Desperatley overcrowded & waiting for a housing transfer help !!

[chasingmybabies3]

Hi,

There are 5 of us cramped into a 1 bedroom flat. Myself, the other half & 3 children. We are living in a housing association property and are using the bidding system which seems pretty much pointless as our housing association have virtually no housing stock plus were such a low priority. We have been awarded a band C & have no medical needs. Our entitlement is a 3 bedroom property but there is a huge shortage in London. Does anyone have any advice on how to get a management transfer or a transfer to the local council ? Interested to hear from anyone in a similar situation & how you cope as i'm pulling my hair out! Or how long did it take you to get a housing transfer if your in band C ?

I hate to say it cos I hate the Tories too, but it isn't just the conservatives who have created this fucked up housing situation. Labour were in power for over 10 years and did nothing to ease the housing shortage.

What's the taxpayer got to do with social housing?

I LOVE the just move people

Why? It was the o/p's decision to overcrowd her house. So she either puts up with it, waits on the list, or looks at other solutions, like moving area, like the rest of us do.

Most of us have to "just move" if we can't fit our kids into our gaff. But then responsible parents don't have 3 kids without leaving their one bed flat first. OP says himself has had the flat for 20 years, thats a lot of saving time for "just moving"

There actually is a way in this situation to get moved quickly. But I don't think I'll be sharing it!

No sympathy, you should have made sure you had somewhere suitable before having children. It was an an active decision made by the two of you so blaming it on everyone else is wrong.

Rent private, move, take a second job etc. Plenty of ways you can do it rather than expecting it to be handed to you on a plate.

I do have sympathy with the majority of the population being priced out of so many areas. But honestly, OP, did you not stop after the first or second child and think 'OK, we only have a 1-bed flat, this might be a bit of a squash to fit any more kids into'? Presumably since you were paying relatively reasonable rent you have saved some of that money to at least allow you to put a deposit down on a private rental.

I'm not quite sure why the tories, or actually any particular government are at 100% fault for the housing situation in London.

Thus it ever was. In 1992 working ft in London earning near minimum wage I could've just about stretched to a studio in Erith/Thamesmead.

'There is no way we could afford private rents here & as a working household we need to live within commutable distance'

But you also said you were wiling to move out of London .

What gives? You had one child in the one bed, but instead of focusing on getting better accommodation under your own steam, you paid privately to have another. And then elected to not use contraception so you have another.

Now you want a 3 bed. In London. But you are in Band C.

Good luck with that.

The homeless and those who find themselves disabled and unable to physically access their property will always come way before you, and they will never stop coming.

So you need to start considering some alternatives besides social housing in London in a 3 bed place.

I hate the Tories as much as anyone, but they did not bring this situation on you.

'We are desperate !! so willing to move out of London if given the opportunity.'

No one is going to give you an opportunity. You need to make one.

Well I doubt op will come back to this now, but good luck anyway

Op - there are nice empty houses in my county if you're interested. A long way from London. Depends how much you want it. Pm if you're interested.

I have friends who were in a similar sitation ( although they owned the property but were in debt and could not afford to move). They put a sofa bed up in the lounge each night for them and the kids shared the bedroom. Not ideal I know but it was the only option for them .

Sorry am with everyone else.... If you can afford ivf that's your deposit. You want to move fund it.....
Failing that move out of London. We accept lots of unhousables in some of the less salubrious areas of Kent....

Why don't you do what the lowlife do just turn up at the council office with the 3 kids and your cloths in a black bag then tell them he's kicked you out and you've got nowhere to go!

Then they put you in som crummy b&b but will find you a place a lot faster then surprise surprise you get back together and he moves in with you again.

Or if you don't mind moving found a 4 bed house, double garage and a 7 office building in the back garden for £50'000 in Wales.

Hell if you interested I'll buy it and rent it to you

Nice mano....

mano that sounds fab actually!

You could rent out your sofa via AirBnB to raise extra cash to save up

If you live in HA you must be paying lower rent than most people living in the same area

You obviously had incentive to save for IVF

Whats stopping you from saving now ?

Lots of people commute a long way to work

OP, ignore the negative comments, it's very hard if you are waiting for social housing.

Glad you are looking outside of Lindon too as it's just utter madness up there for housing. I can quite understand why you want a secure tenancy too and are going down the route of a transfer.

In the meantime pack up as much stuff as you can that isn't needed day to day. Get on to Homeswapper and keep looking, some people are stuck with the bedroom tax and actively want to move and downsize so you might get lucky.

Its very hard if you are waiting for social housing? I guess it is hard to sit back and wait for someone else to sort out the problems you deliberately made for yourself.
I think the mn phrase is sense of entitlement? This is an obvious example.

It's band c

You'll be waiting forever ... Even being in band A takes years

Enough of it folks, you've told the OP again and again about "sense of entitlement".

The OP cannot put the children back so how about a bit of advice regarding space saving etc until the family can move out of London?

'Why don't you do what the lowlife do just turn up at the council office with the 3 kids and your cloths in a black bag then tell them he's kicked you out and you've got nowhere to go!

Then they put you in som crummy b&b but will find you a place a lot faster then surprise surprise you get back together and he moves in with you again.'

Because this is spectacularly backfiring in many London boroughs now as HAs like Genesis and not building any new housing for social rent but for help to buy and shared ownership schemes. So the 'council' house you are offered now is a private let. And the 'crummy' B&B is in Peterborough and you take it or leave it.

What's wrong with Peterborough?

Did I say anything was wrong with it? It can add quite a lot to your commute depending on where you work in London. Or you kids go to school. Some boroughs in London are putting homeless people as far away as Birmingham. So the ol' 'rock up as homeless and you will get a 3 bed in London' isn't true anymore. They find you another private let increasingly, and/or first send you out very, very far away.