Applied for housing (London) and was rejected

[PetitDiable]

I couldn't find a suitable topic to post this in, so I'm posting here.

I'm nearly 8 months pregnant and living with my mother in a 2 bedroom flat with my two other brothers because my XP threw me out 3 weeks ago. Come December, when baby is due , my two other siblings will return home from university. I am currently sleeping in my sister's box room.

I applied to join the housing register 2 weeks ago, but received an email telling me I'm not eligible. How can this be? Perhaps there are a lack of homes in my borough. It's a pretty affluent area so I wouldn't be surprised. But what am I suppose to do? I can't live in an overcrowded home with a baby. We would have nowhere to sleep once baby is here and my siblings return home.

I have no job. I've just set up a claim for income support. I can't get any help financially from my family. My mother is on a state pension and my siblings are on a low income.

Has anyone been in a similar position?

OP, you need to take whatever is offered to you, whenever it's offered (providing it is habitable for living).
It is no more your right to live in London than it is anyone else's.
Once you have had the baby, you will be in a better position.

'OP is heavily pregnant with her first child. She's just out of a relationship. Is it really surprising she wants to remain near family?'

No, but it means living in over-crowded conditions or finding a way to rent privately for her because of the way the council's policy is. They don't have flats available anymore for all who need them.

I have a mate with 5 kids whose private LL evicted them and they were moved out towards Luton to a 'temporary' home owned by a private LL and told they will be there until at least 2018. She had to accept that or nothing at all.

it just becomes very clear why the housing system is so under strain when you are litigating to live in the most expensive borough in london

Oh I see! It's all my fault that the council homes are being sold off? My life is in Westminster, my job, my family and support network - everything! As I said, the Judge agreed with me and I won my case.

Oh I see! It's all my fault that the council homes are being sold off?

The East End to Westminster isn't that far you know.
It's not like they relocated you to Brighton or somewhere.
It's a waste of taxpayers money hearing cases like this and I agree with the person who has called you on it. Loads of people commute to work and have to make short journey's to see their family. What of it?

expat sorry that was directed at the people who seemed to think OP was a terrible drain on society simply for wanting to stay near family. I know what the reality is (I live in London and I'm homeless, there's fuck all help around here).

I think looking into shared accommodation is the best bet for staying in the area, though obviously branch out to cheaper areas that are easy to travel to. Or accept the cramped conditions where you are and work your way back to being able to afford to rent by yourself, this would take a few years I would imagine (unless you have very high earning potential).

DH and I moved out of London just before we had DC1. We bought though but couldn't afford anything within 20 miles. DH's family and our friends were all there. If I had actually had a decent supportive mother/family and I had to move to away from her too, I couldn't have.

The social isolation which led to PND was terrible. I was on my own for 12 hours a day with DH commuting back into London to work.

I would not wish that on a single mum having had her first baby after leaving a relationship.

What about the baby's father? He will need to contribute to support/house the baby. What have you arranged with him?

I used to advise in this sector (when legal aid was still available) and ComtesseDeSpair is right. The rules will vary slightly depending what borough you are in (I only know Tower Hamlets and Islington properly and since you say it's an affluent area I'm guessing you are not there - hope you are not in Westminster as they are a proper bunch of b*stards) but they are all similar and getting yourself on the priority need list is virtually impossible - I've seen parents in a bedsit with seriously disabled kids be refused. Some councils are genuinely doing their best but the resources simply aren't there and the central government funding cuts to councils in the most deprived (i.e. non-Tory voting) London boroughs have been devastating. And the lack of advice (law centres and legal aid law firms now totally overwhelmed by clients, underfunded and going out of business every day) means it's harder and harder to find your way through the system.

I'm really sorry OP, but whilst I would definitely agree trying the CAB, Shelter and your local law centre (if you still have one) you should also be working on plan B, even if that is only asking your family if there is a way to work out a space sharing plan within your Mum's flat.

I really do feel for you though....

This thread is so sad, families being uprooted, kids having to change school etc because of lack of affordable housing and LA properties. This government seriously needs to prioritise this housing crisis and look for a solution. Add to this thousands of refugees needing accomodation, although I guess many will go to other cities. It's not just London either, we are in a city in the East midlands and I have a friend who currently has her daughter and two grandkids living with them for over a year with little hope of getting social housing. They are not as overcrowded as op as it is a 3 bedroom but still not ideal.

Did the place in east London make you feel unsafe, ThruUlikeaShortcut?

I can fully understand not wanting to live there if so. Some housing in London would feel really insecure to me - especially if I had a small baby!

So yes, although it might not be far distance wise to Westminster, if you are not able to sleep from fear of aggressive neighbours etc then no it's not a suitable place for anyone.

It is ridiculous that vast amounts of money need to be spent bringing it to court but that is not the fault of the tenant trying to get appropriately housed!

Absolutely Babyroobs. I think they should introduce a law against anyone in London owning a property other than the one they live in. Too many city workers spending their bonus on a new buy-to-let every year has forced up prices and rent and taken a huge amount of stock off the market. And non-resident owners in "prime" London may seem disconnected from council housing but they are forcing rich Londoners into new areas, where they raise prices and force the people who previously lived there to move on, and the ripple effect drives house prices up everywhere and makes them more and more unreachable

Absent she hasn't said any of that with regards to why she wanted to stay in Westminster, so why would you assume that this would have been the case.
There are some right dumps in Westminster too and what we need is taxpayers money (where it's council owned) to be used to improve properties for everyone, not just used for some to cherry pick where they want to live.
If it was safe housing, nothing will convince me this was a just use of funds in order to legally be able to refuse living there.

