Becoming homeless for my dream job

[ForTidyFinch]

I've been offered and ideal job in the town where I currently live but my short term tenancy is due to end in a couple of weeks. I have tried everything to find a new place to live. There is nothing available in this small town and I have no friends or family living close enough to help. I have decided to start the job and then live in my car. I've reached a desperate point now where I think there is little chance of me being able to rent privately even if something does become available. A run of bad luck has drained my finances and a CCJ was taken out against me without my knowledge (for overstaying in a service station when my car was broken down!) This was taken out while I was living abroad and I have only just found out. So there goes the chance of renting privately. So the choice I see it is being homeless and destitute staying with relatives or living in my car and starting this interesting job opportunity. I think I will live in my car. WWYD

See if there's a Facebook group for your local area. Write an 'Urgent - Room Wanted' post. Put in loose details, working full time etc. You'd be suprised at what's out there.
It's not too late. Do it now!

Let us know how you get on. Good luck with the job.

1. Post a room requests on an internal intranet
2. Someone might offer OP a temporary place to stay

these first two sound like my dad when I got my first job. Kept telling me to tell colleagues I needed somewhere to live.

It is possible that someone might have a room spare but they are likely to offer as a short term thing - oh sure, Sarah can stay here for a couple of weeks while her house sale goes through. The alternative - I don’t have anywhere to live short or long term - probably isn’t the best reflection on the OP. That’s not a dig OP. It’s just realistic.

1. Give her a loan or even pay for a BnB if they are willing for a set period

seriously 😂

1. Have contacts with local lettings agencies

seriously x 2 😂

1. Yes, maybe they have some flats and houses going spare!

seriously x 3

it isn’t like OP is a long established worker who has fallen on hard times after years at the company, and even then most of those things wouldn’t happen.

This may have been suggested but look at pet/house sits in your area too.

On the off chance your new dream & badly paid job is with a nature reserve: I know that the RSPB and National Trust sometimes have some staff accommodation for reasonable prices.

Do ask your employer about accommodation if it's in the nature conservation sector. I've worked for them and one temp member of staff had a small campervan parked up somewhere out of sight for the season. Through the employer, I ended up renting a room in a volunteer's house. It's all about networks in these small towns, rarely does anything get advertised.

Also, have you seen the thread about the woman with a crush on her awful housemate, who lives on the coast? Said housemate is leaving - might be worth checking whether you're in the same town...

As it’s summer could you find any locals wanting pet sitters?
It would give you temporary accommodation.

She's not even started the job yet!!! How do they know she'll even stay there or be any good? Some of what you suggested might happen if we had an employee who had been here years and then suddenly hit hard times but someone who hasn't even started yet?!

As for being "a bit useless" 😂Not really. We're just a business - not some woke charity.

your insurane will be invalid for a start no addess police can have it removed also license invalid

Your car passed its MOT recently, but the breakdown that caused it to be broken beyond repair was months ago?

Come on @Starlight1979 it is a bit useless not to have an abundance of housing available for your employees

Could a solution be to stay temporarily with a friend a bit further out and use your returned deposit to buy a working vehicle and commute into work? One way or another, you can't do anything without a working car.

I appreciate it's your dream job, OP, but I think most people in your situation stave off homelessness by sofa surfing and having friends help out while they get something together. I've been there more than once in my twenties and thirties, when I was technically homeless, but luckily had friends who let me crash a few days at a time while I looked for work and accommodation. I'm know it's tough but if you can't securely house yourself long term in that area, maybe you're better off moving somewhere where you have a network of friends and family and look for work from there.

Alternatively, it might be worth asking if you can put back your start date or work from home for a while, so at least you could stay with family and put yourself in a better position.

I know it's tough and maybe you've already gone thought of all of this, but I don't think you actually have the option to live in your car because your car doesn't work.

Reckon I'd be looking for hotel work (anywhere) that came with accommodation OR work as a live-in carer/companion. The latter role I didn't think still existed but apparently it does.

Oh, and paying off the CCJ. 🙄

I've watched tonnes of YT videos on people who live in 'alternative' homes - from vans to self-built huts and alternative communities. Read Tobias Jones' fascinating book on the subject and also a book by a US university student who bought a van, converted it and lived in it to save money for the duration of his postgraduate degree. But mobile living obviously ain't for this OP because her car is clapped out and can't be driven.

You might think paying off the ccj and pulling a stupid face is the answer @Butchyrestingface . It isn’t. CCJs stay on your credit file for six years irrespective as to whether they are paid or not.

