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?

Not really sure standup trying to think of something.

Try googling - doubt you'll get much out of retailing, but if you have other skills and experience, you might be v surprised - I certainly was, when I tried recently, as my DS is now finally at school full-time, and so I could start looking again. Things have moved on hugely over the last few years, and so jobs that 5 years ago you could only do in a workplace, you can now do from home.

You may find it really quite an eye-opener.

I'd make more specific suggestions, but as I have no idea what skills/experience you have, it's a bit hard.

Granted - first of all (and apols to MaimandKilloki for going off topic)- I agree wholeheartedly with your 'Do you want your child to go to Uni' posts. I was there on Dec 9 as well, the police behaviour was awful in many cases. Plus, if kettling weren't practised as a sort of everyday punishment/torture, resentment on the part of the students would be much, much less. Hope Bethany Shiner's dad's efforts bear fruit.
MaimAndKilloki - only one suggestion - a small one, but it might help a bit. Try eBaying - first of all, eBaying stuff you already have and no longer want. If you find things are selling, you could go on to selling other stuff. Realistically, you're not likely to earn more than pin-money, but if funds are tight, that could help quite a lot. Good luck.

Thanks, dotnet - found your posts on the uni fees stuff very interesting and helpful too, and agree with your suggestions to the OP. It occured to me after my last post that of course ebay was retailing via the internet, and something one could undertake at any scale one wanted from small to large. Dropshipping is one way to get involved in retailing via ebay without needing to spend ages wrapping and shlepping heavy stuff to the post office, or indeed even paying for stuff before you've sold it, which is hard to do if money is tight.