Council House advice

[Akkhan94]

Hope everyone is well. I am a Mommy of a ACC baby . It means Agenisis of the corpus collosum. My son is a bit delayed in development. He is going to be 4 in August and I am struggling with his potty training. If you look at him he seems perfectly normal but living with him is a story for another day . Anyway we live with my inlaws and my son finds it hard coping. When my family (my inlaws have a large family ) come over , he can't tolerate it . He starts crying and screaming, banging doors and throwing toys and becomes very upset. He needs his own place. My husband can't afford a house and I don't work, I am a SAHM to two boys. We have applied for social housing but I'm currently on position 105 200 on flats , and on houses its in 400s and 300s. Could anyone advise us how to go up the band ? We are on band c and we really need the house 🏡

Yes it is .

I think you are getting a very hard time on here.
Where I live HA and council is the same list. We do get extra points for disability and other factors.
I was housed relatively quickly in a housing association house from private rental. I have now downsized to a council property that's smaller.
You just need to gather info from anyone that deals with your son and I agree... apply for DLA and carers. All that will help you.
And good luck.

Birmingham is desirable because its central and multicultural. Cheaper than down south but easy commute.

EHCP is an official plan to ensure your dc gets appropriate level of support in school to meet his needs. You need to ask nursery about requesting one asap as they will need to provide evidence and get assessments booked if needs be. Unfortunately you may be too late to get this in place for September. Telling the school is not the same and will not access funding for them to support him. You will not have any chance of moving him out of mainstream to a specialist unit without one.

You may already be doing this but can you try second hand clothing?

Are the mosque bills necessary? And what is the tuition for? Is there anywhere here you could save more?

DLA is a must, and acts as a gateway to other benefits and support as well. Remember when filling out the form, it is the care needed, not the diagnosis that matters, so be explicit in outlining every bit of extra care and adjustment your son needs. There are lots of charities that can help with the forms, as they are very daunting.

A medical assessment may help with your housing band, however it's hard to meet the threshold.

Could your in-laws allow you and your husband to contribute less financially for a while to allow you to save?

Deposits for shared ownership flats can be relatively small, and it could be a quicker way to move out. I don't know much about how UC works, however I believe that you can claim some assistance towards the rental part of the cost. This may not be plausible for you, but its an avenue to explore.

Honestly OP, Birmingham is a very difficult part of the country to be housed because it is overcrowded and housing is very much in demand.

As with London, it could take you 10 years to be housed in Birmingham, as you are not currently homeless or in danger.

The people on the waiting list above you are likely to be homeless, women in hostels escaping domestic violence, and families in temporary accommodation such as bnbs.

Are you able to relocate to a quieter and less in demand area near Birmingham?

It is very unlikely that you will be offered council or HA housing for several years.

Once your children are both in school would you be able to work to also bring in a salary? Or could DH do more hours or find a better paying job to enable you to at least rent a small flat?

There are simply far far less properties available than there are people who want them.

If you rent privately you may be entitled to universal credit to top up your income. This is the fastest way to your own. Use the turn to us calculator to determine what you could claim based on a typical rent in your area. You would qualify for a 2 bed rental

@Akkhan94

You have posted this on the worst part of mumsnet for this kind of thing. Take a look through the topics on Special Needs and you'll find more support. Kids with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum can sometimes present like neurodivergent kids, and there will be parents on the Special Needs area that understand the particular daily challenges and the habits and routines you get into because needs must.

There's so much more than housing here.

Have you applied for child DLA? This is Disability Living Allowance and children with any disability are entitled to it if they have care needs that exceed what is "normal" for a healthy and well child of the same age. That includes supporting challenging emotions or behaviour. Like everything health, the form is quite geared up toward physical disability so you have to take time and care to complete it where the challenges are emotional, behavioural or developmental.

Your child is going to school soon -you would really benefit from being involved in a formal process that acknowledges your child's needs and rights to accomodation/adaptations. EHCP is the usual process in England and Wales.

Your child having a clear disability, on an EHCP and receiving DLA would usually be enough (along with a letter from GP/Paeds/Nursery/School outlining challenges) to ensure they have appropriate consideration around priority for housing. You do have to be very clear about the specific housing needs and why...as well as why the medical history/disability is important.

Unfortunately, nowhere in the UK can you expect that authorities and professionals will bring this information to you. For every parent with a child with special needs, it's an uphill struggle and you have to be prepared to fight for and advocate for your child's needs. Sometimes you do find great people around who can help -a health visitor, a welfare rights officer at the Citizens Advice Bureau for example.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs

Surely if your husband is working and you’re not paying any rent you can afford to save and should be able to afford to rent privately?? If you can’t in your current area you would be insane to not consider relocating somewhere you can afford on your income.

@Akkhan94 It all goes on points. You should get some medical points if you get back up from a consultant (ideally a letter, or clinic letter) about your son and explain why you need a new space, that he isn't coping etc.

