Let's Stop Pretending Council Housing is the Answer

I was talking to my mate Dave the other day, you know, the plumber? He was telling me about a job he did at a new build estate down the road. Lovely houses, all snazzy solar panels and driveways. But half of them are sitting empty. Turns out the council bought them up to rent out, but they're all vacant because they can't find enough people on their waiting list who fit the exact criteria for those specific houses. Madness. Meanwhile, Dave's daughter, who's a nursery nurse, is stuck renting a tiny flat miles from her parents, paying through the nose.

This whole council-bought-properties-for-social-housing thing feels like another classic case of government overreach and inefficiency. Instead of trying to be landlords themselves, which they're clearly not great at, they should be getting out of the way and letting the market work.