Its true that the council have stopped building houses and this is a huge reason for the homeless problem. They were costing it seems a lot of money and in arrears hugely however I can never understand why it wasn't possible to take any rent/ maintenance owing from the income of the tenant. People went into arrears as they knew they could and the council couldn't get it from them. I believe council housing should be built again but rules should be stricter. More should beexpected from the tenants. As to the private sector LL. - if a tenant does damage or doesn't pay I again believe it should be the law that it can be recovered over time from the income of the tenant. If you had to pay you wouldn't do damage!!