16:42 PM, 30th December 2012, About 12 years ago 79
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In the West Midlands we are addressing the issue of educating the young to understand their future housing options, financial obligations and choices. I work on behalf of NLA with a consortium called HOMESTAMP (www.homestamp.com) and we are just coming to the end of a major project to get a module into the national curriculum for 14-16 year olds. Under the subject of Financial Management this module will help to break the cycle for many young people to prevent them becoming the 4th generation of their family to base their lifestyle on “benefits will provide”. This will be a reality check for those who may believe that becoming pregnant will ensure them a “nice little flat off the council”.
All local authorities are becoming more and more reliant on the Professional Rental Sector (PRS) to help them to house their homeless and it is vital that young people are aware that their only future options will be to stay at home, provide their own homes (by renting or buying) or to convince a private landlord that they will be a good tenant. By the time these young people leave education the Universal credit will be in place and there are serious concerns that giving people a “purse of money” will further increase rent arrears, not only for the PRS, but also for local authorities and Registered Social Landlord’s (RSL). The utility companies will also become victims of those who choose to misuse the money provided to them, from our tax pounds, to keep them safe.
We all learn from what we absorb and young people who are brought up in families where no one gets up in the morning and dashes off to work become accustomed to this life style for them it becomes the norm. It will take some time to re-educate these youngsters that there is another way of living and that the alternative may, in future, be their only option. We need to appeal to the innate desire of each new generation to rebel against the lifestyle of their parents. No one wants to live in a society where we don’t care for those who need our help and financial support but it is in meeting the needs of the needy that we also fall victims to the greedy. I am well aware that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find work and that withdrawing or reducing benefits alone is not the answer but we must start with motivation, because it is only motivation that will break the cycle. We need to get to the point where young people leave education “knowing” that the next step is to find a way to fund the life that they plan.
Schools need to play a major role in making these youngsters aware of the life that they could have rather than allowing them to become myopic about their future. Parents also need to play a part. Those of us who do work often allow our offspring to open an account at the bank of mum and dad and, while this may be necessary during the years that they are in education, we need to close their accounts one month after they leave education and motivate them to become self supporting and to gain the dignity that comes from paying your own way. It is selfish of us to want to give our kids what we did not have because in doing so we take away from them one important thing that we did have, MOTIVATION. I consider myself fortunate that my parents could not afford to allow me to remain unemployed, I grew up knowing how hard my parents worked to fund our simple lifestyle and I could not wait to earn my own money. I knew what I wanted, I also knew that the only way that I would get that I wanted was to work.
As a tax payer, I welcome the Governments plans to gradually reduce the “dependence” mentality of many people in this country. As a landlord, I do fear that some of these plans may impact on my own income. All landlords are only one redundancy away from a tenant who is on benefits and we all need to position ourselves to ensure that whatever else comes out of that “purse” of universal credit our rent comes out first. ALL Assured Shorthold Tenancy’s (AST) should carry a clear clause that the tenancy is only granted on the basis that if now or at any time in future the tenant needs to claim benefits to help to pay all or part of the rent that rent is paid directly to the landlord. Under new Government guidance issued this year, local authorities should pay the rent directly to the landlord who only grant tenancies based on direct payment, as part of their safeguarding policy. Local authorities were given discretion on this, unfortunately, and it is up to the PRS to ensure that this discretion is exercised in our favour. Landlords should attend all local authorities landlords fora and landlord meetings and be very vocal about the fact that we will not be become part of the welfare state, we will not pay into a system that gives people financial support without protecting our tax pounds by ensuring that the money given is used to keep a roof over the claimants head. We will be taking legal eviction action and pursuing our rent arrears and we will refuse to house those who we fear will not pay for the service that we provide. All these authorities are only too well aware that without the PRS they are in BIG trouble, the day has arrived when they need us more than we need them and it is time that we set out clearly our terms of business.
