to think that giving a flat to a 16yr old with a baby is wrong

[twirlymum]

In my capacity running a voluntary youth group, I have a few of the girls as friends on facebook (that's another debate).
One of them is 16, and her baby will be a year old in December. She currently lives with her grandmother, as she doesn't get on with her mum.
Last week, she put as her status 'FML, fed up with rules, going to the council to get a flat'.
A friend (judging by the photo in her 30's) commented that it's not as easy as that, the council don't just hand out flats willy nilly, and that in the circumstances, she'd be better off where she was.
What followed was a barrage of comments from other friends (at least five), all saying pretty much the same thing:
you are entitled to a flat, they have to give you a two bedroom place, you'll get a grant to furnish it, the council pay your bills etc.
I was a bit stunned, is this the case? I had thought it was something the media hyped up, but maybe I'm wrong??

Charleyney
if she's under 25 she will only be entitled to the single room rate until the baby is born, when it will go up to either a one or two bed rate. She will probably have to stay with her mum until after the baby is born.

Thing is, if affordable housing was available to everyone, then there really would be no problem with a minority of young girls thinking they can 'use' a baby to get them a house.

Right to buy was a disaster in my opinion as it drastically reduced affordable housing stock.For every house sold, there should have been an obligation to build a new one.

Now we have an increasing population and its a scandal that so many people will never be able to have somewhere secure and comfortable to live in.

But the issue I have relevant to this thread is that where I live, I am seeing very young people being given comfortable local authority accommodation (which by no means would I describe as a "hell hole") and they told me that they got pregnant knowing that they would get rehoused and that their rent would be paid.

Lifestyle choice, but adding to housing shortages

I had my son at 16, If my parents had kicked me out I would have been put in a hostel untill I was 18.

I waited untill I was 18 and put my name down on the council waiting list, at the time you were allocated points depending on your personal circumstances.

I got given a flat pretty quickly, as I was at home with my parents, 3 brothers and my 2 year old in a 3 bed semi.

I was given no grants, I was given a loan of £400 to furnish the flat, which I had to pay back weekly.

At no time did I ever purposely think 'Im going to get pregnant to get a flat' and at no time did I need a foster family!

My son is nearly 18 now and I am immensly proud of how our lives have panned out. Please don't tar all young mums with the same brush.

those people do end up with responsibility for a child for the next 18 years though. It's hardly a consequences free lifestyle choice. We all know how bloody expensive and inconvenient kids are.

Does it not worry you that some people feel that the only way they can get adequate housing is to have a child?

To make myself clear- they didn't get a flat. They got to live in a hostel, with a baby, and other women and THEIR babies. And if they worked hard, and had the staff's approval, they might get RECOMMENDED to the council housing department. And then, if there was one available, they would get a flat. They'd have had a home of their own faster if they'd stayed childless and got jobs, tbh.

Yes, Izzy. I always despair of the way that young mums are written off as useless wasters.

I was 19 when I had DS, lived with my mum for bloody years so that I could get a degree, went on to do a PhD and became a university lecturer. I have a friend who had a child at 17, she went on to university and then medical school in canada, and has now finished her residency and works as an attending OB/GYN (with utterly soul destroying levels of debts). Other young mum friends of mine have become teachers, speech therapists, midwives, social workers, educational psychologists and much more besides. Others have stayed with their original partners, got married, and are utterly wonderful SAHM who receive no support from the state.

Many of us required support from the state at the beginning. Being a young mum doesn't mean you're doomed to being a feckless drain on society, although you'd be amazed how many people assume it does.

ahh I see Eric has already answered the question about the £58 a week, yes when she has the baby her entitlement will go up to whatever your local LHA for a 2 bedroom house is.

How ridiculous to say that a 25 year old needs support and guidance. A 25 year old could have been working as a qualified nursery nurse for the past 8 years, or in the army as medical staff on active service, or any number of other things.

A generation age 25 was a normal age to have a baby. We should be looking to change social structures so that we can return to that, rather than keep putting so many women over 25 through the heartbreak of infertility.

I see no difference between paying a 16 year old child tax credits to help with her child's costs while she is studying, and paying a 36 year old maternity leave. They are both still benefits.

In my area, you will get rehoused much quicker if you are pregnant or have a baby and are prepared to be placed initially in a hostel.

If you are a single person, unless there are additional factors -ill health etc, you will not get priority.

It is not a points system in my area any more, its a Banding one and you bid for properties. Nothing to do with working hard or getting the approval or recommendation of anyone else.

The system has changed and some people know how to get the most out of it. I am certainly not saying that ALL young mums get pregnant for housing priority.

the nice LA flats may start off like that, or may look it from the outside, but they are frequently let in a DIRE state by previous residents.

