Open letter to Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg

[MaimAndKilloki]

(This is being posted tomorrow, do you think I'll hear a reply? )

Dear Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg,

I am writing to ask your advice. After being made redundant from two jobs in a row and finding low pay, low security temp work I found myself hit by a third stroke of bad luck.

I woke up one morning to extreme pain and the inability to move my spine. I tried to continue working while receiving treatment and undergoing tests, but due to my need for days off I was let go from temp work. This was in March 2009, I was 24 years old.

At this time I was living with my husband who has long term mental health problems on top of learning difficulties and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (you may know it as ME), we'd planned all along for me to be earning and supporting him. Of course, when my back went wrong we found we were entirely reliant on Income Support, Incapacity Benefit and Housing Benefit.

In the time since then my health has not improved and I have been informed that, most likely, I will never regain full mobility. So I am now entirely at the mercy of the benefits system.

In an ideal world I would be snapped up for jobs, but due to the fluctuating nature of my disability I am not a reliable worker and need a lot of allowances made for me. In the current climate, out of the many unemployed applying for jobs, I am not a desirable employee.

So in the meantime I find myself with no control over my finances, relying on a country which I love and have previously paid into, to look after me while I am so vulnerable.

Currently my husband and I have to rent privately due to a lack of social housing. But our tenancy is due to end in February when our landlord intends to sell up. We are in a state of panic, looking around at the private rents available they are either priced beyond our means or unwilling to accept Housing Benefit tenants. Those that do, need us to provide a guarantor, which is difficult for us as my father is self employed (and struggling), my mother is unemployed, and my mother in law is retired. So many letting agents will not consider them for guarantors. So will only take us on if we can pay at least 6 months rent up front, which I'm sure you can appreciate isn't an option on our current income.

On top of this we hear that housing benefit will be reduced to match 30% of the rental market value, rather than the current 50%. Seeing as we are struggling now, we feel our chance of finding anywhere once it is reduced further is next to impossible. We are also aware that housing benefit will be reduced further for those on jobseeker's allowance after a set amount of time, although this wont affect us directly, it will mean landlords will be even less keen on taking on housing benefit tenants in case the tenants end up unable to pay the full rent. Which means they are less likely to take a chance on us.

You may think that if we cannot find anywhere to live by February then we can be helped by Social Housing, but we have been told that we will be considered voluntarily homeless (ie. much less likely to receive help) unless we match strict criteria. This criteria is; we must refuse to leave at the end of our tenancy, be taken to court and then removed by bailiffs. Unless we go through all of this we will be seen as having chosen to become homeless. As we will have no right to stay in the property beyond our contract we will lose the court case, and be forced to pay both our own and the landlord's court fees. Which I can't help feeling is an expensive and unnecessary way of putting off the inevitable. It is also hugely detrimental to our mental health.

Even if we do go through all of this, we know right now that many, many people are in our situation, and that with so many losing their jobs the waiting list for housing is astronomical, so there is no guarantee of a home at the end of it all anyway. It saddens us even more to know that so few new buildings will be available in the coming years.

Every day now is a day closer to us losing the roof over our heads, and we are scared. We feel forgotten, powerless and vulnerable.

So I am writing to ask, do you have anywhere for us to live?

Ramblingrosa. I only suggested writing to David Cameron via other routes. Her situation via housing has been the same for ten years! So that suggest that this present govt, has put her in this place. DLA will be looked at, and as far as I'm aware she does not get it.

As she has said she 'has no option'. At least someone can help her out in his constiuency.

If we were all negative she would get knowhere at all!
Milllions of people have not been 'shafted by the govt', the last Labour party shafted this country and left us billions in debt!

The coalition is only picking up the pieces left by the last totally incompetant government!

Well we'll have to agree to disagree on that one mycounty. This government is targeting cuts at the poorest and most vulnerable in society and there's no getting round that.

The response will be something along the lines of:

"we were left with the largest deficit amongst G7 countries (bullshit) by the last government and there is not much money left. We had to take some very difficult decisions because otherwise the economy will self combust (literally seeing as a lot of what we owe is to ourselves) and my shares might lose their value ) we have been careful to implement is cuts that do not affect me and my mates toooo much affect those with the broadest shoulders the most. The top 10% earners will pay more than the bottom 10% (no shit) and so everyone is contributing in their own way.

