To feel let down by the housing association

[ModreB]

We, (DH and 3 x Ds's) have gone through 3 years of horrible problems with the next door neighbours, including having to get emergency injunctions for them making threats of violence against us. We have had police round, and the next door neighbours also had an anti harassment warning because of the way that they were behaving.

Neighbours were evicted in June, because of the behaviour, not just to us but others in the street as well, and had to be forcibly removed from the house by bailiffs and the police. The house was trashed, doors off, boiler stolen, all by them before they were evicted. The HA have spent the time between then and now getting the house back into a liveable condition.

When they left, the HA told us that they would only put someone in the house that they knew would be OK, because of the way that we had been put through hell.

I have now had a letter saying that the house is going to be used as a half way house for families in crisis!

I was a housing officer for a local authority for 8 years, so I know that a lot of families in crisis are OK, and just need a hand, but I also know that a large proportion are going to be a nightmare. I am so afraid that it will all start again.

I just feel so let down.

Oh no! Doesn't sound good does it!?

Most, you say, will be fine, it's the odd one or 2 who spoill it. I would be meeting my housing officer and asking lots of questions!

most of those families in crisis could be families exactly like you were befor you got housed.

normally im very much on the side of social tenants because its a system i strongly belive in but this sounds a bit like not in my back garden stuff

Yeah, well op has already had enough in 'her back garden'...

Can you not just move? Surely of you are a professional (presuming you still work to the same level as a qualified housing officer) you could afford to rent somewhere else?

thing is if you live on a estate you dont get to pick and choose. if a issue happens then they have to deal with it, but you cant just assume there will be issues.

Yabu. I cannot imagine objecting to a family in crisis having a home .

The thing is you shouldn't have to move because of this. You have your roots there, friends, family and kids settled at school etc. The HA are accountable for this and should ensure no more trouble occurs.

I really feel for you OP, I had similar problems with neighbours some years ago, all drug and gun related . And it was murder to get them out. Ended up meeting my local MP, police and council representatives to get the ball rolling.

No one should have to live like this.

So, what kinds of families are 'families in crisis' going to be?

Maybe, mums with dc fleeing abuse? Families who have been flooded, house fire. Maybe illness or having house re fit to suit a disability?

They aren't going to be housing evicted, problem families are they?

The problem is that yes, some of them are likely to be "problem" families. My local authority has a scheme where they take families with problems and rehouse them in a different area, then do intensive work with them to try to turn them around.

And there's the problem that even with the families that are decent, if it's a transitional house, they are in and out so there's no consistency. We will never know who's living next door. DS3 is upset as well, he went through a lot, including seeing me being threatened on my own doorstep with a knife and hearing next door screaming that they were going to burn our house down. I just want a bit of peace and stability.

I live in the same street as a halfway house. Theres been no problem at all apart from some of the families treat the street like a rubbish tip. The good thing is with it being a halfway house is that the people living in it are there for a short time.

op your child will only be upset if he knows you are,you should be reasuring him. and no matter where you live you would very rarely get to pick who lives next door and how often this changes.

My parents ndn passed away and the house is a council house,a 4 bedroom one,they have housed 2 separate families in there since he died.

It is a halfway house and the first family were moved in from over 100 miles away,they were apparently fleeing domestic violence,it was a mum and 5 dc. Within a week of her moving in the ex dh had also moved in,then the shouting would start. The police were called numerous times and the sw knew he was not allowed to know where she had moved to but they turned a blind eye. It was an awful time,eventually,after accumulating massive debts and trashing the house they did a flit.

Then the council did the house up and a family from again miles away moved in,they seem ok tbh,they have 3 dc and they all have differing levels of autism,so you sometimes get a bit of noise from them but no more than any family noise.

Good luck op,I hope you get neighbours like my mum has now and not the previous ones.

Presumably they've got to go somewhere, and YABU for thinking they should consider you before placing people. Also, it might be absolutely fine, so why not think positively?

I think some of the posters above would be less blase if they had to live with this degree of worry, uncertainty and stress

OP, YANBU. None of us choose our neighbours, but wanting some stability is perfectly understandable, esp after what you have been through. I hope things work out ok for you. Can you make a formal complaint to the HA? I appreciate they may dismiss it out of hand, but at least you would then have something on record which you could use to bring further pressue to bear if you have further neighbour issues in the future.

Agree with CommunistMoon.

I also think that a child understands when his parent is being threatened with a knife and that when people are shouting that they are going to burn his house down they are being threatening. Whilst how a parent approaches it is important its not the whole story, they will use their own judgement about something. I think in this situation a child will be upset however calm their parent is. They aren't stupid.

Would stressing this aspect, what you and your children have gone through help at all?

I have no objection, and would support as much as possible people moving in who need the house, if they were fleeing violence, or had been re-possessed etc.

I do have an objection to people who scream, shout, fight, fight with the police in the front garden, play loud music all day and night, take drugs, and in my professional experience, as a housing officer in a very difficult challenging area, a large number of families who are in "crisis" are like this.

I have had 3 years of being spat at, threatened, including threats to kill me and burn down my house, cars vandalised, children bullied, kept awake all night (and I mean from 12am until 5am) by fighting, music, police, ambulances, shouting, kicking doors in (including trying to do mine), attempted assaults, even when the police were present to want to put up with it any more.

And, I don't want to do it any more. And other people on my street don't want it as well.

OP, YANBU

Do you have any grounds on which to object to their proposal? Could you work with your neighbours to get your concerns listened to and acted on?

ok then from a practicle aspect as residents why dont you write a letter to the ha and the residents tenants panel as well as your la's housing dept with objections to the proposal.

also ask your local surestart center if they can point you in the direction of a child support through play service to help your dc. if they are unable to help ask your police stations child protection team if they can surgest one.

Most Housing Associations do not control the housing register . Therefore are not privy to who is allocated the house. YABU to suggest, as a housing officer, that a family in crisis could not, potentially be, the best neighbours in the world.

YANBU to be worried, but ywbu to try and do anything about it. This sort of thing is the price you pay for a secure tennancy unfortunately. There are pros and cons to every method of housing, this is just one of those cons.

Housing assocations do have to approve the nomination from the housing register so do have some say in who gets the property. In OP's place I would be worried too. Some of the families will indeed be lovely and you will be sad to see them move on, but there will be some nightmare occupants as well.

Housing Associatons do not approve the nomination. They have to take the person with the most need, referred by the council. As long as they accept the house then they are the next tenants, simple as. There are always nightmare tenants but if the housing association got to pick and chose their tenants then there wouldn't be any difficult tenants.

Yes be angry. But talk to your neighbours.

If EVERYONE in the area asks to transfer then they will get the message.

in the area i work in any halfway houses run by ha's or homeless charities get to select the tenants so they only end up with ones deamed suitable from there charitable perspective i.e one that gets majority funding for drug issues will take a person with drug issues one with a dv slant will only take people fleeing dv ect.

in all the ones with things that cause health issues or under 25's or significant risk of social problems a key worker will also be there 24 hours a day.

Hi,

We had exactly the same letter after our lovely neighbour moved, we were terrified to be honest! But one family has lived there for about a year now and they are permenant tenants so it never happened.

PS 'halfway houses' are only allowed to run for a year we were told, so they move about every year so the neighbours don't have to permenantly have to put up with disruption.

So even if it does happen, it won't be for more than 12 months.

HTH.