Sunday, November 19, 2006

Housing? Here? with MY reputation?

This is Burford Wharf. Dark tower of doom? Centre of SimCity Goth Extension pack? No. Its "affordable" part-buy live/work housing for those self employed on a low income in Stratford, E15, London. Have a guess what you have to earn per year to fulfil the criteria for "low income". Go on, guess. When retail bookshop staff are on £14,000 a year. When police start on £18,000, administrators on £15,000 and nurses on £17,000. (I earn about £10,500 a year with a mixture of pathetic part time crap jobs and making jewellery for my Mum's friends, incidentally. And no, I'm not eligible for benefits)
It's £25,000.
Thats the MINIMUM you have to be earning to QUALIFY to pay £900+ per month (which would be roughly half your wages) for a tiny flat in a high rise block in the centre of gun-toting gangland east-end Olympic-venue Stratford. And this is supposedly the government's grand plan for replacing council housing? Council housing for who? Oh yeah, council housing for all those poor, healthy, full-time employed underpriveleged yuppies desperate to live in over priced high-rise in unfashionable run down areas. Hmmmm. I think NOT.