Can anyone help with some urgent housing advise?

[Jumblebee]

I'm sorry to post in chat, I just thought this might be the best place for traffic.

I need some housing advise for my brother as I have no idea what to do/suggest.

He had a council flat that he lived in for a couple of years. When he met his new girlfriend, he decided to give up his flat to move in to her council house about an hour away. We all advised against this as he was moving away from his daughter and doesn't drive so has very little contact with her.

And now it seems to have backfired as he and his girlfriend have now split up and he has left her house. He has a part time job local to where his girlfriend lives, but due to public transport and the time it would take to get there he would spend more getting there than he would earn as he is only contracted 13 hours per week on minimum wage. So now it looks like he will have to leave this job.

He is under the impression that as he left his first council flat, our local council is under no obligation to house him? He is staying with us temporarily but we have no spare room and he can't sleep on our settee forever. I'll try to encourage him to look for more work, though he has never kept a job for too long before packing it in and he has no qualifications which makes it more difficult.

He is going to go to our local council office as soon as they open but I was just wondering if anyone had any advise on what he can do?

He suffers with depression and anxiety and I wish I could help more but I don't really know what to do. We have a little money in savings but we are living hand to mouth as it is and I know he wouldn't want to accept any cash as it is as he's very proud. Both my mum and dad (who are separated) will not have him stay with them and I'm just so worried.

He might get back together with his girlfriend, however they have a very volatile relationship and if they get back together I can see the exact same thing happening a few months down the line (as it did with his previous girlfriend)

Thank you for reading and any advice!
And also I have put this in paragraphs but my mumsnet app seems to hate paragraphs so I'm sorry if this isn't readable!)

Could he be a guardian for an empty property?
A person who lives in a building in order to keep it from being broken into. I have seen signs on empty properties and I know they exist.

Did he leave his flat with everything in order? If he has any arrears these will need clearing before they will house him

Gaining social/council housing is completely different to approaching your local authority for housing advice/ assistance because you are homeless. They can be two separate things. Some local authorities work different but alot of comments can be scare tactocs. Firstly you can look at how anyone can register for council/social housing usually on your council website. There will be an allocations policy and you will get a better understanding of how an application and person is assessed, usually given a banding/ score of need and how he might be able to get this ball rolling. Realistically this route may take months or years but you can reapply to be on the housing register at least and try again for the future. In most areas anyone can be on the housing register for council/social, affordable housing. Quite often the only time when you cannot be on the register is when you own a property or have assess over a certain amount. If you have less need like you are renting privately or you are overcrowded then you are less of a priority and your banding is likely to be lower. What I think your brother and the other person is suggesting is that if he were to approach as homeless then the local authority could say he has made himself homeless. This depends on a number of things including how long he lived with his girlfriend and what was his last settled address or was his accommodation with his girlfriend settled enough to negate this. The housing law has changed in the last year or so terms like 'priority need' and 'intentionally homeless' are a little dated and don't work in the same way. Under the homeless reduction act everyone has the right to approach their local authority for housing advice and/or assistance. Unfortunately it doesn't sound from what you have written as though your brother would be provided with emergency accommodation whilst they try and prevent his homelessness. They will give him advice on places to stay that might be available to him like homeless shelters, deposit bond schemes or how to look/decide private rented. Every area is different so the housing worker will know the the options available to him locally. Your brother can ask for a personal housing plan and should regardless of how he may not want the above options. They might also be able to help him register for social housing although as I said this is not a quick solution. Whilst it's not ideal, my best suggestion would be to look for a professional let house share, and to keep his job going. There are many private ads on spare room.com. Once he falls out of work it will be much harder to find a private landlord who accepts universal credit LHA. This could be a stepping stone whilst he works towards something else, like a job closer to where he wants to live, a private flat of his own or a council property again one day. I hope this helps. You/him can also phone Shelter for advice and they are very good at advising you on the law and a person's rights.

How on earth did he get the first place?
The council will not entertain him at all as he voluntarily made himself homeless in their eyes.

He needs to get a job, or rent a room in a shared house with his benefits.

Wrong. His sister can provide a letter saying she can't house him. Simple as that. The Council can't force her to house him permanently. No part of the Housing Act requires that.

