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

I agree. It's like where someone posts "I have £7.62p to live on for the next month, can anyone recommend good recipes" and instead of saying "No. That is not enough to live on for a month, you need to ask family/friends for money or go to a food bank" people say "Right OP. You need a bag of lentils and a bag of oats".

Living indefinitely in a broken down car in a very small town (which however has a leisure centre 🤔) is not the answer. Every other answer is better than that, and there are lots of options.

Exactly. I wish people would stop encouraging this. It's not like there aren't other options. A tent on a campsite or in someone's back garden would be better than this. Using the deposit from her current flat (if there is one) to pay for a hostel for a few weeks, or possibly even putting towards a car that goes. Commuting from a friend's house with a borrowed car or a bike, depending on the distance. Talking to her landlady about staying longer in the flat she already has. Posting in local facebook groups, looking for a room. Following up on the many, many links and suggestions provided by pp.

The idea that pp should support OP sleeping rough in a broken down car that she can't move, or that they are 'inane' and 'smug' and don't understand is ridiculous. Many of us have been in similar situations and we are trying to help.

I wonder if there's any point, though, given that the OP hasn't responded to most of the questions or suggestions.

Also I would advise everyone on this thread (including the OP if she is really in the situation described) to try one night sleeping in their car. In a safe place, on a warm night. Until you have done it, you have no idea how shit you will feel the next day.

I had to do it once in my 20s when completely lost in Galicia at midnight with nothing open. It was warm, I wasn't on my own, there was no stress involved, and I had no trouble sleeping. But the way I felt next day was shocking. And I had slept on floors, a beach, you name it, but sleeping in cars is a killer. Nobody should recommend it until they have done it. Let alone in a damp climate.

Exactly @TheYearOfSmallThings - a lot of these responses seem to be based on the images of "van life" that are always on social media but the reality is nothing like that.

OP will be sleeping in a bog standard car with no working engine or battery - she won't be able to open the windows, air the vehicle, charge her phone, use the toilet or really do anything at all. It will likely be a matter of days before the car gets damp and mouldy and unsafe - and that's in summer.

Going in to autumn and winter it will be even more miserable. Freezing temperatures, no heating, no electricity, no means of keeping things from going mouldy or from being ruined.

That's putting aside all the issues with basic safety and the danger she'll be in as a solo woman on her own in a car that's stuck in one place.

I actually think it's incredibly irresponsible for people to encourage this. OP would be putting herself in such a vulnerable position - nobody should be saying to her that it's a good idea.

There are people laughing at the idea of OP along her employer but if it really is a 'small town' how did they think it would go unnoticed?
Word will eventually get around.

This post has highlighted the mismanagement of housing for decades under all governments...there are possible solutions if money was made available and someone smart (and with no personal agenda) to run schemes.
Stop selling off council housing.
stop passing council housing down to the next generation regardless of need.
Get a grip on immigration..more people= more housing needed.
Use edge of city brownfield sites to create factory produced good quality kit housing, studio and one bed. These can be well insulated, very cheap to run and last 25 years.Imagine the economy of scale to bring prices down if all councils had to create 4 sites in suitable locations.
They could be used for emergency short term housing.

Like l am sure, many MN users l feel solutions are possible but there has to be a political will.

Yes I have already tried sleeping in the car on the back seat, I had a much better nights sleep than in my tent. I would also feel more secure being in car as I can lock myself in. I don't understand all the people saying I'd be better off in a tent. Tents flap about in the wind and are noisy in the rain. Everyone who walks past knows there is somebody sleeping inside and you'd have to leave your things unattended. Being in a tent would be a much more vulnerable position in my opinion

Yes its a small town but it's also at peak season over the summer holidays where there are lots of tourists and incomers around each week who come and go. The population of small towns like this double in the summer holidays. It's probably a better time to go unnoticed with loads of tourists parking their cars in all sorts of places for weeks at a time

Yes, I was watching a news item on homelessness and a homeless man said they never zip up their tents because people throw in things like papers on fire to hurt the person inside.

And then of course an open tent has its own risks.

Many of the questions I already answered. I can't reply to everyone and keep repeating myself because people don't read through the thread. Some people have given very good advice and suggestions I hadnt thought of others are just repeating the same things over and again which I have already tried, or questions I have already responded to.

Yes I have searched for a room. No I don't have and friends or family within commutable distance. Yes I have spoken about staying longer.

All the suggestions you list I have already tried and have been trying for months. I have of course looked for a room asked the landlady. I don't know anyone who would let me put a tent in their back garden.
I don't have a deposit from current place.

I have a small tent and am contacting local farmers and holiday places but I would feel much more vulnerable and uncomfortable sleeping in a tent than in my car that actually locks, protects me fully from the wind and rain.

But your tent can be pitched in a secure place, on a campsite or in someone's garden. Your car doesn't work so you will be stuck in a public place where anyone could follow you back. It's normal for people to stay in tents over the summer, but it's not usual for people to sleep in cars (at least not in non-working cars that can't be moved to safer places.) You will be making yourself so vulnerable and it's scary that you don't seem to understand that - you not realising why you're vulnerable makes you even more vulnerable.

Do any of the other suggestions people have made seem like they're worth following up on?

