About 8 months ago I became aware something was going badly wrong in my brothers life. I get on well with him but not seeing him for several months was not unusual. He had been an advisor in a CAB and commuting to London, he had lived in his private rented flat for 15 years since a relationship breakdown and had access to his children every other weekend.
I was contacted by a Bailiff who had arrived to evict him from his home. He had had a major mental breakdown and had not even rung in sick to his employer so had been sacked and had not signed on for benefits and so had not had any rent paid. His electric had been cut off and he was living in the dark off jam sandwiches and cigarettes he was buying on his credit card from the garage over the road from his flat. He literally had gone from working professionally to street homeless in 4 months. Luckily the bailiff recognised what he was seeing and got my number off him and called me.
We could not save his home but after a fight got the council to accept their duty to house him, got him to GP and mental health team etc. He was in hospital for a bit and then placed in a homeless B&B 6 months ago. Without me to contact he would have been street homeless without a doubt.
He called me yesterday to say he has been offered a flat and had to view it today. He called me today to say he has got the flat and has to move in now.
And I mean NOW - he can only return to the hostel to pick up his Clothes. He has no bed/kettle/cooker absolutely nothing as everything was lost when he lost his home. There is carpet but no curtains. He has a referral to furniture charities to provide stuff but this will take at least a week . He will have no radio/TV or internet connection so will just have to sit there.
So someone with severe depression has got to move in under these conditions immediately - not even 24hrs to get some stuff together.
My brother is lucky as I am here and can afford to take him out this evening after work to get a kettle and a microwave and I have a camp bed and folding chairs he can use but I can't help feeling if I was not here he would simply lie on the floor and not get up. He knows I will ensure everything happens that needs to, but I work and cannot just not go in tomorrow.
My daughter and her 4 children were made homeless 12 months ago when the landlord sold the house she had lived in for 5 years and she is living with me so having him at mine is not possible. He will have a support worker but they are not coming to meet him and help sort things out until a week after he has to move in.
I know exactly what I need to do so am not looking for any advice but aibu in thinking this is horrific - if someone had no relatives to help a vulnerable person like this would just be left in an empty flat with no way of feeding themselves or anything to sleep on and nothing to distract them from the nightmare going on inside their head!
I am not suggesting they should be given everything but a couple of days to get the basics together surely is not asking for too much. It would give a much greater chance of making the tenancy successful if people could have something in place before having to move in, certainly have a support worker in place. It is so short sighted - surely everyone want new tenancies to work. Otherwise this will just be another incredibly expensive eviction and homeless hostel again.