Is the only way to give up my sitting room?

[Watdidusay]

Sister is abroad and has long covid. Moved over to an EU country for work 4 years ago and has been ill for nearly 2 years. Unable to work and ineligible for benefits in that country. Lost job and decided she has to come home for support.

Unfortunately there isn't a place for her to stay long term aside from my open plan sitting room diner on the sofa.

She will probably need to go on benefits for a while and will need to pass habitual residence etc. The problem is it looks like she will either need to be "street homeless" and be put up in a hostel or sleep on my sofa and basically take over my small home which is already crowded. We were hoping that my mum (who's in supported living) acting as a solid guarantor would help her get a private rental but I'm reading that won't be enough. I've even been told she won't be able to get a room in a house share.

AIBU to feel like this is horrendous? We've all always worked until my sister got unwell.

I got a room in a shared house without a job. No credit check either.

what more looking in do you think they should do

Look at private lodgings, sites like open rent or spare room. They are private homes not tenancies with agents and the owners can take whoever they like the look of as long as they have the right to be in the UK, but owners could still provide a contract/agreement proving residency. You and your mum could help with the rent.

Where does this 3 months come from? It used to be that you were eligible for free NHS treatment as long as you were going to be resident for at least 6 months. When I came back from abroad, I was eligible straight away. It's based on residence not previous tax payments.

yes you have to be habitually resident. in some situations you are habitually resident straight away e.g. if you are deported from the US or something. however if you are living in an EU country as a UK citizen you have to convincingly show you are laying down roots to stay in the UK. this does not affect nhs care, it's just for benefits e.g. UC.

I lived abroad for ten years, came back looking for a shared house. Quite a few were willing to have me. Some were all housemates, but a few had a live in landlord or landlady and this was without a job or being immediately eligible for job seekers allowance.

My question was specifically about the NHS because OP mentioned it and my understanding is that there is no 3 month wait to show that you are habitually resident for the NHS.

Did / does your sister do a job that there would be / might be a grant making trust connected too? That might be another route to explore for funds.
Hard when she is ill because there are empty property custodian roles for accommodation too..but being sick might make this impractical to apply for.

Crisis have pages on their website dedicated to No Resource to Public Funds help...there is also a NRPF Network for advice
Organisations like St Vincent De Paul have housing and support for companions...who are people experiencing homelessness. I hope somebody here might have helpful connections

I already posted up thread with links to shelter etc, but what is your sister planning to do? I appreciate she hasn't been well, but she also hasn't worked for 2yrs- what solutions/googling/info has SHE found to support herself? Only going by your posts OP, it feels there is alot of pressure on you. ❤

She sometimes sleeps for 20 hours a day and you are considered hosting her on the sofa in your open plan living-dining room???

I think you need to take some of the advice on this thread and have a look at SpareRoom, Gumtree type "room to rent" places.

I’m not sure how old your sister is OP but Age uk have a fact sheet which you might find helpful

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/siteassets/documents/factsheets/fs25_returning_from_abroad_fcs.pdf

Also to add UC and Housing Benefit are two separate benefits. If you get UC you get housing element for rent costs, if you don’t get UC then you would apply for Housing Benefit for rent costs.

Income proof for applying to rent could be benefits as in UC not just wages and that you would then make an application for housing benefit / housing element or UC once you have accommodation and been given a tenancy.

To rent either through private landlord or social housing you need to prove the right to rent. This is not the same as the habitual residence test. That is more having recourse to public funds, such as benefits and social housing etc rather than specific to renting.

I would suggest contacting the homelessness team at your local council and seeing if you can have an appointment with them as they will be able to explain all the options and how things work.

OP have you spoken to the local council homeless team about 'proof of income'? I'll be honest I'm not fully up to date with the changes, but I'd be surprised if what you say is correct, because it literally means no one on benefits could ever get housing.

I used to work in hostels and temp housing, and we would say we needed proof of income to accept someone. But proof of income in practice either meant proof of earnings, or proof that they would be eligible for benefits. The latter meant proof of citizenship & having ID, as if they had those, we knew they could apply for benefits from the start date of the tenancy. It would mean a delay in us receiving the payment, but we could take them on if we knew it would come through.

In your sister's case, if she passes the HRT then I would think she could claim UC (without the housing element). If she has that in place, LLs would know that she would then be eligible for housing element. As you'll probably be aware most estate agents aren't interested in UC tenants, but councils will often work with LLs with HMOs who will take people on UC. The risks for the LL are offset by the cost saving of not having to advertise for and vet tenants.

I know you've mentioned your mum can be a guarantor but you can also pay a company to be a guarantor, it's such a common requirement now that companies sell it almost like buying an insurance policy with them.

So she was born here and unable to get housing?

My uncle is coming back after living in Canada for 20 years, he won’t be entitled to a thing will he?

