I'm a Housing Officer, ask me anything..

[gotthearse]

Just that, ask away!

Worst memory from your job so far? And best ( to finish on a high note! )

How hard is it to get social housing? Particularly for those with children or the elderly or disabled? I imagine very, but am asking as someone I know has deliberately wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds, has had to sell her house and is now privately renting. Soon she will run out of that money too. She's living off state pension and has no other income - she's 65, and some minor health issues. She's under the belief that she will just waltz into the council when she runs out of money and will get given a nice place because she's old and has some health issues (nothing major). Is this right?! Her attitude really annoys me!

Do you believe there should be an expectation to upgrade or downgrade based on your changing needs as opposed to assume you get to keep the big house regardless of families with younger children needing them more?

Are there many families with 7+ children who need to be homed? How does that work with the usual house size being 3 or 4 bedrooms?

Do you get a black mark against your name if neighbours complain about you? My friend has 7 children and is regularly moved as she is in temporary housing (last house 2 years though) and complaints are made against her. Would that be why she’s not on permanent?

What qualifications/experience gets you into your line of work? I've previously considered applying but seemed you needed experience & to complete a course, you needed a placement. Do you think it is disability friendly? I struggle with walking distances.

Worst memory would be emptying a crack house to find a family of 4 living in one of the bedrooms. They had two boys aged about 10 and 14. Mum and Dad were users. I'll never forget the look in thier eyes.

Best memory would be getting a Mum and her son with cerebral palsy out of a very small, unadaptable house that had an upstairs bathroom. She could barely get him up the stairs. I managed to get them into a much larger house on a new-build estate with the garage converted into a bedroom and wet room. She cried tears of relief when she viewed it.

How easy depends hugely on where you live and what property type or neighbourhood you can consider. The closer you are to the south east the harder it is and the system in London is utterly gridlocked and broken. In the North of England there is a lot more parity between market and social rent levels so the supply and demand ratio is a lot easier. In certain towns there may be hot spots though. Sheltered housing is nearly always easier to secure than general needs.

Sd1978, that's a real tough one. For people of working age on benefits the bedroom tax does the job for you, as its very difficult to pay bed tax out of benefits unless you get high levels of DLA or PIP and we help people to downsize. We consulted our customers about this and they were keen that we incentivised down sizing rather than enforced it. For many customers thier home is a hugely emotional thing for them, they've had thier kids and the best years of thier lives there - it's a tough cookie that would evict someone from a home they love against thier will if they aren't breaching the tenancy. That said in London in particular, you have families in temporary accommodation for 5 years, so the incentives to free up capacity need to be bloody good ones.

Mycherrypie, families that size are unusual. Sometimes if you are working in a community with a large migrant population where the cultural norm is to have more kids you see more large families. People just squeeze in when they have to, ie two sets of bunks in one bedroom and so on. Biggest I've dealt with was 12 kids but that case was an exceptional one. Moving forward fewer couples will be able to afford to have larger families unless thier earned income can cover it as there is a two-child rule for the tax credit part of universal credit. Your neighbours wait will be more down to the size of her family than behaviour, bigger properties are rare. That said some housing associations can be quite picky about taking people with a poor track record of rent arrears or anti social behaviour.

Backawayfatty, it is possible to get into if you have other relevant experience. In my rent arrears team we have a real mix of people from support, mortgage, MP caseworker, employment advisor type backgrounds. There is some legal stuff you need to know but you can learn it quite easily. Lots of people get into housing at a contact team/admin/support worker level and then work thier way up using initiative, job shadowing and so on to gain more experience. Housing employers are among the best, the social purpose of the organisation tends to mean that colleagues are treated well and they are accommodating to disability and flexible working. You won't necessarily need to walk a long distances, but some days you will be in and out of the car in all weather's and up and down a lot of stairs.

What happens to 16/17 year olds who need to be housed?

Patch23042 it would be quite unusual to grant a general needs tenancy to someone under the age of 18. Locally we would start with temporary supported housing in a scheme for homeless young people and then they would move onto a Foyer once they were on a more even keel. Foyers are a type of supported housing for young people that focus on employment, education and training with the idea that the young person would stay for upto 2 years, and then leave well equipped to live independently after that, in council, HA or private sector rented housing. Local arrangements and availability will vary though.

How do I get rehoused? I’m living in my long term partner of 10 yrs house I’ve found him messaging women an he’s basically said if I dont like it go but I have nowhere to go and no money I have a 15 yr old daughter and 2 pets I feel lost don’t know what to do x

What does a typical day look like?

Oh, zombie thread. Damn.

What do you do with problem neighbours? Despite several complaints etc they always seem to get away with behaving outrageously and disturb the peace etc. You know the type the ones that sit outside and shout and swear and blare music and have parties etc.... where do they go if they are moved? Don’t you have to inform new neighbours that you’re moving a holes beside them?

Damn. Just noticed that too! Lol

I'm homeless staying With family member, I can't go on the housing list, but my housing officer said they will help me with rent etc, but a permanent house has come up and she has referred me for it, now what? What's the process? How long does it take? Because I'm
Referred does that mean I'll get it??

Thanks