How easy is it to tend up homeless?

[sundestroyer]

I have a friend who has lived in the US and UK. He says America has a better social support network than the UK. I'm not sure about that

The only homeless person I know is a guy in my 20s who I went to school with. He was an autistic lad who got kicked out at 19 and afaik, is still in one of the homeless shelters.

But I've heard that most people are a two or three paychecks away from homelessness.

I'm the same, the fear doesn't leave you. That's why, any gifts of money my dc get, they have to save half and can spend half (including gifts of money from me). You just never fucking know.
It's good to be reminded every now and then that you should be grateful.

Facefullofcake I looked on a whim yesterday at the price of a new dog/puppy - 1-3k??? I'll survive without a man's best friend. A man's best friend is having a few quid in savings.

I ended up technically homeless for a month when I was 7 month pregnant with my first.
We were renting, moving to a new city because of DH's work (myself temporarily out of work due to pregnancy...), everything was supposedly sorted out for our new rented home, we'd just given back the keys of the old place, ready to get the keys of the new place (a bit later than planned, because of a technicality, or so the estate agents had told us...), and suddenly the whole rental agreement for the new place fell through. No place to stay, all our belongings in storage, husband starting new job in less than a week, baby due within 2 months...

Thankfully we had savings so could arrange a (very pricy, and very tiny) B&B to survive for long enough to find a new proper home, but the whole situation was hell, and it happened surprisingly easily.
Obviously, having savings, we weren't eligible for any help. But we would probably have fallen between the cracks anyway, as we were new to the area (having just moved there for DH's new job)

I've also heard of a colleague's sister who got kicked out of her rented flat while 8 month pregnant, because the landlord had a no kids policy. Private renting can be hell (so glad we own a house now! We lived in constant fear as renters, even as two professionals working full time)

A couple of times I didn't know where I was going to be staying in a few weeks time but managed to avoid being homeless, my brother has been homeless (sofa surfing and literally on the streets) for a number of years now, with him he has issues and I can't see anything changing for him sadly, he was once married, owned his own home, was a doting dad with a great job. Very sad really. I remember once going to the council with help for housing and they said if I was sleeping on a bench opposite their offices there was nothing they could do for me

“In this life you need social capital or financial capital. Friends and family, or money essentially.

If you have neither, it's very easy to become homeless. If you have one or the other, you're generally good. If you have both, you are almost entirely safe. People leaving care, people with brain injuries or disabilities, people with MH issues, tend to have less of both or tend to have to use that capital more quickly.”

This might be the best post I’ve ever seen here.

Frighteningly easy and none of us are safe as we think we are from - job loss, relationship breakdown, mental health difficulties can all happen to any of us and if they occur together it’s incredibly hard.
Add into that the fact that some people don’t have families (care leavers in particular) or have family that can put them up

I think it’s more like one pay check away... before bank and creditors start demanding money and house is repod and Bailiffs at the door.

It's far easier than it should be in a country like the UK. We have a high cost economy in which the benefit is designed to be punitive - how could it be otherwise?

OP's friend in the US is deluded though - their welfare system is vastly inferior to the UK's which is saying something.

It actually happened to me, although I slept in my car (was horrible.)

I agree, anyone is only a few pay checks away from homelessness.

Job loss and relationship breakdown can easily lead to losing your support system.

This puts pressure on your mental health wich in turn can make things a 1000 times harder.
I think single men and women of any age are most at risk. Single parents are least, as councils have a duty to house them. Although having one room in a hostel isn't fun, it's better than the streets.
I also believe there will be a rise in homelessness in the over 50's. (Divorce, grown up children and no equity in the home or always rented. This all means minimal help from the welfare system.)

@HooNoes

Giggorata Did you also do the thing of imagining what you would cook if you had a home again? Ours was beef stew.

Yep, mine was a big roast dinner, with everything...

but the biggest thing for me was being able to get get a mug of tea whenever I wanted it.

Years of working hard and going back to education, and all that, has changed my life utterly, and, on the face of it, I am financially secure and “comfortable”.
But you never forget, and I am very thankful.

I recently helped a young homeless relative try to find accommodation and it was grim (she has bipolar, was unmedicated at the time and had to leave her mum's, dad's and grandparents because of her erratic behaviour).

All private lets, even rooms, were well above the limit she would get through UC, the cheapest one was £100 more. She did get a place in a hostel but the first month was left with 32p a day after she paid the hostel service charge which was not covered by benefits. The council no longer provide homeless packs for new tenants on the hostels so she had to buy crockery, a pan, some bedding and a coat.

She then was asked to leave the hostel because of her behaviour and ended up in prison for a while.

I know some will label things as her fault but she genuinely can't cope due to bipolar disorder. She falls through the cracks in the MH system because she is clearly unwell but not sufficiently unwell enough to force treatment and get her stable again.

She is currently back with her grandparents, seems more stable for now but I really worry about her futire.

Of course it's easy. I volunteer at a homeless hostel for men. The majority of them end up there due to their relationship breaking down, and their ex partner stays in the family home with the children. These men don't always have family or friends willing to let them stay, and can't afford a deposit to rent somewhere else.

HB amounts allow only for a room in a HMO, often with others with 'issues' unless they are lucky, so they also only get to see children if/when ex allows, and can't have DC to stay. Going to court for access becomes a pointless suggestion. Hence why many end up also losing contact. Seeing your kids for an hour a week or every few weeks in a public library is soul destroying for any parent.

