Council/housing association wait time for homeless?

[Maymoo99]

Can anyone around the derby/east midlands share there experiences or offer any advice on council housing waiting time?

I have become homeless in the last 6-7 weeks with my 21 months old toddler, currently sofa surfing in my disabled cousins which has been classified as severely overcrowded. The council has also set up a temporary pay-to-stay arrangement with my cousin to help with the costs of keeping me here. They have placed me in the highest band with a homeless need, severe overcrowding need and a minor medical need.

I have been bidding for the past 5-6 weeks and my bids have been positioning between 3-11 consistently. (Most properties have around 100 bids)

I cannot afford the upfront or ongoing costs of private rent as the average two bed around here is at least £800 per month and LHA only covers circa £450, and even if i could afford the demand for private rentals is very high with around 10-15 attending block viewings. I don’t stand a chance.

I suppose i’m just asking if anyone can share their experience and how long they’ve waited? I suppose at the least i’m just looking for some positive words.

Tia

Not your area but I was sofa surfing for 3 weeks with a 5 year old. Then 19 months in temporary and just moved into my own council property tonight. Hopefully you won’t have to wait as long as me!

@Mumofsend thats great, i hope it happens for us soon.

@Kaffiene blessings to you and the world of luck. Where are you located if you don’t mind sharing ? x

@Mumofsend what part of country are you in?

I was on a Band B due to my private rental giving notice as she had to sell the property but she wasn't forcing me out. Took me about 9 months to get a 2 bedroom flat (north west). To be fair towards the end of it I was coming up as first but for very unsuitable properties (3rd floor flats with no lift when baby was still in pram, or properties that had been heavily involved in shootings and serious ASB). Then I remember bidding on a flat I'd come first for and for a month or 2 (within that 9 month period) I was chasing them for me to see inside the property and they just keep saying they were waiting for the tenant to give the keys back. In the end I drove down and looked through the windows it was vile and I got bad vibes about the area so I withdrew my bid and said I wanted to be able to keep bidding as this tenant not handing keys back was stopping me being able to bid on other properties. Then randomly one day the housing officer phoned me about a property I'd been 2nd on and had bid on. Be patient you will get there 🙏

If you are coming up as high as 3rd this early then that's amazing btw. One thing one of the housing officers told me was don't take somewhere that you absolutely hate as once you are classed as housed in somewhere that meets your criteria you basically can't move. So I know you are desperate but only bid on the ones you would definitely move into and do try and drive down and check out the area in your own time. I know beggers can't be choosers to a certain extent but with having a baby there was certain places that I just thought were too dangerous and I'm glad I held out.

@Wavescrashingonthebeach thank you for your positive words it’s nice to hear, i hope you are settled now. I totally understand what you mean about not bidding on dumps etc as desperation can cloud what you really want/need.

This has been the state of social hosing for decades In Some areas I was watching a documentary from the 1970,s where a young couple with a toddler were struggling to.
get a council house due to shortages .

@x2boys its despicable, more needs to be done

Not the same area and a long time ago but we got moved into temporary accommodation within a few days of our homeless application and got the property I still live in in about 2 years. You have a roof over your head so they will consider you temporarily housed and you will be bidding against other very high priority applicants to be in the 1-20 placement.

I didn't bid for my house, it was offered and we were taken to see it and had to say yes or no. I don't know what the wait would have been if we'd said no. I have experienced the bidding system with my mum when she was trying to transfer to a property closer to me for support needs as her health declined. She was 1-5 placement in about four properties before she got the one she moved to. That was about 8 years ago.

I'm in West Midlands so not too far and it took me 4 months to become 1st on a bid, but this was 6 years ago and even then the housing officer said I got that super fast

@Tumbleweed101 thats the thing though, they offered temporary accommodation which was miles away and unsuitable, but said taking this would affect my banding to a lower banding which would take a lot longer. They said by staying here i qualify for highest banding due to severe overcrowding, homeless etc. They are also paying my cousin weekly

Thank you, well that 2 bed flat I moved into I stuck it out for a year as to the best of my knowledge you couldn't move for a year within the HA system. Then I managed to do a mutual exchange and swapped the flat for a house which I'm made up with and will hopefully settle here. But one of my friends who accepted a 2 bed house in a really rough area basically can't move, she isn't eligible via the bidding system so the only way she could get another HA property is if someone swapped with her and she said she's been on the Swapper site for over a year now.
The whole system is just bananas we desperately need more social housing it's an absolute lifeline.
Like I said hang on in there and be patient. When it happens it will suddenly happen all at once. Really hope you get a suitable property soon.

