To be annoyed at my homeless allocated worker

[ThereIsNoTomorrow]

Me and my 2 DC are homeless, we were placed in a hotel last week up until Monday. This was organised by my own allocated homeless worker. She said Monday she would arrange somewhere else for us to stay.
I called her this morning after checking out of the hotel at 10am, no answer. I then texted her asking if she had any idea where I would be staying tonight, no reply. I left it a couple of hours and rang again, she never got back to me all day.

Luckily I rang the haven in between who said they had no space but would let me know when one became available, they rang me at 4 oclock saying a roo, had just become available and we could have it straight away.

I'm so annoyed with my allocated lady purely because if I hadn't contacted the haven for a place to stay, me and my 2 children tonight would have had nowhere to go!

Would you complain or just let it go because I do have somewhere to stay now?

Complain! This is not some minor clock up, you could have been sleeping on the streets!

Have they decided they don't have a duty of care to house you? If not then I'd complain.

No, you mush complain

Your kids could have been on the street which should never happen

I’m guessing she was off sick, and the job wasn’t handed over properly, but they need to identify the problem so it doesn’t happen again.

Complain to the service rather than her personally

I’m very glad you have somewhere to stay

Do the 2 people who voted the OP is being unreasonable think it’s ok for kids to sleep on the streets?!

Hmm I can't vote as I'm in two minds. You've absolutely been wronged here, and would have been totally screwed if the place hadn't been able to sort you out, but you need to maintain a working relationship with the person you're dependent on for housing. Also, is it possible she is unexpectedly off sick or something and no proper handover was done?

I'd see how tomorrow plays out before deciding what to do next because you're very vulnerable and if you piss her off you might end up in a worse situation than if you let her think everything's fine then complain about this once you've got long term accommodation.

How old are dc? Are you looking for housing too?

Yeah I dont want her to think I'm making a fuss over nothing and then her get arsey about it and not help me to find secure housing.
Like pp have said if the haven couldn't accommodate me today I would have been screwed totally

Did you call the housing options number when you couldn't reach your allocated worker? I work opposite the council housing building in my area and a while ago one of them got taken off in an ambulance because they'd been assaulted at work. Not saying that's happened but she might be off sick, or delayed at court giving evidence, sick with a client who is suicidal or any number of other things, I know happened to frontline professionals on a regular basis. I know your situation is desperate but she is a homelessness officer, so all of her cases will be in the same boat, and I can almost guarantee the department is under staffed and she has a huge workload (more than a decade of Tories).
I'd want to find out what happened first, and in future if you can't reach her you can call housing options or the emergency homelessness number or present at the housing department as an emergency.

@MyHornCanPierceTheSky 7&8 and yes I am bidding every week and also looking for private accomodation but it's really expensive where I am

I've known of people be emergency housed in hotels while their situation was being assessed but then they get found to have made themselves intentionally homeless so the council don't have a duty of care to house them and it those cases social services need contacting to take the children. That's not your case is it op? I would complain big time if not. That can't be allowed to happen if it is through no fault of your own.

*stuck with a client

Please complain. She will need to stay on her toes with you then and realise she can’t mess you about. All the best with your situation- really hope you get something stable soon.

@NewName122 no definitely not my situation, like somebody said maybe she was off sick and nobody got the handover.

I didnt call the homeless line no, I should have but because I have her personal work number I didnt think too.
I will next time if I need to but hopefully now I can stay here until I find permanent housing

Gosh I can understand how vulnerable you must have felt.

I think it’s dreadful if she was actually at work but if not that’s what the duty team are for - they’d have sorted it for you on her behalf

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's bad on their part (not hers entirely)

You have 2 children. You aren't making a fuss about nothing.
Glad you got sorted for tonight. Hope that you find somewhere permanent & safe soon.

I'd complain, she may have been sick or had an emergency - it happens- but there should have been a handover. Unless she was physically incapable of providing one. A complaint would let the organisation investigate that and they'll probably do it in the spirit of learning and improving.

Whatever went wrong to cause this is bad, whether it was her error or someone elses. I would complain but you could phrase it more as asking them to check procedures to see what went wrong or asking them to inform people to use the homeless line if they can't get in touch with their allocated worker. It might be a logical action for some people but it's a highly stressful situation and it's not unreasonable you felt panicked and couldn't think of that. The next person might not be so lucky and it's a safety net we don't ever want someone, especially a child to fall through.

If you hear nothing tomorrow I would speak to the school safeguarding. You and the children need urgent help.

Agreed.

I will see what happens today, if I dont hear from her or anybody from the crisis team I will make a complaint, thanks for your responses

Not heard anything today either, will be emailing them tomorrow morning. Absolute joke

This is unacceptable
I'd definitely be complaining

I'm going to tomorrow, I'm just going to email the homeless team instead of the lady directly so she doesnt think its aimed solely at her