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Original poster

council housing

48 replies

kattykins · 15/09/2006 08:46

can anyone help i have depression and am on meds for it will this gain me further points for a move with the council? we are in a first floor flat and its a two bed we have two girls one who is two and the other who is six months am at my wits end and desperately need to be moved.

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burstingbug · 15/09/2006 08:54

I'm in the same boat as you, 1st floor 2 bedroomed flat two boys 18.5 mths and 4 weeks old. We've been put into the red band which can mean up to a 10 year wait. Although we do have priority as we have 2 children. Our housing adviser has been really good and has investigated whether or not we could claim housing benefit - which we can . We are now waiting for a moving date for a 3 bedroomed house with garden. This has been found by us through a local estate agents. Going to sign housing benefit forms this afternoon. We are having to pay the majority of the rent and they are going to top up the remaining ammount for us

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 08:59

we have been told the same ten to fourteen years wait ! we cannot claim anything as husband earns too much they said. we are waiting to hear about medical assessment to see if it earns us any more points but its so ridiculous do you feel that their behaviour suffers the older child i mean my daughter is stuck in for most of the day

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expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 09:17

Up here, it's a dog eat dog world. There are so few three-bedroom homes on offer, the wait is decades long.

So instead of relying on someone else to get us a three-bed, we're working on doing it ourselves, slowly but surely.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 09:29

its impossible to buy a house for us as house prices are enormous as we are in cheshire to privately rent starts at between four and five hundred a month and thats usually just for a flat.

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burstingbug · 15/09/2006 09:38

The flat above us now, is going for 550 a month and the 3 bed house we're moving to is 550. No idea how they work that out - its the same estate agent too!
Do you find your dd1 gets really bored and starts to tear the flat apart when you're stuck in Kattykins? My ds1 does. Thats why I try to get to the park or go for a walk for an hour if I can every day, or we go to a toddler group on a Tuesday and he goes to nursery on a Friday.
I'm so glad he's gone there today, we've all been up since 4am and I've only had 2 hours sleep because I'm demand bfeeding ds2.
Downstairs is a nutter on drugs and was doing diy again this morning at 1.20!

serenity · 15/09/2006 09:41

Without being harsh - why are you stuck indoors? OK, so you haven't got a garden, and you've got to go down a flight of stairs, but what about parks, mother and toddler groups, the library, friends?

If they accept your depression as being related to your housing situation, then it will count as points towards a transfer., but where I am you would have a long long wait as they wouldn't see two same sex children sharing a room as a problem (neither can I tbh). We've got at least an 8 year wait (at last count) and we've got 3 children in a 2 bed flat. It's not counted as over crowding as legally the council is within its rights to tell us to use the living room as a bedroom too.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 09:43

our council is pathetic it says it has no stock but then gives three bed homes to couples with one child it is so unfair there are so many families here stuck in this situation and there doesn't seem to be anything being done to sort it out our council are just building flats my health visitor and gp are writing to the council on our behalf and so is a social worker because of my depression and the anxiety so hopefully it might make some difference

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expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 09:46

It's £500/month here for a two-bed. 2nd floor. No communal garden or outdoor space.

I have been on ADs for 8 months now for PND.

DH and I work alternate shifts to pay the bills.

We have two daughters as well, but we realise there is NO way we can expect the government to get us a three bed.

That's just life.

It's not legally overcrowding, either, if the kids are hte same sex.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 09:48

with regards to serenity i am a high blood pressure patient and am on alot of meds for that too i am not supposed to be carrying buggy or kids downstairs as meds can cause fainting and dizziness i think that if we all spoke up and fought against this instead of just accepting it then we would see some changes i for one am not going to accept these conditions and its no crime to want more for your kids is it?

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expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 10:04

'i think that if we all spoke up and fought against this instead of just accepting it then we would see some changes i for one am not going to accept these conditions and its no crime to want more for your kids is it? '

But why is this the government's responsibility?

They literally don't have the stock. Thatcher made them sell it off and not replace it.

The deed is done.

There's equally no crime in pursuing what you want for your kids yourself rather than relying on some other entity to do it for you.

