of the city. We’re doing what we can to build new houses. It’s the only way we’re really going to be able to make a difference.”Yes, let’s allow people to breed indiscriminately knowing that the taxpayer will pick up the tab and the council will bail them out with free housing!
I'm sure it's deeply distressing for working people in Oxford to know that they no longer have to compete in the housing market with a council with bottomless pockets. Where's that violin of yours?
ReplyDeleteWhy do low lifes think they have a right to live where they like when the rest of us live where we can afford and find work?
ReplyDeleteSorry, answered my own question low life and work in the same sentence???
What I think is going on here, is a but a reverse of gerrymandering by Labour. To explain, and this is what I 'think' not what is fact:
ReplyDeleteUnder Labour, the people who needed social housing benefit, were encouraged to move into Conservative voter areas, which are usually more expensive to rent and buy. This was possible, because the Government increased the amount they would pay to landlords. As this Government has begun to cut this largess, the market has shifted from state funded tenants too private tenants. This I believe is confirmed by what, Scott Seamons has said.
So basically, the Conservative led coalition is pushing potential Labour voters, out of their areas and back into traditional Labour heartlands. And to be fair, who really wants to live in a place like Birmingham, the Detroit of the UK.
Villa.
DeleteOoh, vibrant subsidised arts scene, plenty of employment prospects through subsidised infrastructure building.
Ok, just Villa, then.
And to be fair, who really wants to live in a place like Birmingham, the Detroit of the UK.
ReplyDeleteI don't. That's why
(a) I don't have sex in bus shelters and pop out illegitimate children.
(a^) I'm a man, but you get my drift.
(b) I work my bum off. As does Mrs 20.
So we rent in a place which isn't too bad because we cannot buy here. Reasonably good pubic transport is essential for our work.
In the meantime these two Tokyo opticians are whining that their free existence will take place somewhere 'less convenient' for them. Too far away from the nightclub/foodbank/Lotto office?
"Where's that violin of yours?"
ReplyDeleteIt's there, it's just so small it can no longer be seen with the naked eye...
"Sorry, answered my own question..."
Indeed so!
"So basically, the Conservative led coalition is pushing potential Labour voters, out of their areas and back into traditional Labour heartlands. "
If only I could believe that they were smart enough to have planned this...