Single parent in a rough area

[Slowlymakingprogress]

I want to move to a nicer area.

I'm a single parent with one primary school aged child. We rent a social housing property for 340 per month.

The area we live in is really rough and is just getting worse. There is a lot of crime and poor outcomes for young people. I've read official reports on the area and everything is dire! I don't want to raise my child here.

I currently earn just over 16k a year in a temp role. I'm confident I will be kept on after this but even then, I will only be earning about 17k until I can progress when the max will be 20-23k.

I have to be careful with jobs as I have no family support or babysitters so I can't work in the evenings.

The nice area is expensive but all the best schools are around there. Rent is around 600-750 per month. I have 30k saved for a house deposit but I don't earn enough to get a big enough mortgage. 2 bedroom terraced houses are around 200-240k.

I have to stay reasonably locally so that my daughter can see her father and he'd go mad if I moved too far.

What should I do?

Is it possible to try and get a transfer via your housing landlord?

Is the help to buy scheme an option for you or shared ownership?

It’s awful living in a really rough area....I’m in the same situation and want to move too but I have factors affecting me such as my job too.

The shared ownership properties are even more expensive!

We aren't over crowded so wouldn't be able to get another social housing property. We can't even do a swap. There aren't any social housing properties in the nice area and even if there were, nobody would want to live here!

It's really hard! I'm so independent and I've worked hard to get qualifications and a job that fit around my child and I'm still stuck!

Can you talk to your ex and look at other towns. If you could move somewhere nicer but pay £30 bus fare in a month to cover cost of travel, would that work better?

How much are you receiving in benefits?

You have 30k saved but live in a housing association property .

You say your daughter's father would go mad if you moved too far away...rather than it being YOU moving, if you put it to him 'we need to start thinking about secondary schools for DD, as obviously we need to get her in to a decent one where she can do well, and I don't think school x in current catchment will be good for her due to x reasons, what do you think about where we ought to try and find her a place at a decent school with a better average outcome than current catchment, I could try and move somewhere more suitable for her if neither of us minded a bit extra travel'... and see what HE comes up with.