Yes I am following up on the suggestions of looking at boats in the marina and longer term camping.

Even on a campsite where I will have to leave my things unattended all day while I go to work. There is nobody's garden I can pitch it in.

As I said and @paywalled described living in a tent makes you much more vulnerable. Anyone could come into my tent in the night! A car is a lockable solid structure. I don't care what is usual for holidaymakers. I care about keeping safe and being able to get a good nights sleep so I can work each day.

I agree.
I have experienced homelessness, as outlined in my previous post, and tents, unless on a regulated campsite, are not the solution.
There is a great deal of adverse publicity nowadays about homeless people sleeping in tents, and they are now very noticeable and vulnerable to people with bad intent.
In a holiday destination campsites cost a lot, any way.

Sorry, we cross posted. How come you don't have a deposit from your current place? That does make things harder.

I appreciate that a tent isn't ideal but at least on a campsite you have loos, a shower, and it's a campsite, not a public street where people are going to piss on you. Would you really feel safe going back to your car in the same place every day, where the local scallies know you are?

What's the new job? Is it possible to work from home as some people have suggested? What is the salary? Is it enough that you just need to weather a month until you get paid, or will you still be struggling financially after that? If the latter, I'd suggest forgetting about the job and moving somewhere with more housing and work opportunities. If the former, then maybe you could get a loan to tide you through the first month while you look for a room to rent. Or even just stay in your current flat for the month.

I don't get a deposit back as I didn't have to pay one when I moved in. It wasn't a proper tenancy. I might be able to work.from home one day a week as others suggested and get into the habit of going to friends or family on the weekend.

I'm not suggesting a tent not on a campsite, or in someone's garden or field.

But people can also set cars on fire, you know. Or break into them and nick stuff. A car is no safer than a tent unless OP can move it to different locations.

So paying for a campsite while looking for either a room or a working car could be one idea.

Sorry I don't think you can say a tent is no safer than a car. I have an alarm, locks. I'm in a small nice town not a run down party of a city. I don't know that there are problems with 'scallies'. I think someone setting fire to my car with me inside is an unlikely scenario. It's the tourists I would be more worried about to be honest. I suppose lots of random people coming and going at campsite and my leaving my stuff there all day would be worrying.

If it's not a proper tenancy then could you not just stay on for a month until your first pay comes in? Ask the landlady if you can sleep on the sofa in return for helping her move back in, doing chores and stuff? Are you friends with her?

What about your current job? Do you have any friends there? Have you asked them to put the word out for you?

Sometimes jobs can give advances on pay. Also the DWP used to give grants for people starting jobs - I don't know if you'd get anything like that because you're coming from employment elsewhere. But worth asking your new company for an advance, tell them you have costs associated with moving for work.

There are certainly issues with housing policy, but this case is simpler than that really. Some places don't offer jobs, some don't offer affordable housing, sometimes you have to move to find both. So you move, and it has always been that way. I have done it, lots of people do it, and you find a place that offers you a reasonable quality of life.

In this case, moving is the solution. Not sleeping in a broken down car, with no access to a toilet.

A grant is a nice idea. A few people have pmed me with details of grants etc. Unfortunately I am not eligible as most are reliant on you having been on benefits and moving into work. The money isn't so much of a problem as the actual finding somewhere really anyway.

I haven't even met the people at my new job yet. Landlady won't extend.

You could leave your valuables safe in the boot of your car whilst away from the campsite?

Will your alarm work though, with your car battery run down? I agree someone setting fire to your car with you inside it is unlikely - I also think it's unlikely that someone would set fire to your tent, which was the suggestion of a pp I was responding to.

What stuff do you have? Could you not leave anything valuable with a family member? It's not going to be safe anywhere but I definitely wouldn't leave anything valuable in a tent or your car.

Are you going to keep up the road tax etc on your car? Because the risk of it being removed by police is pretty high, I would say. The problem with a nice small town is that people want to keep it nice - they don't want people sleeping in cars in their neighbourhood and you're highly likely to be reported to the police.

If money is not the problem then why not get on a proper campsite? You'll have a loo, a shower, and your neighbours are people on holiday, so hardly likely to nick your stuff or trash your tent.

If finding long term accommodation is truly not possible then you need to forget about the job and move elsewhere. Staying in a tent or a car is a solution for a few weeks or a couple of months max. Even in a car that works, it will be impossible to sustain much longer than that. A van could work longer term, although miserable in winter - but how close are you to achieving that? Will the salary from your new job be enough to allow you to get hold of and run a van?

I know you’re in such a difficult position but I think it’s highly unlikely that nobody in your small , rural town will realise you’re living in a car. Unfortunately, I cannot see how it won’t get back to your employer.

Is it the sort of work you can do from home so you could spend a long weekend and work say Mondays and Fridays from a family members home? Then could you afford say one night in a BnB or similar?

Genuinely, I am concerned for your safety and that there are so many risks living in a car. I wish you all the best I really do. It’s awful that we are the U.K. in 2024 and you have to resort to this.

Realistically you just need to go to your local council. Tell them your situation, your are currently renting and room and been asked to leave on X date. Tried all avenues to secure something but no success. Explain your financial situation, your family/life situation. They will HAVE to help somehow. The idea of sleeping in a car or tent long term is crazy.