Housing help

[Love29]

Long story I have been on the Council list (Basildon) bidding for the last 3 years to get me and my son our own place, I've now gone down as homeless and am currently in a hostel waiting for temporary acc. Once in my temp place I will continue to bid on a perm place but will be in a higher band, my fear is that I have to put 2 bids in and if there's a week where not so nice places come up ie 6th floor flat rough area, no garden arc comes up and I don't bid the Council will now put bids in for me. I know I should be grateful for any where but I still have the right to a home that I would like as I've been able to chose what I've bid on for the last 3 years so has any one been in this situation what's the chances I'll get the properties I bid on over getting one they bid on for me

i know the hostel is costly I'm paying to stay in it!! £169 per week is the rent
Why would you pay £169 a week to live in a hostel when you could rent privately?

This thread doesn't sound very true to me.

You're asking too much.

If you were really homeless you'd take the subsidised property and be grateful to have a secure home for your child.

Social housing isn't subsidised. Private renting often is though - £10 billion a year goes to private landlords.

Social housing is subsidised

£400 a month here compared to market rate of £900 in private

Council makes a huge loss as they have repairs going back years and no money to do it

Depends where you live though Tulips here in my north west town my council house is about a tenner a week less then private rent.

Just because the rent is cheaper doesn't mean it's subsidised! Councils can't rent out at a loss - could you imagine the outcry if they did? It pays for itself including maintenance and repairs in the form of rent receipts.

And as I said the private landlords are the ones receiving a subsidy in the form of the £10 billion we spend every year on housing benefit, the vast majority of which is made up of claims by working people unable to afford the so called "market rent" that private landlords charge.

They are looking at the rents

Mainly because a wellnpaid MP lives in a council house and could afford to buy but chooses to block a family in need instead

Should be more rules, not less

So your council is going to increase the rent for thousands of people because an MP lives in a council house? Are they on fucking glue?

No, they are looking at reviewing those on X wages to move to private or buy

They want to make reviews compulsory, so for example a 4 bed house now housing one adult will be required to downsize for a larger family

Makes sense

The gap between market rent & what they are charging is the subsidy.

Even though it isn't actually costing anything while what does cost is the gap between what private sector tenants can afford and what they are being charged? Okaaaay.

Anne, it's called an opportunity cost, try googling it.

I'm not saying supported housing shouldn't exist, I am happy for my taxes to support housing for low income people, and especially for children. But it is a subsidy nevertheless and shouldn't be taken for granted.

But "market rate" is meaningless in this context as there is no set amount that a council should be charging other than to fund the housing, which the current rents do. And especially given that "market rate" is itself subsidised to the tune of £10 billion a year.

Not been in this situation myself, but I'm a housing support worker so I deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis.

When a housing register applicant gets accepted as homeless and in priority need (which you have), all that the council has to do is make you one reasonable offer of accommodation and they have discharged their legal duty to help you. That's why they bid on your behalf.

If they offer you a property that you consider unreasonable, you can challenge the reasonableness of the offer. The sort of things that are unreasonable are things like a property that isn't suitable for disability reasons, is close to the residence of a violent or abusive ex, is unaffordable, in such poor repair is it is unreasonable for health reasons (eg damp if you have a child with asthma). Being in a "rough area" or 8 floors up is highly unlikely to be considered reasonable grounds for refusal imo.

With everything that's been in the press and on tv about the housing crisis, I'm amazed that there are still people who don't realise that in the current climate they have to take what they're given in terms of social housing or take their chances in the (insecure) private sector. That's the brutal reality of the situation, and it won't change until more people start voting for a government that is prepared to do something about it.

To give you an example, two bedroom places here charge £700 a month in the private sector. A single parent with a child on nmw would be entitled to around £120 a month housing benefit to help cover that, more if they had childcare costs to take into account so potentially another £200 in hb. If they instead rented a council place they would just pay the rent from their own wage. So who is being subsidised? Because it looks like the private landlord is to me.

Anne that is also a subsidy.

The government subsidises housing in a variety of ways.

It's not either/or.

My family own a HA. It is subsidized much more than people realize. Ours is run as a non profit and it truely is a non profit with directors, which now includes myself, taking no salary, plus reasonable expenses being reimbursed. I live in the US and my flight home to attend meetings isn't reimbursed because the thought is that I can easily attend via telephone.

Anyway, to respond to the OP, someone upthread gave you your answer to your problem. Every single week bid on the max number of places because then they can't put a bid in for you.

Also, call other areas and ask about council housing there. You are homeless so rules do change and they have in the past made exceptions for families in the NW.

Do you work in the same area as you live? Do you have family in another area you could live in? Consider this route.

I get you don't want to live in a crappy place but you need to see this as a stepping stone. Friend of mine was a single male and waited almost 10 years for his place out in Bracknell. He was awarded it 10 years ago and there wasn't the shortage that there is now. He then exchanged his place with a single mother living in central London which was far more practical considering he is in the police, working in central London. It took him 18 years to get to that flat.

So you can afford £676 pcm for accomodation yet you're claiming a council property which could be taken by someone who can't afford the sort of rents you appear tp be well-off enough to pay? Not only that, you're put out at the standard of council property being offered which apparently isn'tgood enough for you?? Entitled much?

And for a single parent full time on nmw with three children two of whom share, hb would be around £200 a month even without childcare costs taken into account. Again, it's the private sector rent that is actually subsidised. Not subsidised according to some mythical amount in the way that you argue councils do, but actually subsidised in terms of public money being paid into the hands (or pension pot, or nest egg, or whatever) of a private individual.

Want2be but you're not running at a loss, right?

Silver Birch you need to read Joe Halewoods blog Hes a housing consultant and has been writing about HAs for years.

speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/housing-association-rents-increase-despite-tories-imposed-1-rent-cut/

speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/social-landlords-impose-poverty-on-the-social-tenant/

I don't fully understand how you are classed as homeless when you are working and have the means to pay at least £169 per week in rent. You receive no benefits at all? I thought hostels were for priority need cases where people literally had nowhere else to go and were on benefits. I have not heard of a case where someone who has the means to pay £735 a month in rent was put in a hostel just because they did not want the insecurity of private rental. Nobody wants insecurity, but the vast majority of people who don't own a home have to live with it.

Well papa op hasn't said how she has become homeless and in a hostel...