I'm Homeless

[JanetWeissAHeroine]

Posting for traffic.

I am a single parent to a 5 year old DD who has significant special needs. I have been made homeless and have been staying with a friend in unsuitable accommodation for the last last 3 months. I have contacted the council and have been told I am a priority and have recently been contaced by my housing officer who is looking into things for me. Basically, my housing officer is a bit shit at getting back to me and hasn't been communicating with me at all so I am unclear what my options are exactly. Today I received an email about renting in the private sector, they sent a list of websites to look at (Rightmove, Zoopla etc) - so are they just expecting me to rent privately when I have no means to at the moment and I'm on UC and a carer for my daughter? I get there is a housing crisis and I don't want to be seen as ungrateful at all but I'm really worrying about this whole thing and they aren't explaining anything to me properly.

Any advice is welcomed

Yeah my friend was in temp accommodation with her DS for nearly two years, though she did get a decent flat in zone two at the end of it. Still really tough to go through though. Good luck OP.

[quote JanetWeissAHeroine]@Flynn999 I have looked at private rental properties, the thing thats worrying me is the rent, I have no idea how I will afford it - I live in London so it's so expensive.[/quote]
You need to contact shelter and keep contacting your council -daily or twice a day - minimum and say "We can't cope she wants us out now -today -please help. Now. Please" etc Daily morning, noon and night if necessary.
Why do you need to be in London ? Specialist schools are available in the rest of the country too. Where is your support network?

alopecian

The council would have to carry out an affordability check. This means they will look at income and expenditure of a client.

Its unlikely that a private rent would be at or under the LHA rate so for example if a tenant had to find more money to top up rent which would leave them unable to pay for food then it would be classed as unaffordable.
They need to consider whether a client can afford the housing costs without being deprived of basic essentials such as food clothing, heating, transport and other essentials specific to their circumstances.

Temporary accommodation only has to be adequate and not ideal. It could be a hostel with drug deals going on in the hallways and alcoholics fighting on the stairs. They will not have to consider your daughter's educational needs

This is completely untrue.

Find out from your borough what the maximum rent they pay for a 2 bed flat. Then checkout rightmove and take it from there.

Most schools have good links with Social Services. You may be able to speak to your daughters teacher and ask for social services help as their contacts /referral may be faster. As others have said SS can be a real ally. Good luck

* But you won’t be there long, probably 6 weeks max

This is not true - you could be there years, depending on area of London you live.*

also untrue- it is unlawful to house a family in a B & B for longer than 6 weeks and this can also be legally challenged.

If your child is 5 and you have no family in area that will help you, you could be much better off if you made a move to s different area where rents are much cheaper. In the Midlands you could privately rent a 2 bed house with small garden for £675 pcm in a nice town with green parks and river walks. You would get rent allowance as part of UC. You would get child benefit and when child starts school could get part time job too. It would be such better life than homeless in London. Sometimes we have to make things happen.

S184 is section 184 of the housing act 1996.

It's the law that says if a local authority has reason to believe you are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, they must find out whether you are eligible for assistance and what housing duties they owe you.

They have a duty to inform you of the outcome of their inquiries and give reasons and this is the 'S184 letter'

It probably won't have 'SECTION 184' written across the top. It might be called something like, 'Our decision on your homelessness application' and it will probably say something like, 'Dear Ms Heroine, Further to your recent application for homelessness assistance we have concluded our inquiries in accordance with our duties under S184 of the Housing Act bla bla bla ...'

It's important to work out where you are in the process and what decisions have been made - whether you've had this decision letter, whether they decided you were homeless or just at risk of becoming homeless, what duties they have decided they owe you, whether you still have time to request a review if you disagree with the decision, whether you have been given a personal housing plan and if you have, what you have agreed to do. It's possible that you have agreed to look for a suitable private rented property as part of your plan.

If they have decided that you are only at risk of becoming homeless, and if they decide you are not complying with your housing plan, then they can stop helping you altogether until you are actually properly homeless.

Read today's email carefully - are you required to look for properties or is it a helpful suggestion? If it looks like a requirement then go through the motions - spend X amount of time browsing the sites (you never know), then put in writing 'I have spent x amount of time on these sites but none of the properties were suitable.' Tell them again what features a property must have to be suitable for your DD and for you.

Dig out past correspondence - you're looking for a homelessness decision letter and a personal housing plan. If you never received these or you just can't find them, ask the council for copies. You are legally entitled to copies of this paperwork. Once you have these documents you can work out what your options are.

Call Shelter for advice and also take up Jude's suggestion of contacting CLA. Your local law centre or CAB might be able to provide a legal aid appointment with a specialist housing solicitor.

Useful basic guide to the whole process here:

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/guide/homeless_get_help_from_the_council/how_the_council_can_help

If they have decided that you are only at risk of becoming homeless

fab post- but the client is already legally homeless.

