Far from being out of touch with ordinary people, Mikey, I count myself among them. Mrs NJ and I own our own house. When we first bought it we each worked six days a week to keep up the mortgage (which at times reached 15% pa interest and was larger than we really wanted to take out). Meals out were a rare treat; holidays usually consisted of a week or ten days camping in the UK; we moved from a furnished flat (which we secured after much searching and was not in the area we wanted to live) and had little in the way of furniture apart from a bed, a cooker, a washing machine, a table and two chairs. What little spare time we had we spent doing up our house (though structurally sound it was in quite a bad way when we bought it). The garden was overgrown and had an Anderson Shelter at the bottom. I had to install central heating and refit the kitchen (when I say I, I mean I, me myself). We ran a fourteen year old mini for transport.
One or two of our friends managed to get a council tenancy. They enjoyed ultra-low rents, all their maintenance was provided for them, they had plenty of money (and time) to enjoy themselves. They chose their route, we chose ours. We now own a fairly expensive house in a nice area and they don’t.
For sure we live in better circumstances now and are comfortably off. But please don’t suggest I don’t know what “ordinary people” have to face.
As for my belief that the government should not build houses, I simply have a different view to you. Government sponsored housing costs an absolute fortune to provide and maintain. People need to take responsibility for their own lives and not expect the taxpayer to heavily subsidise a roof over their heads.