Slum for Victory

[smegballs]

So I think I know something that will help out the country and those that live here......

Slums.

Housing costs, whether through renting or mortgages, is one of the biggest single outgoings most people have. Things like housing benefit make this worse in lots of ways by putting a price floor on rents, thus driving up the price of rents even higher. At the same time, planning controls are so tight that unless you are a big-business developer planning to build a new wainhomes estate, you are quite likely to get denied.

Now for many people 100k+ on a house is far out of reach of anything they will be able to afford in the foreseeable future. Just 10k of timber and assorted other materials however is more than enough to build a fucking nice cabin. It doesn't even need to be that pikey with 10k, you could still have it insulated and plywood lined on the inside, perfectly livable in. I know this because I spent my teenage years (15-18) living in something very similar only the cabin in question was probably built for less than 5k. Hell if you're really hard up, build something with pallet wood and other recycled materials.

Deregulating planning laws and allowing people to build their own pikey cabins would suddenly drop the floor out of the low-end of the housing market and make it possible for common folks to be able to afford their own housing, or at least rent a cabin someone else has built for fuck-all. It also would reduce dependency on the govt and give people the power to help themselves rather than being latched onto the states teat for lack of other options.

Obviously plenty of people still would live in houses, but they too would benefit as suddenly the price floor on the housing market doesn't exist anymore, dropping house/rent prices and giving them a break too.

Problems with this:

Property developers stand to lose out.
People who have bought homes at massive prices stand to lose out.
UK Economy tanks as house prices being pushed around holds us up stat wise.

Big interests stand to lose a lot of money/power, yet for poor folks it would no doubt be of great benefit. Guess it's not likely to happen then......

[fatpies]

I wholly agree with this post, I've been banging on about this for years.


The housing situation in the UK is almost entirely artificial, with land controls, planning permission and forced minimum standards. So beds in sheds, and tents in parents gardens are crushed. With HMO laws to reduce the amount of housing in the existing stock.

Allowing slums and shanty towns allows a person to adjust their living standards to that of income received. I dunno about you but £10K would buy 2 shipping containers that would be enough space.

[lihp]

How would it be a benefit?

Unless you're a good joiner/builder and know what you're doing, that kind of work will cost more than 10k of timber. Plus buying the land to build on to.

Or are you proposing that we can just build anything we want anywhere we want?
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covent.gardens: lihp is my most favourite member ever

[Tungtvann]

We all become gypsies and live in caravan parks.

[fatpies]

[tbourner]

[smegballs]

[tbourner]

And when people start getting killed/injured by collapsing lumbar, badly fitted gas systems giving CO poisoning, explosions, DIY during the build etc. etc. who gets sued?
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Trev, now a biker?
Looking for first big bike.

[fatpies]

[fatpies]

[von1papen]

Whilst I am unsure of massive shanty towns I agree on the idea of massive amount of cheap housing being built.

Not that the government would ever allow it because there are far too many vested interests in keeping property prices high, can't be having the plebs with lots of disposable income can we.

Keep em stuck in their expensive little castles and make them believe that life is about how many times you can paint your house/replace your kitchen/sofa suite etc
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Honda CG125<Honda CM200< Kwak GT750 (SOLD) < BMW R65

[fatpies]

[smegballs]

[_Will_]

Even full time living in a caravan is made difficult here, despite the fact that a lot of them are perfectly serviceable as a living space and sometimes better than the conditions of people living in poor housing, without a permanent address you are considered 'of no fixed abode' making it hard to get a job/bank account etc, ok if you can make money/live outside the system, its not impossible by any means (say you are living with family members but even then theres additional costs you need to cover like c/tax)

As said, all to keep you in your half a million pound rabbit hutch you will have to work 60 hours a week that will never be paid off.
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Past -Honda qr50 | 2004 Peugeot Tkr s 50| | 1996 Yamaha XJ600s Diversion|

[tbourner]

[tbourner]

[Ste]

Shanty towns and slums would reduce the population.

They would also increase the value of brick built real houses.

The benefits bill would be reduced.

It would be a very bad time for buy to let landlords.

Police numbers would need to be significantly increased to prevent the slum residents from bothering all the normal people.

https://www.victorianweb.org/history/slums.html

A potentially awesome idea, but which party would reintroduce slums?

[fatpies]

[Derivative]

It won't work.

Why?

Nowadays you can't even build cheap council estates for people. The media called it 'social cleansing' when Housing Benefit was reduced and people were asked to move to cheaper areas.

As brilliant and practical as it would be, politically it's an absolute no from the start.

[smegballs]

[fatpies]

It wouldn't be a policy they'd announce though.

Cam wouldn't stand up and say lets move the scum to shanty towns.


It would be much more covert, they'd go to the police and councils and simply stop the enforcement of a few laws. Then it would resolve itself, as a few chancers move in, nothing happens which encourages more chancers...

We already have plenty of chancers who get caught and shifted off elsewhere today.
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"It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one"

[mr jamez]

Local government do not like people living off the grid as people avoid paying the 'protection' money. They had a crackdown recently in Slough where people were living in outbuildings. I worked on a farm in the Chilterns which had an old barn containing caravans rented at a very good rate; deep shit was entered over council tax.

Tbourner may not be able to bang in a nail, but the world has plenty of examples of people or communities who do not follow the blueprint. They live comfortably and avoid financial rape.

The governments answer is 'Help to buy'. Vote buying, corruption, stupidity, short termism, lack of imagination, banker cock sucking...
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NSR 125F > BROS 400 > NC30 > BROS 400 > Trumpet S4 > '97 VFR 750

[Vracktal]

I'd say go the opposite way. Instead of slums, we need more massive, cheap housing blocks. Only problem is nobody's willing to put down the initial investment on building them.

https://www.neilmillervfx.com/USERIMAGES/2e_peach_tree_entrance1.jpg
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[TheSmiler]

[Benno]