Ylvamoon you are right about over 50s being a new group at risk of homelessness. Less likely to have sofasurfing options, too, or be accepted in flatshare.

Those who posted on this thread will comprehend the potential desperation of those in share, sofasurf, or unofficially arranged sublet. Would any of you try to contact an M.P or peer, to see if the domestic violence bill can have a few words added before it becomes law? Including something like "and others sharing the dwelling, without requirement for personal relationship" The reason is that those least able to escape, having no alternative, will be most vulnerable to every abuse from someone in the same dwelling, taking advantage of their desperation not to leave the only place they can shelter from the elements.

Things went wrong for me when I was 16, I had a close friend and her kind mother who took me in, I had family in other parts of the country who helped me as well so I was so so fortunate but without that help, I could have ended up in a terrible situation, even my school welfare said that as I was 16, a blind eye would be turned to be my situation so I was better of staying with my friend. If you don't have a good support network, or money, it could happen to you very easily. Although I am very fortunate now, I always think it only takes a few things to go wrong in life to find yourself at the bottom.

@OhCaptain I was working and sleeping on the street and an outreach charity for street workers helped me get temporary accommodation, from there I managed to get a council flat. That was three year.vThen I got clean (by myself, no rehab or anything) and got a job in a charity kitchen. Met my ex, had my daughter two years ago.
I was lucky, I sometimes feel like the luckiest woman in the world. A lot of the people I knew then are dead.

There's unfairness on top of injustice , in the reasonable modest determination of many here to keep back a bit of savings. The beaurocrats who draw up the rules cannot leave their assumption everyone is like themselves, highly paid, unsackable, golden pension, financial advisers, mortgages for the flat in town and the house in the country, and investments off shore and in the holiday home abroad. Homelessness, they assume, must be wilful. Minimal lifesavings, they assume, must indicate surplus money and therefore no requirement for help.

Someone here mentions aiming for two thousand, to feel a little more secure. But elsewhere, someone has said £1,600 in savings puts a person in the same category as Bill Gates, exempt from council tax relief and some disability benefit. Almost any savings means that no benefits, which means no legal aid, and no housing benefit, and a whole lot more. For a basic state pensioner, it means no pension credit, so a total weekly income which wouldn't pay rent for a dog kennel, let alone a room for a person, let alone provide any food or repair a wheelchair or similar luxuries.

I'm not sure about your figures there

ESA will let you have up to 10k savings without it affecting your benefits

People on UC can have up to 6k. It goes up to 16k before you become ineligible (obv the amount you receive in UC will be reduced proportional to the amount you have saved).
Housing benefit runs to the same rules.
PIP isn't means tested, so savings are irrelevant to any claims there.
Council tax support can be affected though, depending on your council.

I appreciate the above relates to working age people as well..

If it's the thread I'm thinking of (where the OP couldn't claim benefits because of their savings for a deposit on a house), wasn't it just over £16k , not £1.6k, that they'd saved?

It's brilliant to see the stories here and Im pleased for everyone. Someone upthread has said that illegal immigrants might be disadvantaged, and indeed the domestic violence bill has been adjusted to include the possibility they might need help. There are many active charities and systems to obtain council housing for immigrants, for alcoholics, for addicts, for mental health patients, for street workers, for ex prisoners, for ex service, for care leavers, for people who have found religion, . Even so, many fall through the net. There is nothing at all for the groups mentioned in most of these posts. People whose lives just got upturned, and in particular people 50 to 100, with or without disability.

The one thing immigrants tend to have is a close group, with or without access to a fixer. Others mention the obstacles to accessing the ostensible homelessness help, e.g. proof of continuous residency in the area, without which one council washes it's hands by instructing "go back where you came from". Immigrants are exempt from that, because councils are not permitted to do it.

Ah, ok, you should be able to have up to 10k of savings before pension credit is affected - www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pension-credit/ - not great, but better than nothing I guess.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pension-credit/

Same situation as cookiemonster. It was incredibly quick and easy to go from having a roof over my head to being in debt, my bank account cleaned out and nowhere to live. Thank heavens DC had grown up and left home by then.

Incredibly easy! Relationship broke down and he moved away. I had a poorly paid job and couldn’t even afford the rent on a tiny horrible bedsit. I was very lucky that I could move back to my parents but that meant losing my job. And it’s really difficult to get a job that earns enough to save a deposit when you are unemployed. Took me quite a while to get back on my own feet! Relationship with parents definitely suffered as well.

I think it's very hard to end up street sleeping homeless in the UK, to the point that I would say that it's almost a 'choice'

Also offering first prize for most ridiculous comment of the year. I've worked in homelessness for over 10 years and have seen more highly intelligent, articulate, educated homeless people than the stereotype forged in peoples' minds still. It is getting worse and worse to be honest. I sometimes wonder how things can improve. In my economically booming, high tech and wealthy city, we have had 140 rough sleepers housed by the city council during the pandemic. That's 120 more than the 'official count' last year. It's not going away.

Care leavers end up on the streets a lot. They have no support network, get thrown out at 18, have no money management skills, fall behind on rent.
Kids in abusive homes, would rather chance it on the street than ge5 beaten up/ raped by ‘ family’.
Relationship breakdown.
Mental health.
Gambling addiction.
Substance abuse.
Plane bad luck.
And so on....