And care and hotel work tends to be poorly paid.

I'll be sure to bring it up at the next Board meeting!

Seriously, this isn't a thing at all. Maybe in huge, corporate organisations or companies and charities where people are travelling around a lot they'll have accommodation available for employees to stay in. Or if you're relocating for a specific (usually very well paid) job they might offer housing as part of the package.

But seeing as though OP lives and will be working in a "small rural town" then it's unlikely to be the case here.

I don't think it's THE answer - but I think it's better than refusing to pay it off.

I know care and hotel work is poorly paid - hence why I suggested that I would be looking for live in work. Even poorly paid, I'd rather that to sleeping in an undrivable vehicle. YMMV though.

Don’t sleep in your car it’s not safe. Speak to your homeless team at the council.

You are assuming the ccj will be a barrier without even trying!

Just apply and see.

Go to your council and declare yourself homeless.

@ForTidyFinch I've been once in that situation , post divorce and after a split with a new partner. I actually got a job as a live in nanny for a year and then got back into corporate life- this was in London though - another option is live in assistant for an older person - I think they call it home something ( can't 100% remember) - it's not really a carer- more like live in company and a bit of assistance when needed- you can still have a job etc

That was my suggestion. Except to get your head bitten off for suggesting something 'poorly paid' though. Because apparently being poorly paid with a roof over your head is worse than sleeping under the stars (or almost).

Yep check out Homeshare!

I actually really enjoyed my live in year nannying- I was open with parents at beginning - had a year in Notting Hill and did have experience with children - just not as a nanny

OP I think you're in a catch-22 situation at the moment - it's a toss up between a job vs temporary housing, and obviously getting a job can help you get secure housing but your insecure housing is getting in the way of securing your job longterm.

I think your situation has highlighted how unhelpful the UK housing/employment system is - logical solutions (e.g. living in a caravan on someone's driveway) have essentially been outlawed (you have to apply for planning permission to do that), which makes it hard to claw yourself out of your situation. And then making secure residence a condition of employment means lots of people just get trapped in a situation where they're both unemployed and homeless.

In your position, I'd probably be tempted to give the job a go AS LONG AS IT'S NOT A VERY TIGHT-KNIT INDUSTRY - if this job doesn't go well, then it could ruin your professional reputation forever, which wouldn't be worth the gamble. But if it's something you could potentially get away with for a month or two whilst saving and hunting for a more secure/tenable housing solution then I would also be tempted to go for it.

I think you have no choice but to reach out to places of worship/community centres/local bulletins etc to try and get some accommodation in place, even if it is a small town I think most people would be sympathetic to your situation rather than judgmental as long as your phrase it correctly - e.g. when I struggled with getting a rental where I now live (I was relocating from abroad), I posted a bio on Facebook asking for a room and was offered one by a landlord who'd not yet put their flat up for rent yet - not all flats will be advertised, and there are kind people out there who won't want to see someone struggle when they have an asset available. Make sure your bio only covers factors highlighting your stability, only mention casually that your short term tenancy has come to an end. Don't mention the CCJ preemptively etc.

Best of luck OP, your story really makes me despair for the state of this country.

@Butchyrestingface oh I agree- I think getting a roof over your head is the important thing - there is no point having a dream job - and we have no idea if we are talking about say an events manager at Eden or working in a bookshop- no idea if it's something you could do elsewhere with far more room options and jobs etc and might not need a car - I've been there OP so I do understand in that position it's easy not to think logically - you sound a bright intelligent woman- I would say forget the job ( or do it very short term from you car) whilst sorting something else out in an area with jobs and flats and rooms- your CCJ by the way- attach a note to your credit file explaining situation

If you think that’s me biting your head off, you should speak to my DH. And if you don’t like having your head bitten off as you call it don’t roll your eyes at women facing homelessness.

Paying off the CCJ will make no difference. I know because it’s happened to me too.!

And I think

Please try the Nextdoor App where you can ask for local help with all sorts. There is surely someone nearby that has a spare room who would value some extra funds in this COL crisis.
It would give you a foothold / time to breathe / time to sort your CCJ and some local contacts.
People are much more likely to be supportive to someone working in the locality. Good luck OP.

Oh dry up.

Your comments about care work and hotel work (when it was expressly specified I was talking about live-in work) being "poorly paid" were borderline farcical in the context of somebody facing homelessness.