Has anyone ever been housed by the council due to poor mental health alone?

[SilverDoe]

Don’t want to make this post unnecessarily long. We have a situation where we have been encouraged to make a housing register application to our council for rehousing, almost solely on the grounds that the accommodation is affecting the mental health of myself, my partner and my children.

I am currently awaiting the outcome of our application assessment and am sick with worry. We are already in HA accommodation provided by the council, so if we are moved, the council will gain another property that they can allocate another family to. There is nothing wrong with the physical property.

My question is, has anybody been accepted as in need of housing/rehousing on the grounds of accommodation causing poor mental health?

If you're already in HA property can't you do an exchange?

Never heard of that happening

Everyone would be doing it, surely!?

Presumably you have a dispute with your neighbours?

No experience but if they’re good to let you do this why not? As pp what about a swap?

Unfortunately not. Strangely the HA that I was allocated to by the council is a very niche one and is counted as the private rented sector.

My first hope was home swapper/mutual exchange but I am not eligible due to it technically being private rent; the other tenant wouldn’t be getting the same security of tenancy and therefore I wouldn’t be allowed.

The success of your application would come down to in what ways you can evidence that your current property somehow directly negatively impacts the mental health of your whole family (if that’s what you’re alleging). You’d need to be more specific than just “mental health” if that just means you’re all fed up with it. Real mental illness (ie actual diagnosable mental ill-health) would hold sway but is very difficult to evidence unless you have medical diagnoses and can prove they are directly caused or worsened by some aspect of your current property.

Not liking somewhere is not the same as having mental illness.

Also I am not sure if it’s relevant but I was moved as an exceptional case by my HA last year due to serious concerns about neighbours. Unfortunately, somehow the new situation was much worse and there may have been some previous trauma from the last situation involved.

Yes it is neighbour related but having been through this at the previous property, I know how difficult it is for action to be taken against a tenant who is considered vulnerable.

I was moved in Aug 2023 and lived in our previous property since 2016 with no issues. I grieve every day for what we lost.

Well- I guess all you can do is put an application in as suggested and make your case with all the evidence you can think of, and see what happens?

I’m sorry you’re going through such a hard time. Not asking you to disclose on here but if you can get medical evidence of a mental illness and severe distress that is being diagnosed and treated, that will be evidence for any medical priority.

It will depend on your local lettings policy. There is often some provision under medical, but the bar is often fairly high. The current property will need to have a pretty severe impact on your mental health, possibly including a risk of hospitalisation.

I'm not sure tbh, sounds complicated, could you write to your local MP for help and advice?

Absolutely. I feel our case is strong but I am so worried about it not being seen that way.

The issues are a mix of our situation directly causing poor MH, and also exacerbating existing conditions.

I have statements just to illustrate what’s going on, I have a letter from my partner’s addiction recovery support worker explaining the impact this is having on my partner’s treatment and health, I have completed an early help assessment with my child’s school including statements from the children and supporting letter from the school. My NHS therapist has also made a referral, as has my HA due to how concerned they were and the change they saw with me.

Im most concerned about the children especially my son. He has had some really challenging behaviours since moving which has been directly caused by how upset and anxious he is. I just don’t know if it will be enough. We have police reports but they will not do a risk assessment.

Thank you very much, that’s a bit reassuring.

Absolutely, I have done all I can. I am just so anxious, it is a long process, and googling is providing no information about people in this situation. There is information about homelessness and MH, and disability, but almost nothing about peoples’ actual experiences with being housed in these circumstances.

Have you talked to Citizen's Advice? If you don't get someone helpful, ask to speak to a supervisor, as you have a long-term and complex problem. They may be able to help you prepare your case.

That’s a good shout; I am already expecting to need to do an appeal and it will help to get some advice.

Shelter were helpful the first time I spoke to them, and provided me so much information I wasn’t aware of, the second time the officer did not seem to have much information. Shelter also advised me to make a homeless application but I have heard nothing from that yet; I think they may be looking into them at the same time. The homelessness application is on the grounds of unsuitable accommodation unreasonable to occupy.

You need to look up the banding system and see what they allocate.

Then you can make a new application and go on the waiting list as normal.

I was homeless in a studio flat with my teen and so we were living and sleeping in one room, miles away from family, nearly 2 hours each way to my DDs school, DD is SEN and I had an illness but none of it made any difference.

I then looked at the banding system and saw that because my job was over an hour away, I was able to join the housing list and although it still took a while, I finally managed to get a place.
I was out on the wrong band at first and had to contact them to sort it, it took quite awhile.

So it is well worth looking because they may not tell you.

That sounds so difficult. I can’t believe you were going through so much and how it comes down to technicalities.