How do I get a council house?

[Breastfeedingworries]

Evening ladies, I’m in a huge pickle.
Apologies that’s it’s quite a long post. Trying to keep it brief as I can without the inevitable drip feed. 💧

(I understand this thread may twist and turn in a lot of directions but I’m tired and I’ll just gloss over the negatives and ignore so save your fingers vipers)

Me and my mum have a very up and down relationship. She does belittle my parenting and put me down a lot, but is also super helpful and supportive. The main issues are her not wanting me to grow up, or worrying I won’t manage. I’m 32!

I moved back home after a break up, I’d lived away for a year. (I never left for uni or anything) so I’m not experienced with bills or money management really.

I’ve got single mum friends who rent and struggle ect and I really want to get a housing Association or council house. (I know impossible right!)

I just want to turn my life around, main reason for wanting one is I’d love to be able to own one day.

My mum drinks a lot, every day, so that can lead to a lot of arguments and stress and I feel so unhappy a lot of the time. I love her, and my dad but I am feeling really depressed at the moment.
My mum and dad are also vulnerable and I feel so trapped here.
I’m lonely, I want to see my friends, I’ve had a lot of struggles in lockdown and I need freedom.

I don’t know how to ask the council, my mums said she’ll write to them kicking me out but I then worry I’d be on social services radar and there’s nothing wrong.

If I choose private renting iMll never be able to buy. I’ve got a deposit that I’ve got in inheritance.

One day I just want to be in my own two feet. Most days when not sorting my daughter I hide away in my room. Nothing is mine, I can’t have a Christmas tree. I’m just unhappy and don’t know where to begin.

Thanks for reading ladies.

Thank you so much for the responses, I’m going to try and sleep. I’m so exhausted as I walked for miles today but I feel so anxious I can’t shut off.

I’ll read and reply properly tomorrow and keep you call updated.

Very simply - and I'm ignoring everything else - go onto your local council website. There should be a page about housing. It will tell you how to apply, what your eligibility is, and probably have a way of applying online, although you'll need to have various documents to send to them to verify your application.

It will vary according to your location though - and be very wary of your mum 'helping' you by saying she's kicking you out. For a lot of councils that classes you as making yourself intentionally homeless, and they are therefore not required to help you.

I got incredibly lucky with my council house, and not a day goes by that I don't thank the previous tenant for moving when she did. The horror stories you hear of people stuck in B&Bs for years are true.

But you're going to need to do this yourself, and not rely on other people doing it for you.

What part of the country are you in? Council housing varies from almost impossible to get in some parts of the country to having a short wait in others.

Talk to a local housing charity and help them work out your points based on your situation, the situation with your mum's drinking might help you go up the list.

there is no guarantee that you will be offered a place in your local area
This is true. You’d have to accept whatever you’re offered then go back on the list for somewhere more suitable (or do a swap with someone).

Also not all council houses are nice. My relative lives in a street of council houses and has had addicts and alcoholics housed next door. There’s been a lot of disruption and noisy parties, police raids, violence etc. She’s trying to get moved because it’s an unsuitable place to raise a child. Unfortunately the council houses that become vacant tend to be the ones that people have vacated because there’s a problem. The nice houses don’t get vacated unless someone dies.

Can't believe some of the replies here.
Children going into foster care because a parent is homeless?! Seriously
OP after my LL decided to sell my home, me and dd were in temporary accommodation (a 2 bed council house) for 7 months before I got my forever home.

Nobody has said the child would go into care. OP was scared it would happen if she was homeless - and we've all reassured her that it wouldn't.

kids might end up in foster care for a while

Someone said the child might end up in foster care, its on the first page

Move to Bacup, Cornholme, Blackburn, Darwen, Nelson, Burnley, Brighouse, Rochdale (Falinge Flats),... some of those places pay you to take on a tenancy.
Over the 7 year period when I was a lone parent (DV background however so priority housing need) I lived in some of those areas I was offered at least 6 houses and flats on their ‘immediate let’ policy (read as, hard to let, not hugely desirable areas).

Some of those towns are actually quite nice, and the countryside in parts of Lancashire is beautiful you’re never far away from it as the moors are so blimmin’ big. Not for me though, not for me..... Dark like Alaskan twilight before the sun’s reached anywhere near the horizon. Lots of shadows on the moors. You need rain for blood to live up there too.

Anyway, if you have a big cash savings amount over £16K you won’t be eligible for council housing, I believe.

I would focus on getting out of your parent's house. You aren't happy there, you aren't getting along, and it seems to be majorly affecting your job prospects at a time when jobs are already so hard to come by.

Either get your mum to tell them she's made you homeless, and suck up the b&b temp accommodation for a while, or start looking for a private rental. Also start looking for a job. If you are moving anyway then you aren't putting your mum at risk. Just try and be out of you mum's house before your first day.

@PucePanther think your on a different planet. Kids don't go into foster care they go into the accommodation with you ! My dsc their mum has 10 other kids an she did this an had them alll with her.
Iv been in a similar situation and needed a house. My mum wrote to say I had 30 days to leave her house as we was arguing and it was over crowded and I was making her depressed been around (non actually true as were super close but this got me band a)
I had a house fairly quickly from that, no social services just support from the council when I moved as I had nothing an no money at the time x

Also I agree with the childcare it's ridiculous, I couldn't return to my job of 6 years due to that! I have no support when it comes to childcare and I would of been paying an extra £200 ontop of my wages if I sent dc to nursery. No help was given as I was working over the thread hold to get help on universal credit ! Do the letter op and hopefully get in a higher band an hour from their. You've no savings so ignore people on here but if they was to give you money like a previous post said. They have to state their gifting it. I did with my mortgage deposit from my Nan an she had to sign it but nothing as sinister as some people are trying to say ! X

There are some highly stretched areas of the UK where you could be offered foster care for your dc by the LA, I have known that happen.
There are other areas where this would never happen and dc would always be housed with parents.
It very much depends on where you live, what the current pressure on housing is and if you are thought to have made yourself intentionally homeless in anyway.