You will often hear the term “financial inclusion”, what does that mean? It means that no one should be excluded from society because they have a lack of money and I absolutely agree with that. But there are accepted norms in our society and among them is the implicit understanding that goods and services must be paid for. Most of us arrange our finances so that the bills are paid before we spend on other, less important things. Most people use a system of standing orders and direct debits to avoid the temptation to put our desires before our obligations. Financial inclusion in our society means helping those who do not have the skills to manage their finances to follow these “norms”. Many people have poor financial histories and cannot gain access to the high street banks but Credit Unions will take these customers and most will “ring fence” their rent payments if landlords work with them. They will also send a landlord written notification if the tenant exercises his right to stop a standing order and, because they require one months notice to do this, the landlord has time to take appropriate action. The landlord will also get written notification if a tenant tell the Credit Union to change his rent payments from you to another landlord and again this is early warning that a tenant may have abandoned the property. Abandonment is fraught with potholes for unsuspecting landlords. Some landlords use what are known as “abandonment notices” on the door of the property but these notices have no legal status and will not protect a landlord against accusations of illegal eviction and the horrifying penalties that may follow a successful conviction. A tenant who has given a Credit Union the required written notification to change the recipient of their rent payments has committed himself in writing to the fact that he has changed his prime residence and the written notification that the Credit Union will send to the landlord may be just the document you need to cover your back.
The PRS must survive because without us we will have “cardboard Cities” all over this country. I believe that the Universal Credit will bring us closer to the day when Government have to face the fact that
Landlords are running a business, a business which is vital to the future of this country and the well being of those who live here. Landlords need to be paid for their services just like any other business. Without homes, people will sink into further dependence and put pressure on the Health Service, the Legal System and society in general. The UK will not be a place where people want to make a life and bring up their children. We will not hang onto the many talented young people who are the future of this country. We will become a country of lawlessness, worklessness and hopelessness.
This article was first published on 15th December 2011 and has been re-published on 30th December 2012 following recent media reports of a survey carried out by Housing Charity “Crisis” which indicates that only 1.5% of Private Landlords now rent to tenants claiming benefits.
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Sign Up23:08 PM, 23rd September 2011, About 13 years ago
It makes much more sense teaching children financial management rather than trigonometry.
Mary Latham
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Sign Up13:24 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Yes Kevyn schools are, afterall, meant to prepare young people for their future lives and there a very few who will become mathematicians but all of them will need to manage their finances at some point.
I believe that taking cookery out of the national curriculum, is another example of where schools are failing their pupils and this has contributed towards the growing problems of obesity in this country.
Young people need to be taught alternatives to what they experience in their own homes in order for society to move on.
Ben Reeve-Lewis
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Sign Up14:08 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
I recently attended one of those American style courses, 1,000 people in a hotel in Hammersmith working on being better with money than we had been. 1,000 grown adults learning new skills
At one point an 11 year old girl got up and the trainer said "Imagine how different your life would have been if you had learnt how to manage your money when you were 11 years old"
There was more than one tear of recognition in that room I can tell you. Defunct businesses, broken relationships, a lifetime of stress memories, all because the vast majority of people dont know this most basic of life skills.
Government cant create this awareness through direct LHA payments or Universal benefits. the disease goes deaper than that. A basic and seminal life skill is not taught in school. Instead we dick around learning trigonometry. How many relationships have you seen break down because the partner doesnt know fractions??????
Go Mary, you have my support
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Sign Up14:14 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
It would make more sense to teach children how to do a somersault on a high wire than teaching them trigonometry. I have just bought my son his first 'scientific calculator'. I never did learn what all those squiggly bits were for... 🙂
Completely agree Mary, as a food marketing pro ( in another lifetime) I was once asked to contribute to home economics classes at a local high school. When I learned that this involved coming up with a product, packaging and advertising I refused to be involved. That has nothing to do with 'home' economics and children need to know how to bake a loaf not how to coat it in plastic for the supermarkets! t
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Sign Up18:36 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Money is just one factor. Sort that and there's a whole other load of sh*t that can get in the way. It's important but how many relationships have you seen weather extreme hardship and grow stronger for the experience? I'm not detracting from Mary's excellent work but I think the 'have it all' 80's proved that there's other factors of the human experience than money. We need education to turn out young people who have a sense of personal responsibility financially but also a sense of empathy and wish to contribute to our society by involving themselves in the needs of others.
So call me a cynical old bag but seriously, 11 year old girl, no-one can imagine what life would have been because life throws all kinds of curve balls. Sometimes we all fail. Sometimes we succeed. Keep getting back on the merry-go-round is the trick of it.
