Everybody knows that the housing market in the U.K. is completely brokenand it has been for a very long time but people bury their heads in the sand in the hopes that it is not true.
Robin hood gardens
Let's face it. if you have a massive mortgage on a property that is worth a fifth of what you paid for it. You are not going to want to face reality.
The signs have been there for all to see but the collective delusion of the mass of home ownersis that everything is fine.
The governments scheme to help people to buy (help to buy) was intended to help people who could not afford the already inflated price of a home.
What this policy did was create a perfect environment for sharp practices by a number of large building companiesto raise the price of the properties and in doing so inflated the house prices further.
The Poor Door
UK governments of all hues have over the last 30 years have been in the process of getting out of social housing and leaving it up to private developers to build homes for the population as a whole.
Housing those on 'low incomes' were not a priority for developers but after several years various governments insisted that developers build some 'affordable housing' on each new development.
Developers complied by building properties with two entrances. One entrance for the rich and one entrance for the poor. I know it sounds nuts but it happened and continues to this day.
The Poor doors were/are usually around the back of the building or out of sight.
As far back as 2004 New York banned this kind of building practice but in the UK it has only now been addressed as a problem?
Social housing on prime real estate?
Building social housing on prime real esatate was never going to fly with developers so they priced 'affordable housing' out of the reach of most working people.
So the government came up with the help to buy schemeand where you get a scheme you get schemers.
The photos in this post are of a social housing estate that was demolished to make way for a new development. It was called Robin Hood gardens and won numerous awards for it's innovative design.
As land prices in the surrounding area began to rise from the early 1980's onwards this estate was left to deteriote and fall into disrepair.
Communal gardens for the rich - Poor barred from using the gardens
Was it a plan all along or just a coincidence? It is difficult for most people to accept that the rich plan many years in advance and it can take many years for their plans to come to fruition. But it does happen.
We have financial scandal after financial scandal in this country and yet no one ever goes to jail unless it's some patsy who is disposable.
People take a long time to see what is right in front of their eyes and get left holding toxic debts. It happens all too frequently.
I have been writing about this for many years and two links in this post point to articles that I have written elsewhere.
Housing is a human right not a commodity.