Homes not always suitable for young AFTER living in social housing as a child, and now as an elderly tenant, I have experienced many changes.

I can remember when all our workmen were council workers - known to us, doing a proper repair, and like a family firm.

Nowadays we have to have contract workers, and in my experience, due to either bad communications or money, they are not doing the job properly. Jobs have to be done over and over again, costing far more.

Our flats, built for the elderly long ago without proper sound-proofing, have now been let to young people also. They heave pushchairs and prams upstairs, make noise, and there is nowhere for children to play.

Bathrooms with walk-in showers and wetrooms which were ideal for enabling elderly people to stay in their homes for as long as possible are now changed back to baths, costing more money - and will probably be redone again at a later date.

Young people often cannot afford the bus fares in and out of York for job interviews, so will probably have to rely on benefits more.

Do the people who change things with a stroke of a pen not realise there should be proper consultation to get a full picture of the consequences of their actions?

As we people of a certain age often say, the old, simple, cost-effective ways are best.

Sue Whitwell, Dunnington