Social Housing Help

[Armadillo00]

Hi,

Is there anyone here with knowledge of social housing applications?

We received a Section 21 from landlord to be out of our rented property by beginning of August- so went to the council and opened a social housing application, been accepted, highest band, all good you'd think.

Landlord is being flexible with regards to us leaving but as this August date has been and gone my housing officer wants to call me tomorrow as she may need to close our application as the 'reason you were accepted to the waiting list, was because you were facing homelessness, however, as this is not the case, you may not be eligible to remain on the waiting list' so I am really panicking. Surely there is still a threat of homelessness as the Section 21 is valid for 6 months and we still have a need for housing?

If anyone would be able to give me any advice on how to handle this when I speak to her tomorrow I would really appreciate it. I am panicking as rentals in our area are extremely rare, not that we have the money for all the deposit/upfront money/ fees associated with a letting agency, plus we have a small child and another due in December. Ultimately our landlord does need their property back, it’s just they were doing us a favour by not booting us out straightaway!

Thank you, sorry for the long post.

Your LA will only be responsible for you once you’re homeless. It’s an awful system, but from their side the argument will be that if you’re not going to be homeless for a few months, so they’ve got some breathing space. There will be hundreds of other people looking for accommodation who are homeless now, or in the next couple of days, so they’ll focus on them.

Even if they take you off the list now, they’ll put you back on once you’re homeless. Unfortunately that will probably mean you’ll have to go into temporary accommodation for a time until a property becomes available.

It’s a shit situation. Try and get your ducks in a row. Speak to your midwife/GP about the effects of the stress on your mental health and pregnancy. Make sure it’s documented in your notes. Wishing you the best of luck.