Council Home Stigma

<p>Another long question sent in by listener Alan, from Northway, Oxford, England and your co hosts Stuart and William delve into the still huge stigma attached to being a council tenant in the UK.</p> <p>The council has flaws, but tenants issues are often sorted quickly. Social housing in other countries isn&#39;t always called that, it can be just another housing option. </p> <p>There are some cultures in the world that don’t have words for home or land ownership. The majority of people in the world don’t even have ownership on their radar. </p> <p>Do any of us really own anything? Aren’t we just afraid of our own mortality and enslaved by the housing ladder?</p> <p>“Council tenants thought they were going into a wonderland when they purchased their homes. That faded into tomorrow for some when the mortgage payments went from 3% to 15%, so they were strangled by repayments. I’m seeing some housing stock sold off by Oxford City Council under the Right To Buy Scheme, now being purchased back by the same council from the same tenants that purchased the properties under the scheme. In some instances I guess these properties sold for 33k and purchased back for over 250k. Is this a good use of public funds? Is it time to scrap the scheme, leaving housing within social housing stock? Not selling it off for a quick buck, that isn’t invested back into new housing? </p> <p>Those purchasing under this scheme might say it&#39;s the council&#39;s fault for not investing back in housing, not theirs for buying, but in some instances they knew this probably wouldn’t be the case yet passed the ethical buck to the council. Is it time to put aside the Right To Buy if you are a long term renter, on the simple grounds of wider ethics? Is the fact the modern day council are now purchasing the same housing back, for as much as 200k more than they sold it for, an example of the council of yesteryear getting it wrong? Perhaps not, as the current council still operates the Right To Buy even now? </p> <p>It seems a quick money spinner, a