You need to talk to your LA to find out what the situation in your area is.

The only time I’ve known children to be taken into care due to lack of housing is where the parents have no recourse to public funds - is asylum seekers who a failed asylum claim. In normal circumstances mum and child would be housed together in temporary accommodation. Where in the U.K. is so stretched that children are placed in foster care @lakesidewinter?

I agree with @Jellycatspyjamas the chance of a child going into care purely due to housing is very very small. I’ve never known it. The most likely outcome would be emergency accommodation such as B and B or a hostel. @lakesidewinter you are correct that local authorities are stretched, but that is exactly why local authorities wouldn’t be putting children into foster placements they cannot afford simply due to a housing issue.

Anyway it doesn’t seem that the op would actually ever end up homeless, just that her mother had written a letter to say she has to leave. So I think the social care issue is irrelevant because they would only ever become involved purely for housing if the child was going to be without accommodation imminently. They’re not routinely involved with families applying to be on the housing list or as risk of homelessness.

Good morning,

Thanks I’m going to call the council today. Someone said a 30 days. I’ll ask mum to mention that in her letter. I don’t want to be alone for Christmas but this situation is so hard at the moment.

Depending on where you live you will not walk into a lovely new council house, if you’re homeless the council have a legal obligation to house you temporarily usually b&b (there is a set limit to how long you can be in one with a child) then most likely a flat, there are many more flats than houses, temporary accommodation is furnished and ready for you however when you are offered a permanent place they come stripped, no carpets, white goods, furniture etc. It’s not an easy road and your choice of areas is really limited compared to being on the normal council list. I’m saying this sitting in temporary accommodation which I’ve been in for 3 years with my kids and it’s pretty rubbish tbh. You make the best of it, however it’s not easy my LL sold our house too. I work however but you could go to college? Train to do something I think some of your childcare will be paid for. I think it’s time to get out there but be prepared for it to be difficult although it sounds better than staying at home, you get some space from your mother at least.

Are you 32 and have only lived away from your parents home for 1 year op?

I waited 13 years, because I lived with my mum and we weren't overcrowded. My daughter was 5 when I put my name down and she was 18 and doing her A levels when I got a place. This is South East London though.

Do you want the security of social housing, or do you want it to save to buy somewhere? If the latter, most of the recent (last decade) social housing in my area is not much less than private letting.

Would your mum see you put in a B&B or other temporary housing? Some of it can be extremely unpleasant. One B&B/ old hotel in my area was shut down by the council as it was also being used by sex traffickers. Obviously not all will be like that, but by their nature they tend to have many people from chaotic backgrounds, and that can be a challenging environment to live in.

I work in social housing and for those not on a high banding the wait for a 1 or 2 bed house in our area is around 7 years on the waiting list, for a family size house (3+ bed) is in excess of 10 years.

We advise people to go into private renting. LL arent allowed to refuse HB anymore but they can still insist on the month upfront but many councils do help with this.

Your best bet is to speak to your local housing authority and see what your options are.

Apply and say your mum is kicking you out

I have known the offer of dc going into foster care be made to families in London Boroughs.
I don't work in housing but the social work side.
I think it happens to put people off trying to insist on council housing rather than private rental when housing workers believe private rental would be a possibility.

In most cases I would expect either b&b or council housing or perhaps housing association depending on where people live to be offered. But I just wanted to confirm that like the original poster who mentioned it I had come across foster care being mentioned for housing.
I also agree that there isn't any foster care either and social workers have no interest in getting involved in this apart from some families without recourse to public funds.
It just stuck in my mind because I was pretty shocked the first time I heard someone raise it.

First things first.

Get yourself on the housing list.You will get points for every year you are on the list.

Looc online at the housing policy of your local council, not all councils have council housing, some but not all work with HA houses.

HA houses are not a cheaper rent, you may be better looking at shared ownership as you have a deposit.

Talk to citizen's advice about benefits. They can also help you budget.

Have a look at where local HA's are building. I had 1 point on the council list, a local HA had just built some new bungalows and I fittered their criteria so I went from a 1 bed flat where I was adequately housed to a 2 bed bungalow because in the future I will be a permanent wheelchair user.

@Breastfeedingworries

I was made redundant just before COVID restrictions, I worked in a shop, I can’t get a another job working with people as mum is vulnerable.

I don’t know how to increase my chances basically as people on band four can wait years.

Mortage advice is you lose 25 k of borrowing potential for every child. I’m not a high earned.

I want the security of a council house too, worried about being moved about. Would love the chance to one day just own a bit of it. So I was safe.

Can you drive?

There are plenty of supermarket delivery jobs going- you won’t have to mix with other people.

@spidermomma

Also I agree with the childcare it's ridiculous, I couldn't return to my job of 6 years due to that! I have no support when it comes to childcare and I would of been paying an extra £200 ontop of my wages if I sent dc to nursery. No help was given as I was working over the thread hold to get help on universal credit ! Do the letter op and hopefully get in a higher band an hour from their. You've no savings so ignore people on here but if they was to give you money like a previous post said. They have to state their gifting it. I did with my mortgage deposit from my Nan an she had to sign it but nothing as sinister as some people are trying to say ! X

Aren’t there 30 free hours of nursery now??