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Homeless people stand in a huge queue in the rain in Trafalgar Square

And I don't see the problem getting resolved anytime soon, in fact, I expect that it will get steadily worse.
ie the rash of evictions for rent arrears - from UC / bedroom tax / redundancies & gig economy - currently hidden from view by the prohibition.
 
And I don't see the problem getting resolved anytime soon, in fact, I expect that it will get steadily worse.
ie the rash of evictions for rent arrears - from UC / bedroom tax / redundancies & gig economy - currently hidden from view by the prohibition.
i don't think it will get steadily worse. i think there'll be a great tsunami of homelessness as the evictions and redundancies hit in the next couple of months.
 
This is not just London's shame. The whole country should hang its head in shame that this is happening across the country. Somewhere as wealthy, and claiming to care, as the UK should not have these problems on this scale. But while people are more driven by personal greed, by selfish motivation, this will never get better.
 
This is not just London's shame. The whole country should hang its head in shame that this is happening across the country. Somewhere as wealthy, and claiming to care, as the UK should not have these problems on this scale. But while people are more driven by personal greed, by selfish motivation, this will never get better.

People were basically driven by selfish motives 15 years ago when we had nothing like the levels of street sleepers we have now.
This is down to deliberate policy decisions.
 
i don't think it will get steadily worse. i think there'll be a great tsunami of homelessness as the evictions and redundancies hit in the next couple of months.
I said steadily, but only because at least some of the evictions will be slowed down by the overloaded legal system, so they should not happen all at once.
I most certainly agree that it will be a very high number. Nor do I see the current shower of twatheids doing much to alleviate the problem - all they are doing atm is basically deferring the problem.
 
I saw the queue from a distance and thought it must be for some amazing art show, because why else would people stand out in the rain for so long. My heart sank when I saw that it was all homeless people and the queue kept growing as I passed.
 
And I don't see the problem getting resolved anytime soon, in fact, I expect that it will get steadily worse.
ie the rash of evictions for rent arrears - from UC / bedroom tax / redundancies & gig economy - currently hidden from view by the prohibition.

Re. the gig economy (or call it what it is, precarious work) the last dose of self-employment support is on the way, and after that it's tough shit. And it was hard enough getting a privately rented home as a self-employed person before all this. From my own experience of finding a rented home during this pandemic, it seems that rather than easing up a bit in recognition of the fact many people are not going to have had a consistent income over the last six months, letting agents and landlords are doubling down. Some are now asking for six months' rent in advance, even though that effectively violates the cap on deposits at five weeks' rent.

Something has to give here. The property bubble survived the last crash, just about, but it's not going to survive this one. A lot of 'investors', particularly new-money blaggers and buy-to-let types with much debt and little capital, will be shitting frisbees I reckon.
 
Re. the gig economy (or call it what it is, precarious work) the last dose of self-employment support is on the way, and after that it's tough shit. And it was hard enough getting a privately rented home as a self-employed person before all this. From my own experience of finding a rented home during this pandemic, it seems that rather than easing up a bit in recognition of the fact many people are not going to have had a consistent income over the last six months, letting agents and landlords are doubling down. Some are now asking for six months' rent in advance, even though that effectively violates the cap on deposits at five weeks' rent.

Something has to give here. The property bubble survived the last crash, just about, but it's not going to survive this one. A lot of 'investors', particularly new-money blaggers and buy-to-let types with much debt and little capital, will be shitting frisbees I reckon.
And yet:


:mad:
 
Saw the same thing a bit before Christmas. It was cold and I saw loads and loads of people queuing outside and wondered what was going on. Then realised they were waiting for the Crisis Christmas shelter to open. (Obviously it was good they had somewhere warm and dry to spend Christmas though an absolute disgrace that they needed it.)
 
Would love to know how much money it has cost the taxpayer to give one final pump to the already-shit-mental housing market, including to buy-to-let scumbags. Surely there is something else the money could have been spent on, like a track and trace system that actually works.
 
Saw the same thing a bit before Christmas. It was cold and I saw loads and loads of people queuing outside and wondered what was going on. Then realised they were waiting for the Crisis Christmas shelter to open. (Obviously it was good they had somewhere warm and dry to spend Christmas though an absolute disgrace that they needed it.)
But of they can find places/money at Christmas why can't they at least find places the rest of the year? It smacks to me of being people claiming to be caring but only for the few days they can say look how good I am.