You should count as homeless if you don't have a home just for you, kids, and hubby.

(I live in Birmingham but the rules are pretty much the same everywhere.)

It sounds like the application could've been filled in better. Ask someone involved (any nurse etc) or ask the hospital who you should see to fill it in for your child's condition. (This tends to be better than CAB.)

@Akkhan94 Ah ok I see your husband is working. You won't get as high a priority because in theory you could afford a living space (albeit not a massive one.)

If his wage is low then he will get the housing element of Universal Credit to top up what he earns.

I've not rtft so apologise if I am repeating advice.

I would advise speaking to a local housing charity in your area, you are getting conflicting advice here and they will know your area, the council allocation process and help you with housing association applications.

Good luck to you and your family.

from what the OP says, the only help she gets is somewhere to live? no one else can cope with her DC not even her DH

Hi op. I have not read all the threat so sorry if I repeat.

I'm guessing your son has a diagnosis? Its a massive Shame that you have not yet claimed DLA or care allowance. And as advised definitely apply for ehcp . If he's in nursery you could ask for help from them to apply for that .

You could also look into an occupational therapist who can look at your home to see if it's suitable for ds. They will also ask you lots of things so you could possibly get support with the situation and him not coping well etc.

If you can manage where you are and carry on bidding that may be the way to go. But if you really can't cope there you would need to ask your mum inlaw to write you a letter saying you can no longer stay and you need to leave. You will then be put into temporary accommodation. That can be anything from a room, with shared kitchen and bathroom. A b&b a hostel . A self contained flat. The condition of temporary accommodation can be pretty grim. Also you will be rebanded and the date will start from the day you got rebanded. It won't be back date to when you started bidding. You start again but within a different banding.

I think I saw a post that said your husband can't stay with you if you go to a hostel. This is not true as you will be together as a family unit.

Also sometimes the medical side of things could restrict you for example if thru said you can't be any higher them 1st floor that restricts what you can bid on.

He goes to nursery, so clearly other people can cope with him. Sounds like the DH/family choose not to

No I have managed to get somewhere fortunately.

I got it because I had a local connection to the area as it was in the same village I grew up in and required a local connection to live there.

It’s a very rural village so there was less competition.

This wasn’t in Birmingham though so I don’t know what the rules are there.

It all goes on points. You should get some medical points if you get back up from a consultant (ideally a letter, or clinic letter) about your son and explain why you need a new space, that he isn't coping etc.

You should count as homeless if you don't have a home just for you, kids, and hubby.

Mine didn’t go on points.

There were several bands and each had a couple of specific criteria.
If you fit any of the criteria you would be on that band.

Band A had criteria such as being homeless or having a property with 2 or more extra bedrooms or being in a wheelchair living in a flat with no lift.

I was in temporary accommodation due to homelessness and was on band C.

Your child having a clear disability, on an EHCP and receiving DLA would usually be enough (along with a letter from GP/Paeds/Nursery/School outlining challenges) to ensure they have appropriate consideration around priority for housing. You do have to be very clear about the specific housing needs and why...as well as why the medical history/disability is important.

I totally agree with the above.
Do you know what supporting documentation and information was attached to your application? The more the better - definitely your DSs diagnosis, any supporting letters describing his condition and needs from anyone he sees - physio, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychiatrist etc if he has any of these. A letter from his nursery describing his behaviour and how he is managing there would also be good and one from your GP outlining how your living conditions are affecting your DS and you.

Are you getting any benefits - if not check if you are getting any you and DD might be entitled to. You may be entitled to quite a bit and housing benefit might help you with a proportion of the rent of a private rental.

Often housing association properties don’t come up on the council website so check which you have in Birmingham and apply to them directly. Some ethnic communities have their own HAs so make sure you look at any to see if there are any that you can apply for. You have to have to be on the councils register which you already are. Your main aim as you know is to do anything and everything you can to try get a B grade. I got moved from C to B on medical grounds and was housed with an ethnic group HA. I got a new flat within 5 months which I was really surprised. It counts that you need to be within your community, have access to a place of worship, have links to that area etc.

OP hasn’t yet answered whether she has applied for an EHCP for her child. I really hope so and that the school are fully aware and have time to sort any additional staffing/training.

@Shinyandnew1 yes op answered that upthread already about EHCP!

We only got a council house two weeks before we would have been homeless. I was panicking so much that we'd end up in a B&B or something.
As you are housed unfortunately you are not going to be in a priority position.

Ah, apologies-I missed this.

OP, I would apply yourself asap.

There's a UK charity for ACC who might be able to advise - https://corpal.org.uk/

SouthCountryGirl That’s a really good idea to contact the charity for DSs condition. You reminded me that on the national charity website for the condition I have, there were pdfs of leaflets about how to apply for various benefits, that they send on request. They were really helpful for me especially with the PIP application info.