I would perhaps explore spare room or similar to find someone looking for a lodger. In many ways your sister is ideal, likely to be quiet and keep to her room a lot. A private individual is more likely to accept your mum as guarantor. Not saying it will be smooth sailing but worth exploring.

They will definitely struggle after being out of the country that long. The difficulty with the HRT is that it's subjective, and quite hard to prove that you're here permanently, rather than as a temporary stop gap, especially if you've been away for a long time - because naturally if you have, you'll have fewer and fewer links/responsibilities here that you could use to prove that you're staying.

Bear in mind though that even if someone passes the HRT, if they're a healthy single adult then the best they're likely to get re housing is being eligible to apply for benefits to help with the cost of rent. For people without dependent children, their needs have to be pretty exceptional to get any type of homeless accomodation. Only very serious/specific health conditions (eg undergoing cancer treatment, diabetes as you need a fridge to store insulin), a significantly learning disability, being a veteran, being a care leaver, etc - that list isn't exhaustive but to give an idea. Most single people are signposted to benefits agencies and houseshare websites.

Lots of posts on here saying she should get lodgings or a house share, but her sister can only go for those if she can pass the HRT, be eligible for housing benefit and then find someone who is willing to accept a lodger on UC. That's not easy!

OP - please contact Shelter or Citizens Advice. You have been given lots of misinformation and half truths. Please talk to someone who knows what they are talking about.

Guarantors need to own property and often over a certain amount a year and will need to provide bank statements.

She would be classed as homeless if she was sleeping on your sofa but would likely get placed in a b&b. You'll also need to check if she's eligible for benefits as being out of the country can effect that

I don't know how many times this has to be said on this thread but:

She won't be eligible for any type of homeless accomodation, whether hostel, b&b, charity etc, if she's ineligible for public funds

If she does pass HRT and is eligible for public funds, as a single adult without dependents, she is very unlikely to be given any type of emergency homeless accomodation, even if long term sick. Councils can, and do, leave people street homeless and only offer them 'advice' about how to rent privately. The reason so many mumsnetters assume that b&bs are always offered is because they're offered to families with children, because they can't legally leave children on the streets. Councils are massively over spending on emergency accommodation for families, they're not going to provide beds for anyone they don't legally have to.

I work in the sector. This isn't true. She will be helped, she just won't score many points for long term housing. I've sent single men to b&bs bedsits etc many times

She will be eligible for UC after a few weeks to months. As I said we have factored this in.

Im not an expert but a close friends mother and sister, both separately and at different times, did sleep on sofa of afamily member whilst on housing list. (They turned down hostels)eventually they were housed by council but took a long time about a year.
Both had health issues and the mum was a pensioner, both had always lived in uk.
It was a horrible process they were both told to refuse to move out of their rented flats and let the landlord evict them, rather than leave as landlord wanted to sell house and gave them notice, didnt renew tenancy. But they refused to wait to be evicted. Was told that they made themselves intentionally homeless as they moved outbl when tenancy ended! But somehow it all worked out in the end but did take about a year.
Sleeping on sofa is far from ideal and a difficult situation but couldnt have a relative in a door way or park bench.
She needs to speak to CAB or shelter or get professiinal advice from somewhere .
I hope it all works out

I said it was very unlikely, and it is, in most areas. I worked in temp accomm years back and we used to have enough space that most single adults presenting as genuinely homeless with no debt or ASB issues could get emergency accommodation in a council run hostel, and be able to stay until they took on a private rent.
I have friends who still work for the same accommodation, and now someone single and street homeless will at a push be accommodated for one or two nights if there is space in a hostel, and they're assessment/non priority determination will be turned around in 24-72 hours, and with it, they'll be given notice to leave. If the council hostels are full, they won't put a single person in a b&b*, as they're spending too much money on them. They will refer them to a scheme in the nearest big city that aims to prevent people being street homeless and supposedly guarantees them a roof over their head, but it's not what it sounds like - it'll either be a bed in a charity direct access hostel, which (and I'm sorry I don't mean to be judgemental on this) is really only suitable if you're a chronic drug user, as thats the situation for most people in them and the hostels have the associated issues of crime, violence and vulnerability. The alternative to the DA hostels are the 'safe spaces' to keep people off the streets, but it's not a bed, it's a place to go indoors overnight with chairs to sit on an access to a bathroom.
We're not in London/SE, this is a common situation. A neighbouring authority is worse, they give single people one way train tickets to the north east and tell them to go there because it's cheaper to find somewhere to live!

*unless they are likely to meet priority duty for the reasons I mentioned previously

This doesn't help with the UC/habitual residence/landlord insurance stuff, but purely in terms of 'creating' space for her to stay, do you have room/funds for a caravan that she could live in to at least take the pressure off you and your living space?