Housing for women who have left home.......

[UCM]

IME you will not get housed by your local council unless you take a child under 12 into your local council office and say, 'I am homeless'. 12 might be a bit high actually, you might need an 8 year old for this ( I speak from experience) and even then they will only house you in either a hostel or B&B. This might sound harsh, but I know people who for domestic violence reasons have done it. This was in London BTW.

Where on earth can these women go??? I have read some of the pages in Relationships and worry like mad that people have no place to go!!

The only fast route to housing in London these days is by going through a homeless shelter/Domestic refuge and then only if you have children.

As a Mothers website (and I use that term, because it is mainly) is there nothing that we, collectively can do about this. I am not suggesting for one moment that we can all open our houses for causes but surely there must be something we can do.....?????????

this is my pet peeve at the moment!
without going into detail as i have threads with me doing that i am leaving my h ,we have seperated ,i went to council and they said we will take you to a refuge now!! well i wouldnt go i have 3 children and i dont want to diturb thier lifes more than they already are ,,the council told me to find a house to rent private in my area which i have done i then had to submit a pre rent form [governs what they will py ] as i will be on income support
then i have had to pay £100 for credit checks etc also find a guarentor,
i am supposed to be moving next week ,by which time i have appointment at jobcentre plus for benifits [so i have no idea what im getting] am waiting for the landlord to say if i pass the checks and then i have to find ,by friday next week,£750.00 rent first month as the council pay in arrears and £1.100 deposit !! this with out anything for the house or food!
hey easy!!!!! im just scared stiff but its my only way out and i think i will have most of it .im so fed up that there are women being abused mentaly and phisicly that have no where accept the refuge which i may add have their place but darn difficult when you dont want to upset your kids more than you have to,rant over

so all my savings [which im lucky to have]and i still wont have enough

thank you for bringing this up !!

How much are you short AAA? Any family or friends that could help out?

am still working it out.prob bout 300

Could some friends or family help out? God sorry AAA if I'm being too personal.

mm prob but i will see how i can get on without asking

Oh lord hun I really feel for you and because I havent been around for ages, have missed a lot of what has been going on for you. How are today?

im fine hun [ish]

very same here! I'll have to get this cat thing because I'd love to have a good natter with you offline

Well of MN iykwim

id give you my email addy but i can never get it to come out right on here

off even sheez don't mind me AAA I'm dying with the flu so my brains not with it!

oh hun feel better soon x

Sadly my e mail addy has my first and last name in it, I'll def cat you when I get this cat thing up.

Have felt very out of the loop on MN since coming back!

Anywho nuff of my grumblin! Just feel like poo at the mo, catch up with you soon by cat [hugs]

thanx

hey panic over i no longer need the money!! i no longer have any where to bloody go ,my guarentour does not earn enough and i dont have another one ,,any one know a high cliff! with a steep drop or a millionaire

Aw pet thats terrible, have ou no other options?

I am sorry my bringing this up hasn't given you any concrete answers AAA, sending hugs (not much use I know)

hi all been up since 2AM!
Damn it why when life starts going in the right direction to i crash into bloody road signs " road closed" what pisses me off is the kids loved the house ,damn damn !

I also think it's awful that women are supposed to end up in one room with nothing apart from their kids. I hope I'll never have to end up in one. Where I live, the local womens refuge is not at all secret - EVERYONE knows where it is. If it's full, women have to go to a b&b 16 miles away in a taxi and pay for it themselves until HB is sorted (prob about £60 a night).

I once knew someone who rented posh private houses with hubby and child from former relationship. Neither worked and considered themselves "above" council housing. So every time they got fed up where they were living, she went into the refuge for a few weeks, claiming hubby had hit her and didn't treat child properly as child wasn't "his". Hubby stayed at his dad's, continued to claim rent for house. She then got priority for rehousing by council. She turned it down as not suitable and claimed social fund loans to pay for a private house. She then got a whole house full of free furniture, and free uniform, full Housing benefit and council tax benefit. All the "savings" were in his name, so she appeared to have nothing, although they never actually split up and he would meet her in the pub and give her money. After about a month, he'd move back in, she'd tell benefits office she was "giving him another chance". They both thought it was highly hilarious. They did this regularly. Meanwhile, women who really are being hit lose everything and have nowhere to go.
I really think there should be something tht lends people money to leave or something!

When one of our old landlords decided to sell our house, we asked about council housing. I was told the application would have to be in my name, as we weren't married, and I was the main carer for the kids. They said due to circumstances we would be accepted as homeless. They suggested I go in a B&B 10 miles away (I can't even drive) with the kids, and my partner stayed on his mother's sofa, as in their experience, most men hit their partners and it's a pity mine wasn't doing that as they could have got me a refuge place immediately and we might split up anyway as we weren't married and they were only interested in housing me and the kids. I told them absolutely no chance in hell were we doing that, so they offered me a loan of deposit and 1 month rent for a private house. (No council houses available at time). Again I refused, as they would have had to tell the new landlord we were claiming benefit, and we thought they might be funny about it (lots are). So we rented private off our own back, in a panic, and took out a huge debt to pay for it, rather than be forced to rely on the "homeless service". It was great that they offered that for people who have no choice, but I happened to mention to my HV jokily that we could end up in a BB if we didn't find somewhere soon, and she said if we go to a B&B, she would immediately get SS to come and take my kids (dd was 8 wks old at time) as I obviously had a problem providing stable housing. WTF? Bitch Despite telling her our landlord was selling up and nothing to do with us, so we were pushed more into getting a private house. It was short notice, way overpriced, and we took it rather than go to b&b and lose kids. It shut her up though thankfully. We're still paying the loan 2 years on... We moved somewhere cheaper after 6 months.
God knows how women on their own with no money/ loans etc. sort themselves out!! Where I live now, the council don't lend you money anymore and they don't even fastrack benefits for people with kids.
I really think someone should do something about housing and money for mothers to leave if they want to - as long as it's genuine. I've seen lots of posts on here from people stuck because they can't leave and have no one to help. It's sick that this happens.