[GSBN] SB in England

[Jim Carfrae]

Slightly serious answer to your 'silly' question!
Council houses in the UK are a form of social housing. The local council builds the houses which are then offered at a subsidised rent to people who are unable to afford full rental values. There will be a list of qualifying people waiting for housing, and they may be offered a selection of houses as they become available.
The article is probably exaggerating the number of people who were offered the the SB houses, and they may have been turned down for different reasons, not necessarily the SB factor (location, size etc.)
Having said that, the UK public does seem to be extraordinarily conservative when it comes to building materials - SB houses have been slow to take off here compared to most of continental Europe.

Jim

Dr Jim Carfrae
Environmental Building Group
School of Architecture
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA

jim.carfrae at plymouth.ac.uk<mailto:jim.carfrae at plymouth.ac.uk>
07880 551922
01803 862369

On 28 Jul 2011, at 05:37, Darrel DeBoer wrote:

When the Guardian says this sb house was "offered" to this woman by the government, it sounds like it doesn't cost anything.  But even if it costs a nominal amount, how could several people have turned it down before her?  What is the world coming to when people choose drafty uninsulated masonry over straw?  Why am I asking this group such a silly question?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/26/straw-council-houses-fuel-efficiency

--
Darrel DeBoer
854 Allview Ave
El Sobrante, CA 94803
510-290-3669
www.BambooBuildingEssentials.com<http://www.BambooBuildingEssentials.com/>
www.DeBoerArchitects.com<http://www.DeBoerArchitects.com/>

home page: http://www.wdyl.com/#bamboo
download building codes:
http://bulk.resource.org/codes.gov/bsc.ca.gov/

_______________________________________________
GSBN mailing list
GSBN at sustainablesources.com<mailto:GSBN at sustainablesources.com>
http://sustainablesources.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/GSBN