https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oltpTeqCj1g .. I would have rather slept on the streets

my aunt has lived in those kind of shitholes in birmingham for most of her life, prior to that they lived in back to backs with one wash room to half a dozen families - one family was of 21 -. she would sooner return to back to back living where there was a strong community than a soulless, security guarded high rise where everyone feels vulnerable.

I lived with an aunt in london in similar for a few months, The lower floors were the worst at night as drug dealers had access to all the security keys for the walkways, She said people who were caught looking out at what they were doing would be stabbed/burnt out.

Young kids would be knocking at the doors during the day selling electronic items stolen from other neighbouring flats, They used to jump balcony to balcony to burgle people sometimes slipping and falling to their deaths.

Some of the YT comments are funny-

"Come to Aberdeen, the friendly City. It's not as bad as Salford but with added anti English racism and it stinks of fish and puke."

Not quite such a dump but ive lived on a street that was a red light district, it had an alcohol rehab centre a few doors up and a halfway house across the road. It was interesting, always something going on or kicking off

Luckily never lived in a place like that, hope I never will. I think I'd quickly lose the will to live.

I live in a tower block but it's nothing like that and never has been! It's very clean, well maintained and I've got a lot of good neighbours. I think that video is the impression that most people who haven't been in a tower have of them so when I have a visitor who hasn't been in one before, they are always surprised at how nice it is. I know it wouldn't suit everyone but I like it.

I've lived in some shitholes when a student, but nothing as bad as that.

......

I live in a high rise too and I love it. I have a constantly changing and always interesting view of sky and clouds from my window. And I am quite nosey and there is always someone coming or going at ground level to entertain me.

I feel safe knowing nobody can climb through my windows without some serious equipment and a lot of determination. I actually like the muted sounds of humanity around me, like the sound of the water pipes or a loo being flushed in another flat. Yet despite being only a mile from a major city centre all I can hear from the open window is bird song (no traffic sounds).

I have nice neighbours (mostly) and plenty of them. We have the odd social and organise our own management and gardening etc. In fact I think there is more of a sense of a close knit village community albeit arranged vertically not horizontally than there was when I lived in a village.

What a lovely positive post. I would love all that too!

As for the clip, no I have never lived anywhere even remotely like it. When we were little our folks didn't have a pot to piss in for quite some time but we never lived like that.

Exactly the same here, we have keys to a number of elderly peoples flats that we check on, if my partner goes away and i need shopping just a quick call to any number of neighbours and they will go fetch it for me,

Nothing wrong with high rise flats as long as you get the right people in, we love it here and have been living here for seventeen years

Never lived in a place like that we have always own our own home.

I use to live in these on the top floor

Strewth. What a hovel. Looks like the kind of place where you wipe your feet
on your way out.........

Indeed.. Wonder what became of that bloke who lived with the Iron gates

I live in a council tower block in central London......it's very nice........

Reading some of these posts reminds me of a saying of my mother-no such thing as slum dwellings, just slum people and she was right. The really sad point is that some of these slum people encroach on the lives of others.

We lived in a low rise block of flats and some of our neighbours were the pits. We couldn't open our windows in the summer because the family below us lived in such squalor that the smell came through our open windows. Dad worked shifts and was awoken one afternoon by the lad who lived opposite and his mates as they broke into our flat. We lived on the top floor and they were breaking in through the ceiling. They got a shock when they saw dad waiting for them as they dropped into the room. He 'helped' them leave by the front door.

My mom lived in a high rise block for a time.

These places only become slums because of the behaviour of some of the people who live there.

There's a council owned tower block near my nearest town and it's very nice. Although, I think they don't tend to put young people in them. These problems seem to arise when there are a few of the blocks together. In big cities.

That must be an incredibly rough area, incredibly rough. It's unbelievable that they have railings behind the door, and probably on the outside as well. How the hell could they sleep at night knowing that someone might try to get in at any time?

I don't know... But the footage is from 1988 so maybe things have got better

This, I bet it's great to live in a tower block with good neighbours.

I lived on the North Peckham estate in the early 80's. An illegal sub let. It was pretty shit, but very cheap, enabled me to save enough to buy somewhere. And as i was mostly posted overseas, it wasnt that much of an issue. But it was a bit of a nervous moment arriving home for a bit of leave. You put your key in the lock, and drew a deep breath. And that was a hazard too, with the fumes of scorched heroin wafting about. You couldnt go 3 steps without stepping on a bit of blackened foil.

Yep. It'll only probably take a small amount of idiots to give the block of flats a bad reputation. If the flats had people in that were either quiet or didn't make much noise at all, they'd likely be great to live in. Oh, also, if there were no muggers hanging around outside the flats.