Perhaps I'm especially cynical because I don't see things like this here where I live. There's often a man begging near us who gets lots of food etc. It seems there's a different attitude here.
 
But of they can find places/money at Christmas why can't they at least find places the rest of the year? It smacks to me of being people claiming to be caring but only for the few days they can say look how good I am.

Perhaps I'm especially cynical because I don't see things like this here where I live. There's often a man begging near us who gets lots of food etc. It seems there's a different attitude here.
Assume Crisis provide services all year round. The temporary Christmas shelters aren't in places that can be used all the time -- the one I saw, for example, was in a school. And it shouldn't be down to charities to make sure people have places to live.
 
And yet:


:mad:
There was no movement in the housing market for months so there was pent up demand building up as people discovered that spending 24 hours a day for week on end with just one person made them realise just how little they could stand each other, people now wanting to move because of the change in working practices and wanting things like a home office. Chuck in a stamp tax holiday and its hardly a surprise there has been a sudden upsurge in demand and thus prices.
I can't see it lasting though as large scale redundancies feed through both from the end of the furlough scheme and temporary changes in working practices becoming permanent. I expect house prices to start going down around the end of the year.
In fact after 6 months of my son and his girlfriend living with us, I'm counting on it since much as we love her and tolerate him, I could do with them moving out and getting their own place.
I don't think it is going to be easy for first time buyers though as lenders are going to get strict with passing out the dosh, so unless they have a good jobs, helpful (or desperate) parents etc who can help with a deposit then many will still struggle anyway.
Renters are going to have a particularly hard time I think though, Falling house prices don't mean falling rents. Most landlords have a floor (the mortgage payment) below which they can't cut the rent. Even if the house has fallen in value then the owner is still going to have to charge the tenant enough to cover that.
 
Renters are going to have a particularly hard time I think though, Falling house prices don't mean falling rents. Most landlords have a floor (the mortgage payment) below which they can't cut the rent. Even if the house has fallen in value then the owner is still going to have to charge the tenant enough to cover that.

Mortgage plus agency costs plus insurance plus war chest for repairs etc. I'd expect to see buy-to-let types going under in many places, particulalrly areas where they've bought property in the expectation of growth or an influx of people which may now never come. I will shed few tears for them but the knock on effects on the banks etc will hurt everyone.
 
This is not just London's shame. The whole country should hang its head in shame that this is happening across the country. Somewhere as wealthy, and claiming to care, as the UK should not have these problems on this scale. But while people are more driven by personal greed, by selfish motivation, this will never get better.

It’s a global problem tbh.
 
But of they can find places/money at Christmas why can't they at least find places the rest of the year? It smacks to me of being people claiming to be caring but only for the few days they can say look how good I am.

Perhaps I'm especially cynical because I don't see things like this here where I live. There's often a man begging near us who gets lots of food etc. It seems there's a different attitude here.
Not detracting from how awful it is but like Marty says, it is a global issue.

Re. Crisis....to set up Christmas used to take months of work. People had to scrounge and source a number of large buildings. Then they have to be kitted out with lighting, water, showers, bedding, cooking equipment, food, televisions Etc. To simply man the places, a 24/7 job, for just a week took hundreds of volunteers, many of home needed training. Many like me actually took leave from work to help out. Crisis, Shelter Etc. Do provide year round services but not to such an extent. Their ultimate aim is to rehome people which is no mean feat.
 
It's cos stamp duty has been removed.

Ends 31st March next year, exactly when my parents are looking to put their house on the market. I’ll let them know as it’s obviously going to be much harder to sell after that date.
 
I think that things will probably tail off quite a bit before that. Like when this winter turns into the fucking zombie apocalypse.
 
It’s a global problem tbh.

Even if that's true, you are removing the context of the UK supposedly being a fabulously rich nation and the fact that policy is deliberately contributing to this through an obscene ownership market and equally obscene private rented market coupled with a disappearing safety net in both benefits and mental health provision.

Your answer was trite. And that's being kind.
 
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