Better to be the one in control than the victim.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 10:11

like i said even if we saved to buy a home the repayments along with insurance would cripple us and we would have no quality of life then anyway trust me we have looked into it and if there was a way around it i would be doing it. why should we have to pay council tax of £1000 a yr and 200 rent a month for crap conditions? look at it this way if they don't find solutions in the next few years we will have a hell of a lot more homelessness

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burstingbug · 15/09/2006 10:11

Unless I'm reading into these posts wrongly expat - does that mean I'm wrong for claiming a small amount of benefit to get a better home for me and my family?

expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 10:13

Of course not, bursting. That's why they're there.

But why should we all rely on the council to provide us w/three-bedroom homes when we have 2 kids?

We're working poor. But at the same time, we understand that, as it stands now in our council, there are some VERY disabled people out there whose need is far, far greater than ours.

And that's life. We just have to get on w/it and if we want what we want, well, we just have to muck in and try to go for it.

expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 10:15

Buying isn't an option for many of us. Ever.

For us, if we want to rent a three-bed, we have to leave our city. That's how it is.

Hard, but hey, we're the ones who want the three-bed w/garden in a city that's mostly flats.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 10:15

i know of several families who have bought homes and then unfortunately have lost their job their homes have been repossed and then its back to square one what happens when your finding yourself homeless due to losing a home you were buying? no one has to help you then either which is a very frightening experience as my friend and her partner found out they had four kids and are now sorry they bought in the first place

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expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 10:18

But that type of situation is way, way different from actually already being housed in a place which, although not ideal, is legally adequate.

colditz · 15/09/2006 10:23

There is no use 'speaking out', the housing stock is gone and there is no room to build any more. I am in a tiny 2 bed house on a crappy estate - but I am very lucky. I have a garden.

Get those kids outside. Even babies who have been wheeled round all day sleep better at night.

as for carrying pushchair, what about leaving it in the stairwell on the ground floor? Or isn't that doable?

burstingbug · 15/09/2006 10:23

We're hoping to only be on the benefit a short time. If we could afford to move on our own we would without a second thought.

Kidstrack · 15/09/2006 10:24

kattykins i don't know how many if any medical points that will be added but i will say, Its easy for me to say but please try make good of your situation, you have 2 lovely baby girls and a flat to live in, some people don't have that, can you try to get out and about a bit more with the girls to toddler groups etc,swimming,swingpark just so that you don't become more depressed than you already are, as a mother its up to you to get your girls out of the house everyday to stimulate them from being couped up in the house.

colditz · 15/09/2006 10:24

Yes, Thatcher Thatcher Milk Snatcher also snatcher the houses - not fond of poor people was Thatcher.

expatinscotland · 15/09/2006 10:25

And now that that rat Gordon Brown has made his alliance w/her views clear, he's not very popular up here, either.

Original poster
kattykins · 15/09/2006 10:27

the council exists to assist those who cannot buy or rent it has always existed for this purpose and for many other social reasons i am not some mindless idiot who just sits there expecting a solution but am a hardworking british citizen i am not asking the earth just a suitable home oh and for the record i am willing to accept a two bed home if a three wasn't available we all have a right to our opinions and we all want different things out of life but at the end of the day affordable homes will have to be built or we will all face homeless families in our town centres and cities buying is not an option and this is of no shame to me i am not going to let pride push me into purchasing an unaffordable home and then be miserable for the rest of my life or worse still find myself the victim of a reposession order how is this going to help anyone? this sort of thing just adds to council waiting lists

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burstingbug · 15/09/2006 10:29

We leave our double buggy downstairs, but the 'neighbour' smokes canabis so it stinks out the stairwell. But its not possible to keep folding up the double buggy and take it up and down stairs each time we want to go anywhere.
He's doing diy downstairs again as we speak, but at least it in the day time!

colditz · 15/09/2006 10:30

But Kattikins, you have a home. You may not like it, you may not feel that it is big enough, but you have one, it is secure and your children are sheltered.

colditz · 15/09/2006 10:31

The reason the council waiting lists are so long is that there are too many people on them.

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