Council housing problems!! advice needed please (sorry its long!)

[shorti]

my youngest daughter (just about to turn 2) fell down the concrete steps in the communal area of my block of flats. she hit her head, nose and bruised all of her arm. i took her to hospital to get her checked out and although she was fine i went into the council the next day armed with a letter explaining what had happened and that i would much appreciate a move as the stairs are dangerous and it is not the first time one of my children had fallen down the stairs.i asked to speak to a manager but none were available (what a suprise!) i waited a week and stil had no reply.so i then went in with another letter of complaint as when i went in the first time i was told that on the day of my daughters fall there had been a residents meetin in which the subject of the stairwells had come up. again my housing manager was unavailable. in my second letter i stated that i had been advised to seek legal advice and if i did not have a reply within a week i would act upon this. it has now been 3weeks since my daughters fall and i have still had no reply. not even a phonecall to say i have recieved your letter and am looking into it for you! i find this attitude digraceful, i went to citizens advice they gave me a list of solicitors. i called and was told someone would call me back but no one has - that has been a week i have also e mailed an tried to call the local councillor in my area with no response. where do i go from here?! it seems that no one wants to help me. im not asking for a lot - just to be moved to a ground floor flat as the top floor is unsuitable for myself and my children!

pursue your local councillor - ime if you can get them to contact the housing office on your behalf you will definitely get a reply

thanx although i did e mail the local councillor and have been trying to contact her through the phone, i have left answer machine message and called countless times with no answer! i dont know where to go from here

Hi Shorti, I work for a housing organistaion and have been a housing manager in the past so can perhaps give some advice.. certainly you should have have a response from the housing manager by now, although being August are they on hols??? I'd need more info as to why the stairs are dangerous?? Are they in a bad state of repair?? Perhaps they need a visit from a surveyor to check them out for repairs. Stairs in themselves are not dangerous, although they can be for young children but parents would be expected to supervise young children up and down them until they are old enough to negotiate them by themsleves (age 4-5 ish). I wouldn't think it would be a high priority to move a family who had to use stairs.. most households do have to go up and down stairs.. My housing organisation is a London one and ground floor flats are like gold dust, basically you would not be offered one unless you absolutely could not manage stairs i.e a full time wheelchair user. Perhaps this is a matter more for the repairs department if there are repair issues, perhaps the stairs could be carpeted or a handrail put up to help? Hope your daughter is ok. My daughter had a fall down our stairs too. She was fine but it scared me into giving her lots of lessons in going up and down stairs and she has not fallen since. xx

Shorti, unfortunatly ime they won't move you because your dd fell down the stairs.
I was in a 2nd floor flat with 2 young dd's and then fell pregnant. I had a c section and had to haul the pram and kids etc up the stairs from days afterwards. I also fell down the stairs whilst pregnant and they didn't care.

Oh and with my HA, if you are trying to get a move you can get extra points if you have children having to live above the ground floor, but with my HA this only counts if they have to climb more than 1 flight of stairs. I only had 1 flight and so they wouldn't give me the points. Madness.

hi molly, the stairs in general are not in need of repair as such ( they do not have holes in them etc) but they are very slippery and when the cleaner comes to "clean" he soaks the floors i have asked him to try and keep it a bit drier as i have to walk down the stairs with my two children but it has not made a difference. the council have complained to me about my rubbish being outside my own front door and that if i am to keep my pram under the stairs it should be folded but to do these things on my own with two active children is impossible! the second they are out of the pram they are attempting to walk up the stairs. if i have shopping to carry i am unable to keep hold of the children aswel i have expressed my difficulty in livin in a top floor flat a number of times and nothing has been done. we do not have rubbish shoots and i am on 2nd floor (2flights of stairs) i am unable to leave my children unattended either up or down stairs to collapse the prams or take the rubbish out, i also have back problems which i have informed the council of but they felt i ws not bad enough to be awarded medical points even thought i am taking medication and had to have physio (which i am unable to complete due to having no one to look after my children) nutcraker - we also get points for having children above ground floor but it has made no change to our situation. no one wants to swap woth me as i have a two bedroomed top floor flat!

my daughter was in a similar position she had two under two and was pregnant with no 3 she had 6 flights of stairs to go up and several families on her floor also had small children our local HA would only consider putting her on the list for another property the stairs where not deemed to be a reason for moving her. she did eventually get a move once she had no 3 but the youngest was 4 months old

Why don't you move into a bungalow?

In this council, your chance of getting ANYTHING at all, much less a ground floor flat just because you have kids, is slim to none.

Your council might be different, but in many areas, the era of the council house is effectively over.

They sold most under Right to Buy and ground floor flats/homes are strictly for folks who cannot manage stairs at all for any reason - wheelchair-bound, amputees, etc.

hi again, still havent had any reply to the letters i wrote to the council about my daughters fall, just recieved a ltter from council about bulk items i.e buggies being in hallways (although out of the way under the stairs) and if they were not moved within 7 days the council were going to have them taken away and the block would have to pay for it, this wound me up to be honest as its from the housing manager that i wrote the letters about my daughter falling to, also what right have they got to take away my pushchair if i have no room to put it in my shed and i cannot drag it up the stairs with me and my children?!!

shorti i feel for you i really do although i have no advice, i feel so lucky for my neighbors who are lovely and allow me to leave my buggys under our stairs without complaint!!
as for the stairs id say get the kids up safely, leave the shopping, shut the kids in somewhere safe (a cot if still in them if not behind a stairgate somewhere safe) and then get the shopping..what i had t odo with my two, i do the same if i have to take the rubbish out too!

I can see that this is hard for you, but to be quite honest I think it is a bit of a luxury problem.

If you were a housing officer and stood with a ground floor flat and a choice of putting one wheelchair user (out of many) in it, or a family like yours (out of many, and who are going to hopefully grow up and learn to walk properly up and down stairs with the guidance from their parents) who would you allocate that flat to?

If you feel this issue is being ignored by your housing officer then make an appointment to see them take a copy of your letters that you have sent and ask why you have had no reply, face to face you will at least know that the have seen your letters. If you check your councils web sites then it should have a section on how long they should take to reply to your mail and what to do if this is not upheld

the "nothing left in the stair wells" rule is probably for fire safety reasons - we have the same rule at work.

It only takes one thoughtless person to toss a fag end under there & whatever's there to then catch fire & you end up with a fire AND your escape route blocked, not good.

FWIW I agree with what maisemor wrote, with such a shortage of GF accommodation those with a long term/permanent need are bound to (and should) take priority.

i had a 2 yr struggle with the council due to lack of space i was in very small 1 bed with dp and ds and 1st floor with bad back also but that didn't count your gp can write you a letter and you can get medical points if gp does this but probably only minimal points

many families are waiting for housing and if in tower blocks or blocks of flats with enough room even if you feel not suitable for you you are within standards so they will not move you

sorry to hear of situation though no harm in asking but dont be dissapointed if they decline as under housing regulations you are perfectly ok

i completely understand what is being said about the GF properties being given to wheelchair users, i know they are meant for them more so than myself, i just dont understand why i have had no response what so ever from the council regarding this matter, i also understand about them prams and fire safety etc but we arent allowed to smoke in the hall ways of the flats since the smoking ban and they arent left in anyones way they are neatly under the stairs i only have my pram there and they put a woman with one child into the GF flat that was free in my block even though i asked them to consider my reasons for moving into a ground floor, to be honest i would accept a first floor as it will still be easier for us, and even if we liveee in a tower block there would be a lift to help