@Wavescrashingonthebeach yes i don’t want to just accept anywhere as i may never be able to get a swap etc. Just dreaming of the day when i get the call

The fingers crossed for you!
Hope you get somewhere very soon

@KissyMissy thank you x

Good luck op. I'm glad your cousin it's getting something in the meantime. X

Thank you @Unexpectedlysinglemum, i’m glad they have put this arrangement in place. At least they are acknowledging there duty of care.
x

In my experience of being in the social housing bid system a few times, I would say if you're repeatedly coming up in the top five or six bidders, then hang on in there, don't change your situation as you should have a successful bid sometime soon.

Obviously it depends how many properties are coming up on the bid system per week. If for example you're eligible for a 2 bed flat and there's a steady supply of 2 bed flats coming up every week, then you're in good stead over time.

One of the problems with the bid system is that the council will always give priority to people who have agreed to 'downsize'. Also in my personal opinion, allocations officers or housing staff can be a bit shady and there may be stuff goes on that isn't quite how it should be.

Make sure to learn how the system works. If you're in the top 10 bids when the bidding closes, email or phone every single time to ask if you'll be invited to the viewing. If you attend the viewing make sure to be informed of who the successful candidate was and assured that the flat has been allocated. Sometimes the number one, or two, or even three, bidder drops out or declines.

Doesn't matter if you feel like you're pestering them, let them know you are desperate, you're keeping an eye on the bid system and the allocations. If you haven't got anywhere over time, keep a record of your high bids but the fact you've not been offered anything and maybe go see a local councillor or MP.

Also, if you haven't already, scrutinise the allocations policy and the points / banding / priority awards (it's always published on their website) and if necessary go to a local legal advice centre to check there's not any points that you're missing - the council in my area never give people their full points or priority without a lot of pressing from advocates. When they realise you know their system, they stop playing stupid games.

Also, check online to see if there's any Housing Co-operatives, or Housing Associations you could be eligible for that aren't via the council bid system.

If you take private rented at this juncture, you'll be stuck in private rented for years to come. Stick it out if you can bear it and good luck.

They usually do say 6 - 12 months in my area too and that has also been my experience. I had to go back into the bid system three times for various reasons.

Hello op I haven't read all of the replies so apologies if this has already been suggested.
I live in Derby, in a council house with Derby Homes but have been in it along time so the wait was different back then.

I know a couple of people have recently applied for housing through southern Derbyshire and got a house within a couple of weeks (boulton Moor and stenson fields). There's lots of properties on the new estate in chellaston. Might be worth applying through southern too?

That all sounds so stressful op, unfortunately there's really no way to know how long it will be. It depends on what houses come up in what areas, what people have what points and what people are on the brink of becoming homeless and needing housing support.

The best you can do right now is speak to a housing support worker from a charity like haven or shelter and get them to check you've maximised your points.

Your local authority literally cannot do any more once you've got the maximum points available to you, they can't give you a time frame and even telling you that you're top ten at the minute is only accurate at that moment in time, you could become top 3 or top 20 in a moment.

The only thing you can do is focus on yourself and your child, trying to build in good memories and moments where you can to look after your mental health while you're waiting, because the waiting is really really hard and I really do feel for you.

I'm currently in refuge in the west Midlands I've been homeless for 4 weeks at the moment and they said 18 months to rehouse me!!
I have 2 children, 1 with medical needs and myself with mental health problems. Its absolutely shocking. Hope you get sorted soon

If you’re coming in near the top, then hopefully soon. Every property that isn’t offered to you means someone looking for the same properties as you is no longer bidding against you.

Does your home-finder website have a feedback section? That will give you the answer to your question as you can see which band the successful bidder is in for past properties and how long they had been on the waiting list.

Ours also shows you how many bids each property got, and the range can be huge, e.g. two similar properties a few miles apart had 5 and 197 bids respectively. If you can access this information you may be able to target your bidding if you have some flexibility over location to where you will be more likely to have fewer other bidders.

@JFT thank you. I’m very grateful that my bids are coming high so soon.

Most of the housing officers are nice but i will take that with a pinch of salt