This is a common misconception.

The client is sofa surfing- she has no "legal right" to live in her current property. IE if she is asked to leave by her friend- then she would have to leave. She has no rights to stay or protection from eviction. Therefore she IS homeless.(legally)

NB this does not mean she is acting illegally by staying there.

Not trying to nit pick- just that I see this a lot and its important that people are aware that you don't have to be sleeping on a park bench to be considered homeless.

I would be very wary of getting your friend to make you homeless unless it's completely intolerable there. Emergency accommodation could be so much worse and you won't get suitably housed any quicker.

I would be gathering every scrap of evidence that I could on the unsuitability of your friend's accommodation and what your DD needs in terms of housing, including being near to her school and any other support she needs regularly. Keep a diary of the daily difficulties you face and get whatever evidence you can from her GP, any specialists she sees, school, children's services, informal carers etc., especially of any detrimental effects on her health or wellbeing from being in unsuitable accommodation.

Send regular updates to your housing officer and get in touch with your local councillors - copy them into everything. Do everything in writing. It's often suggested to involve your MP but councillors are generally better for housing or anything else that's the responsibility of your local council.

@Judethe0bscure

If they have decided that you are only at risk of becoming homeless

fab post- but the client is already legally homeless.

This is a common misconception.

The client is sofa surfing- she has no "legal right" to live in her current property. IE if she is asked to leave by her friend- then she would have to leave. She has no rights to stay or protection from eviction. Therefore she IS homeless.(legally)

NB this does not mean she is acting illegally by staying there.

Not trying to nit pick- just that I see this a lot and its important that people are aware that you don't have to be sleeping on a park bench to be considered homeless.

I know she is legally homeless.

She needs to check whether the council agree she is legally homeless and if they don't she needs to challenge this.

It is not the case that having a friend put them up temporarily effects OP's chances of being rehoused. She's still classed as homeless.

I had a friend who was staying at her mum's and she got a council flat quite quickly, with health points.

When ever you apply for social housing they will send you a list of places to find private rent (they send it to everyone), just ignore it or tell them you can’t afford private rent or a deposit.

As others have said ‘they won’t consider you properly homeless unless you turn up in their door step with your child and all your things and tell them you have nowhere to sleep tonight’, despite your friend saying you can’t stay the council will assume that she won’t kick you out unless you have somewhere to go so unless she actually kicks you out they won’t take you seriously.

They are not likely to take your daughters schooling into consideration either, there are specialist schools in other areas or it maybe possible to get her transport to her school from another area (my dd attends a school in another county due to specialist setting).

I do really feel for you as it took me years to get housed in a house suitable for my kids (both SN’s), I ended up having to move schools but managed to find a good school for dd2 even if it was quite far away. You need to keep pushing, call them everyday and tell them your friend is kicking you out tomorrow and you have nowhere to stay, they should find you temporary accommodation.

Just to add, I got loads of evidence together about my DD’s needs, doctors letters, occupational therapist, school and paediatrician. Also got help from CAB.

If you have no job, and no nearby family, and judging by your daughter's age she might not have started school, it is possible that the council will offer you housing outwith London.

This. It's highly likely they will suggest you look at moving somewhere you can better afford.

Have you looked at private rentals outside london? There are much more affordable places to live, where being in receipt of UC is far less of an issue.

Op, I note you say you have a dog, would this affect the places you can rent as not all will allow pets, and what about the emergency B&B's do they normally allow dogs too?

I'd start researching special schools near family. Now would be best time to relocate.

Sorry you’re going though this op.
I was homeless and pregnant at 18.
I was passed to and from different departments.
Eventually I went to the civic centre (part of a building which deals with council housing) and refused to move until I was seen.
I got offered a council house within a week, family put me up until then. I had no say in which property or area but I finally got somewhere.

Hope you get sorted.

Sorry you’re in such a difficult situation. If not known to children’s services, that’s your first step. I’d get on to them first thing tomorrow morning. A social worker can get things moving for you.

You could get your friend to write you an NTQ (notice to quit), take it to your housing officer and they will then have to offer you temporary accommodation. This may be in the form of a B & B, a hostel or temporary housing in their stock or of a local housing association. You will need to do this in person.

@Judethe0bscure You are talking bollocks. I was in a hostel for four years - there were plenty of families with kids there and they had been there for years. It is really not uncommon in parts of London - it happens and is a real possibility that it may happen to the OP.

camdennewjournal.com/article/revealed-the-families-left-in-cramped-hostel-rooms-for-years

She's not talking bollocks, the law does state that families can only be housed in B&B for 6 weeks. Unfortunately there's a loophole - if it's council owned then that law does not apply.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/london-councils-skirt-six-week-rule-for-homeless-families-54132

You are both right. They moved me out of a B&B after 6 weeks and into a hostel. There were people in the hostel there eight years.