Priced out (From York Press)
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Priced out
9:00am Saturday 24th November 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter
THE waiting list for council houses in York has been reported as reaching 4,651.
This shortage of council homes is presumably due to the affordable houses regularly referred to as required to be part of any proposed housing development.
In the meantime, the present numbers of those who are in affordable homes and are in arrears of rent are 8,598, amounting to £3.7 million.
Maybe it is time to discard the description affordable homes. The reason is fairly obvious – these homes are no longer affordable to the many.
Private owners cannot have a home unless they can persuade a bank or building society they can afford a mortgage. If these people were treated more favourably and were able to acquire mortgages a little more easily, there might be fewer people on the waiting list for the unaffordable homes.
J Beisly, Osprey Close, York.
Comments(3)
capt spaulding
says...
9:46am Mon 26 Nov 12
Scarlet Pimpernel wrote:And Tea
J Beisly presumption in the second paragraph of the letter is correct.
At a time when York's waiting list is at a record high, and housing completions in the city are at a record low, we don't hear Coun Simpson-Laing (cabinet member for housing at COYC) coming up with any solutions. All she does, on the rare ocassion she does make any comment, is spout on about how house prices and rents are too high, and wages are too low. She then blames it all on the government, and carries on drawing her £24,000/yr councillor remuneration whilst selling tea on the market all day on a Tuesday. Isn't it time she was stripped of her position on the grounds of taking the mickey ? What a waste of £24,000, when all she does is make excuses !
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
11:36pm Mon 26 Nov 12
Where do this woman's loyalties lie ? Obviously not with York, as she spends more time tweeting about LFC and F1 than York's housing problems.
Isn't it time that this useless labour councillor stopped using her position on the council for the benefit of promoting Labour policy, and did what we are paying her for - to sort out the housing mess her policies have caused in the city ?
Scarlet Pimpernel says...
1:08am Sun 25 Nov 12
At a time when York's waiting list is at a record high, and housing completions in the city are at a record low, we don't hear Coun Simpson-Laing (cabinet member for housing at COYC) coming up with any solutions. All she does, on the rare ocassion she does make any comment, is spout on about how house prices and rents are too high, and wages are too low. She then blames it all on the government, and carries on drawing her £24,000/yr councillor remuneration whilst selling tea on the market all day on a Tuesday. Isn't it time she was stripped of her position on the grounds of taking the mickey ? What a waste of £24,000, when all she does is make excuses !