I do feel entitled to pass judgement on people who are asking for my (and yours) help to live their life as they please. And, if you are paying taxes - it is your money that it used for it.

I do absolute feel that people who can't work for medical reasons should be well taken cared for. I do not feel that able young people should be entitled to not working and making demands on the help is given to them.

OP - please prove me wrong. You, and your partner have had jobs. Your pregnancy was planned because you both felt that your were at a place in your life when you were ready and could afford a child. He is gainfully employed and will be paying for child support. And you are planning to work again once your child is a bit bigger.

Then - I will happily admit that I was wrong about you.

Otherwise, I do believe that you have to accept public help in the way it is given. If the only free housing available is in Timbuktu, then so it is. This is how the rest of the world lives...

Unfortunately you will not be a priority as you do not yet have the baby, and you're not in danger or homeless - as they see it you're living with your mum. I'm afraid the council will have a long, long list of families and vulnerable people living in temporary accommodation (which is likely to be much more overcrowded than your mums house), as well as those who literally have nowhere to go, and those are all likely to come before you on the ladder.

If I were you I would speak to Shelter and the Citizens Advice Bureau, who will be able to give you specific advice on what benefits and help you are eligible for.

I know things look bleak right now, but living back with your parents, even in a cramped house, is really not so bad. It sounds like your mum is happy to have you, and your sisters will be returning to university after a couple of weeks at home, so you won't be overcrowded forever. You will all figure something out, even if someone has to sleep on the sofa or on an air mattress for a few days.

Oh do fuck off jsku, you sound despicable.

I can kind of see what jsku means in a way. We all have to make compromises, don't we - I don't live near family and we don't really live in the house that we'd like to. We moved out of London because we weren't going to be able to afford a suitable house there. Having said that, the current situation sounds v tricky - 2 bed flat, presumably your mum is in one bedroom and your two brothers share? Even if you weren't there, where do your other siblings sleep?? Your ex partner should be contributing anyway, shouldn't he?

jsku she can't look for a job now can she? She's 8 months pregnant, nobody will hire her.

If she lived with her DP then there's no chance in hell that it was council property, she isn't a priority now so she definitely wouldn't have been then. That kind of points to at least one of them earning money.

She doesn't need to explain her situation to anybody on here, she owes us nothing.

are your siblings coming home because they've finished uni? how old are the ones still living with your mother? if they're adults could you consider all clubbing togther to get a shared place?

Bojack - what specifically do you find despicable?

Working for your money? Being responsible? Or is it accepting help in the way it is given?

I'm a bit on the fence here. Obviously the housing market and social housing situation is ludicrous. However, London transport is ace. It's not so far to move to a different borough or further out of London if it's a bus/tube/train ride or two away, is it? And London transport is significantly cheaper and more plentiful than the rest of the country... (before anyone says it, I'm thinking the family visiting, not the OP making the journey).

I've been refused even temporary accomodation in a hostel, when I had literally nowhere to go, so I do sympathise with the OP's plight and how horrible it feels to have no proper home. It is grim right now OP, but this is the 'tough time' and you will look back when you're settled somewhere and be proud you got through it.

I'm not directing any of my comments at you in particular op. I don't know anything that would add to the comments about how social housing is allocated.

However, I live twenty miles away from where I work, my DH lives thirty miles away from where he works. We have / do work in areas where housing is extremely expensive but we wouldn't assume we have a right to live close to where we work.

Neither of us grew up within two hundred miles of where we now live. We, separately, left our homes, families and friends, our support networks to find work as really quite young adults.

Our DC are consequently being brought up hundreds of miles away from their grandparents and aunts and uncles. We were first time parents with very very limited family support.

Living close to work, being housed close to parents or other family and having the support of our social network all seems a luxury from my point of view.

Minor point, but I'm pretty sure OP said her mum had a council house, not flat. Which may be less cramped and offer more space solutions, I don't know. It does sound like it may be best to stay put, unless Shelter advises otherwise. Or until you can sort something out with the exP maybe, if he can contribute to putting a roof over his DC's head. I'm not as judgy as some, but still it grates that it becomes the overloaded system's problem when people procreate with dickheads.

unfortunately many of the posts above are incorrect about the way the council are supposed to treat an application.

A person is in priority need for housing if they have children or if they are pregnant.

There are also categories for people who are exceptionally vulnerable eg due to disability.

see this link from Shelter

OP please call the Shelter advice line. If you have been wrongly refused housing assistance, you need to act quickly because you have 21 days to seek a review.

Even more unfortunately, the previous posts are correct in saying that you still may not qualify for housing, and if so, that it may not be anywhere near your family, because the pressure and the demand is so, so great.

I am aware of people accepted as homeless in London boroughs being offered temporary accommodation in Chatham or even further away.

pinkdelight I don't think people intentionally "procreate with dickheads" . We should make the dickheads pay though . Shocked that OP's exP would kick her out heavily pregnant! What a tosser. Surely her should be the one to leave? Can anything be done there, legally? Who's name is on tenancy etc?

Typo - Surely he should be the one to leave.