"prepared to be placed initially in a hostel" - yep - really great places for young (or old) mum's and young babies, drugs, alcohol and all the associated problems that come with it - right under your own roof - nice.

Charleney - when your friends baby arrives (actually possibly before - it's worth contact them now) she could contact the Housing Options people at the local council. Most (all?) councils run a Rent Assistance Scheme which helps people who are currently unsuitably housed to find, and secure, accommodation in the private sector and even if she didn't qualify for help through the RAS the housing options team should be able to give her advice on what to do.

I DIDN'T SAY THAT EVERYONE WHO HAS A CHILD UNDER AGE 25 NEEDS A FOSTER FAMILY !

I DID SAY that any single girl who has a child with no means of emotional support from anyone else, or no means of financial support at all, should be offered accommodation within a foster family.

Because anyone who thinks it's okay to bring another body into the world on that basis clearly needs help in coping with the world.

no but you assumed that every person under 25 that ends up bringing a child into the world as a single parent needs that support and just got pregnant in a one night stand or similar - which quite frankly is utter hogwash

foster family suggestion is ridiculous!! some people on here seem to think up to 25 is young to have a baby, very strange attitude indeed - it is a normal child rearing age
as for the girl with the baby personally i really would not begrudge her a council flat, that is the kind of situation council housing is there for. i know if i ended up on my own for some reason, i would be very glad of a council place for myself and dc. can imagine it would be difficult living with a lot of family members in the same house, you do need your own space. i would feel sympathy for the situation rather than some people seem to want to see them living in poor conditions just to serve them right or something like that

Clumsygirl, why do you think that a single person is less emotionally competent than a married one? She could be married to a drug user or a child abuser.

Your belief that certain people shouldn't have children is not evidence that such people 'cannot cope.'

Are you Nick Griffin?

Still waiting for an explanation as to why people in their 30s need maternity pay, child benefit or child tax credits if they are so financially responsible and able to cope before making the decision to have a child.

Milly - you got there before me - I was just about to ask about the women in relationships where they got no emotional, practical or financial support. Maybe poor couples (after all - it's only poor people who need help isn't it ) should all be put with foster families when they ahve a baby to show them how to act like adults.

Some people on this thread do not have a clue.

Jesus wept what is supposed to happen to these girls. Do you suggest that we go back to the bad ol' days and put them all in a home or unmarried mothers, and forcibly have their children adopted? Would that fit in with some posters halcyon view of What The World Should Be.

Not all teenage mothers are feckless, idle scumbags. I was 17 when I had dd. Worked from when she was 3 months, paid private rent, blah de blah. I have done a good job and now am the proud owner of a lovely 14 year old.

Re hostels

"drugs, alcohol and all the problems"

Iknow someone who runs a hostel and I've been there. It was clean and warm and run by someone who actually cares about the people living there. She'd be offended by these comments. And the people I'm talking about were not there long. I think 6 months was the longest. They were rehoused into brand new,housing association houses. According to one I spoke to, it was well worth the wait.

I've been in private sector rentals far worse than this hostel.Dirty, poorly maintained and insecure. And without priority banding and knowing they would be rehoused soon.

The real problem is the lack of affordable, decent housing and the fact that it is rationed, whether by points, banding or whatever. And for me, the fact that I'm seeing some people waiting patiently for years for adequate housing whilst others are fast tracked.

Well I can assure you that the hostel (used to be a hotel - still looks like a hotel from outside) in our town is just as I describe. It is NOT a pleasant place to be, admittedly the area the girl in question has ended up on isn't much better in terms of drugs, alcohol and associated problems at least it's not right under he own roof.

25 , at 25 i;d been engaged, split up, working all through that, met DH, settled, in a house, and pregant. My Mum had been married 6 years at 25!

I would support the Mum and baby units if doen with compassion not as a pseudo-prison.

As for teh ease fo hosuing- I know someone taken off the list (ended up in a refugeg with help of a homeless charity) becuase she turned down two houses (had a small child)- on teh absis they were in the same street as the man about to be relesed from priosn for attempting to stab her (child's father) would be living with his family.

You know, in my city tehre are 30k people on the waiitng list. We're in private rented but have been told that should we need a LA house, nothing big enough could be found (2 disabled kids that SSD assess as needing own rooms) so we would have to accept foster care for sn kids then a one room homeless accom for rest of us.

The whole system is a mess.

Oh yes, they get houses (not flats!) With a sauna and a gym. And someone to do the housework. And a car. And garden with room for a pony. And all their shopping done and paid for, and a fully trained nanny for each child.

But only if they are immigrants. And if they are illegal immigrants, they get two cars.

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