I didn't say they could

It really depends on the authority that OP's brother approaches. In some authorities I've worked for/with, they'd accept a relief duty, offer him access to the rent deposit and expect him to find somewhere himself. In others they'd plonk him in interim accommodation and make a final offer through Part VI or into the private sector within a matter of weeks. In yet others (often the bigger London authorities, but not always) they'd put up the shutters and adamantly state he is not homeless until he ends up on the streets, notwithstanding any letter OP might write - they'd gamble on him not knowing how to take it to JR. It all depends on the local housing pressures and (unfortunately!) the culture of the homelessness department in question.

Reading between the lines, however, if OP is in a district where a single male with anxiety and depression can end up getting social housing, then I'm assuming it's a district with a fairly high amount of vacant social housing stock. Getting himself on the register might not be a short-term solution, but if he's had it before it's likely that he might be lucky again.

Hi due to his depression if it on record he would be classed as a vulnerable person so the council should help him if nothing else a bedsit

The council won't house you twice. You get one shot at it.

@FithColumnist They won't house him again though. They did it once and as such have discharged their duty of care - JR or not.

OP - You need to get him to focus on getting help/treatment for his illness and learning to stand on his own two feet. And for goodness sake - if on the off chance he does get re-housed, tell him not to give it up for love nor money.

In every town, borough etc there will be a housing assistance organisation, (not government linked). They will literally take over and get your Brother into some kind of housing. This is not an easy or quick process, however as he suffers from depression he will be classified as a vulnerable person. Some towns and boroughs have two waiting lists - one for people that are already housed but need to move because of a new baby, or overcrowding, the other is for those who are homeless, experiencing domestic violence, have mental and physical health problems or are living in inappropriate housing. The housing organisation will collate as much information as possible and send an application form to the council, who after 12 weeks will assess your brothers application. He will then be cateorgorised per need and will be given points and banded from an A-E (A being the highest need and E the lowest). Once this is done he can then log into his account and start bidding on eligible properties. However, as we have a critical housing crisis this can take up to 5 years plus depending on what band he has been placed in, and the assessments for banding are tough. So, you need as much information as possible regarding his depression. A starting point is occupational therapy which is self-referal. They are situated in every council. Give them a call and they will do a home visit and write a report on your brothers mental health, his current housing situation and the reasons he cannot stay with you. You can also write a letter stating why you cannot house him. Technically this makes him homeless and in a fair society he should be banded as an A, but he won't be because he's not living on the streets, and in their eyes has a roof over his head. I predict he will be banded a D possibly a C, which can take 3 years. If you stress in your letter that you cannot under any circumstances house him then they are legally obligated to put him in temporary housing until a more permanent solution becomes available. This changes the whole situation as they will then state that he his housed, despite it being in temporary accommodation. This ruling never used to apply, but unfortunately it now does, so you're technically back to square one. Sadly there is no quick fix with housing as there is no availability, even for the homeless. The private rental sector is so expensive and as the government will now only pay a percentage of the rent, it is a relatively risky option. If you work most of your wages will make up the outstanding rent, rendering you broke at the end of the month, there is a high risk of eviction as many landlords are selling up because of the imbalance in the housing market, and rented properties rarely have potential to be bought by the tenant for a good price, so you can never make it your forever home. My advice is to go to cab and get some advise from them, get referred to a non-government housing organisation such as shelter and get help with form filling etc, get your brother into temporary accommodation asap, and wait for permanent housing. The whole system is shambolic and the waiting game is frustrating to say the least, but he will eventually be housed and you will have reassurance that he has a roof over his head. Please note that not all temporary accommodation is horrendous. What you see in the media and on social media are the worst, the best don't get shown. I knew someone who was in temporary accommodation and he only shared a front door and toilet, and it was a self contained unit with separate rooms. It was clean, heated, wooden floors, nicely decorated and double glazed. He made it look really nice and when he got permanently housed three years later he didn't want to move!! Good luck with it all and remember there is help available and cab will be able to push him in the right direction.

Kraverza - they won't rehouse him again.

Hi due to his depression if it on record he would be classed as a vulnerable person so the council should help him if nothing else a bedsit

I'm sorry but I'm afraid that's just not true

They will re-house him as he has not breeched any part of the tenancy agreement that he had with the council. A relationship break up is not a breech of tenancy. Not paying your rent, using the property for illegal purposes is. In fact council/housing association tenancies are more lenient than private rental. I used to work for a homeless charity and I re-housed many people. Relationship breakdown does not come under any act not to re-house. We also re-housed people that had previously breeched their tenancies, particularly if they were a vulnerable person as your brother is. Why would he be penalised for a relationship breakdown? He's done nothing wrong, and these things happen all the time.