We did not come into government to do this but can't believe our luck that we are getting away with it and regret that these decisions have to be taken because of the mess the last government left us with. I hope you get some relief from your condition soon before we destroy the nhs too

Yours in non-committal soundbites

Dave and Prick

To be fair mycounty in terms of aportioning blame, if social housing hadn't been sold off, and if housing benefit wasn't being cut, then we'd have more options. And these decisions were made before and after the labour government. (Not that labour were much better, the introduction of ESA has caused us more problems than I care to remember) But still, this government aren't exactly helping us out.

Yes housing stock has been sold off, but here are many other reasons as to why housing stock is in such short supply, as said mass immigration.

Taken from Johann Hari: A colder, crueller country ? for no gain
Cameron has revealed that his baby sleeps in a cardboard box decorated by her big sister. Thanks to him, a lot more people are going to be sleeping in cardboard boxes

Margaret Thatcher is lying sick in a private hospital bed in Belgravia but her political children have just pushed her agenda further and harder and deeper than she ever dreamed of. When was the last time Britain's public spending was slashed by more than 20 per cent? Not in my mother's lifetime. Not even in my grandmother's lifetime. No, it was in 1918, when a Conservative-Liberal coalition said the best response to a global economic crisis was to rapidly pay off this country's debts. The result? Unemployment soared from 6 per cent to 19 per cent, and the country's economy collapsed so severely that they lost all ability to pay their bills and the debt actually rose from 114 per cent to 180 per cent. "History doesn't repeat itself," Mark Twain said, "but it does rhyme."

George Osborne has just gambled your future on an extreme economic theory that has failed whenever and wherever it has been tried. In the Great Depression, we learned some basic principles. When an economy falters, ordinary people ? perfectly sensibly ? cut back their spending and try to pay down their debts. This causes a further fall in demand, and makes the economy worse. If the government cuts back at the same time, then there is no demand at all, and the economy goes into freefall. That's why virtually every country in the world reacted to the Great Crash of 2008 ? caused entirely by deregulated bankers ? by increasing spending, funded by temporary debt. Better a deficit we repay in the good times than an endless depression. The countries that stimulated hardest, like South Korea, came out of recession first

That's funny LAdyBlahBlah - DH has alredy had this letter!

(Not from Dave and Nick but the assistant of the assistant of someone-not-so-important.

MaimAndKilloki, I posted this morning out of sheer annoyance at Mycounty's caring-sharing Cameron schtick when what I SHOULD have said was that my heart goes out to you both and I think your letter is beautifully written and immensely brave and if there was any justice in the world it would melt the stony hearts of this government.

You've got to have a little faith, as Woody Allen once said, and I truly hope you find some security soon.

Thank you Cinnamon :)

Dear Ms Backproblem

We are very sorry to hear about your back pain and mobility issues. You have good english and can write well. Some of us who have had a considerable number of books and articles published and have worked very hard at marketing ourselves could suggest some solutions for you.

Try the following:

1. Every day for the next 30 days write some articles and a book plans and send those out to various publishers.

1. Look for all the trade magazines that there are and write to them.

1. Look on web sites such as paypeopleperhour as there are a vast number of jobs any intelligent person can do from home whilst only able to move their fingers.

The secret is in application and of course luck but also perseverance. For many of us 90% of our initiatives fail but we keep on trying. Don't limit yourselt to thinking the workding day is 9 - 5. Write between 5 and 7am too.

Also write to us here more precise details of the back problems as we have access to many good doctors and experts who may be able to find a cure, if such be possible, for your condition.

As you will know this Government is going to transform this country and it woudl be great if we could have you feeling well again and even if not that with the satisfaction of regular working.

I have services that can be marketed. I would pay anyone 10% of sales they make for me. If you can write and type you don't need to move to do that so that is another route and it might be considering other telesales jobs which can be done from home. Offer your services on spec to thousands of companies around the UK. Convince them you can increase their sales.

There is no charge for this advice but we hope it helps.

Don't see the point in sending him this letter, tbh.

He won't read it.

Oh I know expat. Can't hurt I guess.

Xenia if they send me anything like that back, I'll ask how many cardboard boxes receive internet access.

"If you can write and type you don't need to move to do that so that is another route"

The problem being that we have to move on, as we will not be able to stay.

xenia, you really have idea have you?