Ben Reeve-Lewis
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Sign Up19:12 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Teena I agree that in the wider scope of our lives we are certainly more than just money but in the landlord tenant/housing world we wouldnt get far without a sense of it. And I have known so much misery and broken relationships caused by money problems which is, as I am coming to understand, caused more by lack of money management skills than lack of money per se.
The charity Relate cites money prblems as the major cause of broken relationships, which in turn affects people's capacity for happiness and which gets passed on to their children.
Money, like food, shelter, clothing is a basic given. The ability to bounce back is essential too but I would suggest that bouncing back is a far more difficult skill to teach than prosaic money magaement skills.
An 11 year old might lack the ability to respond to life's knocks but beneath all that, if they can manage their finances they will at least avoid homelessness and depravations whilst they are dealing with their other demons.
I put money management skills on par with the ability to feed oneself
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Sign Up19:29 PM, 24th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Heartfelt stuff Ben. I do see your point. I just don't believe those statistics. Money may be given as the reason for relationship breakups but once again I see that as a symptom. Consumerism is the real issue. People's sense of what they are entitled to. What constitutes normality. Satellite TV, overseas holidays every year. Unrealistic expectations are the issue not the ability to manage what money we have. For some they will never have enough to spend. That is the issue.Certainly there people where the lack of money is so fundamental as to affect their ability to feed themselves. I don't think they are the majority.
I'm not in any way arguing against the importance of money management. I just don't seem to see it as a nirvana for all that people think is wrong in their lives. You could show a person how to manage their finances but I doubt many would be happy living within their means if that meant a reduction in the things they could have and do. It is that sense of need for non-essentials that causes debt and affects families and relationships. IMHO. Is all.
And the idea that homelessness is to be solved by money management is a bit far fetched. People become homeless, truly of no abode, for many and complex reasons. Money is not always the root cause.
Ben Reeve-Lewis
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Sign Up7:52 AM, 25th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Yes consumerism may be a root.You could also go behind that and ask what causes consumerism? As a practising Buddhist (and no thats no why my head is shaved) this is right in my territory. We believe that what drives these things is the tension between fear and desire, consumerism itself being just a symptom of that.
And fear and desire exist because we live in a relative universe where everything exists in relation to eveything else. Grand words but how does that kowledge help you to pay your gas bill? Whech is my point.
Consumerism doesnt exists as such - it's just a idea thrown up by our reaction to fear and desire but it's effects can be seen everywhere,and we cant deny that money exists so surely it makes sense to learn how to manage it, like learning how to cook, how to drive, how to swim. They arent the whole of life but they are dead useful skillls to have. You can get through life without learning how to drive and wouldnt make you miserable, you could fail to learn how to swim and it is unlikely to cause any rows but if you cant manage your money you will suffer a lot of unhappiness.
I see that unhappiness every day of the week when I interview people being repossessed by their banks for mortgage arrears. Their desperate faces, depression, on tranquilisers. We had a meeting with the Homes & Communites Agency last month about Mortgage Rescue Scheme and the figures show that within a year of having all their debts and mortgage cleared by the scheme and becoming housing associations tenants 34% of them are in more than 2 month's rent arrears. It goes to show it isnt just the mony, but lack of money management skills that is causing so much misery
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Sign Up8:42 AM, 25th September 2011, About 13 years ago
WOW! Didn't expect that on a Sunday morning! So, the Buddhist thing goes right over my head I'm afraid. Sorry. As soon as religion comes into an argument I struggle to keep up because it brings so much more into a debate and I guess here is not the place for that.
But I think my point is unchanged. Money Management skills are very useful. It's a good idea to teach them. For some this will be helpful. For many I think it will make no difference unless teaching money skills is intended to encompass a whole realm of social issues around image and responsibility. Unless it does I think there are many who will still feel entitled to what they cannot afford thereby getting their priorities topsy turvy. e.g top brand baby gear, rent not paid.
Ben Reeve-Lewis
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Sign Up8:53 AM, 25th September 2011, About 13 years ago
Yeah it surprised me as well on a slightly hungover Sunday morning LOL But I still disagree. Money management is a life skill, that's all, like cooking or driving.
You could be a dreadfully irresponsible person, one who cheats on his partner, abuses his body, steals from their mum but who is great at managing their finances. Conversely I know some compassionate, responsible Buddhists ( we dont believe in god so we set great store by personal resposnibility) who are totally crap at money mangement.
My point being that you can learn that skill independently of the other stuff.