I thought some British public libraries still had free internet access but I might be wrong about that. However the person starting the thread presumably has internet access as they are typing on mumsnet so presumably if they can type on here they could be writing an article they sent out to someone to publish. I'm not saying it's easy but it's something you can do from a chair with very little mobility.

With respect, though, too, Killoki, Xenia has a point.

In that you do need to try to help yourself wrt to finding a place to live.

You 4 months to find a private landlord who will take HB.

Because you do not have children, you only need a one bed, and won't have to also deal with 'No children'.

Even if you are made homeless, and they do have to house you, but it doesn't have to be in a flat but a hostel or B&B which can be very bad.

It's far, far better to use the 4 months to secure another place to live as best you can.

You are only 24. Is your husband much older?

This government is here to stay, and sadly, we are going to have to accept that people with your level of disability are going to be placed on JSA.

ESA is going to be reserved for people who have next to no mobility or very severe disability or illness, of course it is time-limited now, too.

DLA is hard to get for a reason and all those in receipt of it are being re-assessed anyway. Many will lose it.

Sorry, I don't mean this to sound harsh, but as you are young and this government is here to stay you are going to have to learn to be more proactive or face possible very serious hardship.

I'm not saying it's fair or right but that is what it is.

I do disagree with Xenia but she does have some good ideas sometimes. For example, she suggested babysitting big holidays and I did this and was able to pay a car repair bill with juat that night alone.

The days of being on ESA or full benefit for conditions which do not very seriously impair you in all manners - not just preclude you from certain types of work or self-employment - are ending.

So I don't think this letter will help you because to some it can be construed as your absconding all responsibility for yourself and your situation, IYKWIM, as there is no attempt being made to help yourself, and sadly, people in positions of power want to see people trying to help themselves first.

Again, I'm not saying it's altogether fair or right, just trying to be realistic and hope this isn't taken the wrong way.

but xenia, what if the op is on a daily cocktail of drugs that make concentration impossible? what if she has days when she is unable to get out of bed? if it was easy as you seem to think, wouldn't everyone be earning a small fortune from home?

There does need to be compulsion placed upon employers, too, to be more flexible wrt to employing people with conditions like Killoki's, I agree!

But tbh I find this letter very sad because it sounds like, age 24, she has completely given up on ever working.

thats a good point expat.

I'm not holding my breath, lissie. They won't compel them to do anything and will in all likelihood allow them to get away with far, far worse than they do now.

You can appeal a DLA rejection, though.

But if they reject that, too, you'll need to re-apply.

I haven't given up on working at all, but talking to doctors and a variety of experts I have at least 6 months more of this (if current therapy works).

Xenia I have access to a computer now yes, I have a home now too.

I am hunting for a new home every single day. And it is this constant hunting that has made me so aware of how few places there are. I am also aware (from having to move this time last year) that just after Xmas is one of the times there is a shortage of properties added to the market. (I assume less people are moving out due to having spent heavily over the holidays)

I am also aware that with the changes to housing benefit landlords are less keen on taking on HB tenants. (I've been talking to letting agents, who've confirmed this)

Anyway, even if my back was magically fixed and I found work, there aren't many jobs that will pay enough that I can afford to rent without the aid of HB. And it's the HB which is getting us turned down for places.

If anyone can think of anything more I can do to find a home, then please, suggest away.

I have so far

• registered with my local council, my parents council and my MIL's council for their housing lists.
• Have sent letters and been put on the mailing lists for loads of letting agents.
• Have put notices up on sites like gumtree where private landlords look
• I get all local property papers and contact people in them.

I don't know what else to do.

SirBoobALot just found a home on her own and she is on DLA and full benefits, also she is a lone parent who is still in her late teens and was still living at home.

She just found one yesterday.

She's got a Halloween name, but perhaps PM her and see how she did it! :)

Also, many councils have lists of private landlords who will accept HB.

Letting agents, too.

MaMo found hers with a letting agent and I know someone else IRL who just did this earlier this month, too, and she's also a lone parent on benefits who needed a house not a small flat.

Our local council refuses to let us see that list, god knows why. Apparently they used to make it public, but wont now.

Btw Expat, if my last post was a bit abrupt, I apologise. Was in the middle of an anxiety attack (which was a new and novel experience )

Struggling a lot right now. I'm just very aware that right now all I can do is carry on as I have been and hope for some luck. The lack of control over what happens next is hitting me hard.