What does a 62 year old man on just above minimum wage do when served with section 21 eviction notice and cannot afford anything on the current rental market?

[Mxflamingnoravera]

I have a friend aged 62 who has been living in a pretty awful but liveable one bed flat for six years. He works full time in a call centre on little more than minimum wage. The flat was recently assessed by the local authority as part of a new local licensing scheme for private rental properties in our city. It needs a lot of work done on it and today he was served with a section 21 order because (he was told) the builders say it's too much work to have him stay there whilst the place is brought up to standard.

He has looked around an there is nothing under £900 a month in our city. He cannot afford this. He has no car and cycles everywhere. So he needs to live fairly close to his workplace.

He is devastated, he cannot live in a shared house at his age. He is a very private, shy man, has few friends and no family.

I'm at a loss to know how to help him. He cannot live with me, i have no space and do not want a lodger.

There is literally nothing affordable in our city. He is looking at homelessness in January. What happens to people like him?

I go to the eye prescription totally wrong! It's +10.5 and + 9.5! The minus bit was the CYL. It is strong I think?

That makes more sense!

Thanks @zozueme

Yeah, that’s definitely strong and makes much more sense re the thick glasses!

If your friend has ever been paid by the Armed Forces, even if only for one day, he is eligible for SSAFA housing support: "SSAFA's services are only available to people who have received at least one day's pay from the Armed Forces (British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, including Reserves), or are in the immediate family of someone who served."

He may also be eligible for help through Op Fortitude. It's worth a try. https://support.veteransgateway.org.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/115/c/27/Housing/Homelessness/Help-for-homeless-veterans-(England)

I get the feeling you wouldnt be saying this if he had kids living with him. Im getting really sick of singles/couples with no kids being told to expect less purely because of their parental status

I don't have any advice, I just want to say you're a wonderfully kind person for helping him. I wish him the best of luck.

He may count as disabled under the Equality Act because of his scoliosis stopping him from walking unaided. Could that help him get financial assistance?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-guidance/disability-equality-act-2010-guidance-on-matters-to-be-taken-into-account-in-determining-questions-relating-to-the-definition-of-disability-html

I'm autistic and I completely understand being unable to live with others. It's not shyness, it's a feeling of being in a cage that's the shape and size of your body all the time. With someone else around, you are masking 24/7 and it's exhausting and, in the long term, mentally harmful.

Not relevant to the main discussion but I think (THINK!) that your friend might be eligible for NHS vouchers for his glasses. There are ultra thin glasses suitable for people with poor vision. There is no reason for him to have to put up with thick heavy glasses. Even if he doesn't mind how his existing glasses look the ultra thin lenses are much lighter and more comfortable.

He probably already knows this but just in case he doesn't!

Not as disgusting as people being told to expect less re housing if they havent got living proof that they have had sex without contraception

Complex prescriptions are defined as +/-10 or more diopters in any one meridian, or prism-controlled bifocals. The optometrist would issue a voucher if this applied.

But... if OP's mate succeeds in a UC claim, he'd get free eye exams.

@JenniferBooth - yep me too- I'm 61 and if we separated I'm pretty stuffed- son no longer at home, lives in a shared flat.

The way it's set up these days im pretty sure 'some of the more clued up about social welfare' do have kids Willy nilly so they get priority

Actually, I was diagnosed late last year in my forties. When I was a child, autism in boys was considered rare and it was considered near-impossible for girls to be autistic. As a consequence, my autism was missed and I have struggled all my life as a consequence.

It is much easier to get diagnosed now.

No one is too old to request a diagnostic referral and no one is too old to use a diagnosis to get help in any aspect of life. That someone has "just about coped" until mid-forties, or early-sixties, or whenever, doesn't mean that they should carry on "just about coping". And it doesn't mean that they'll be able to carry on "just about coping" if their situation changes, as it has done for the OP's friend.

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia
Complex prescriptions are defined as +/-10 or more diopters in any one meridian, or prism-controlled bifocals. The optometrist would issue a voucher if this applied

But... if OP's mate succeeds in a UC claim, he'd get free eye exams

The OPs later post confirm that the guys prescription would make him eligible to an NHS voucher.

He gets free eye exams already.

Apologies if I missed the answer to this question.

Do you know in which of the services he served and for how long?

I ask in case an organisation such as the RNBT can help in a small way (Navy).

It was the army and it was only six months. He either didn't pass basic training or requested discharge, I'm not sure.

It would be the Army Benevolent Fund, in that case, but how he came to leave will be relevant in their decision on being of assistance.

https://armybenevolentfund.org/need-our-help/individual-grants/

Be sure to verify what the situation with Stoll and their nomination scheme would be as well. If he did qualify, he could be nominated for a flat in his local area. He would need to apply via SSAFA.

https://www.stoll.org.uk/housing/vns/

https://www.ssafa.org.uk/bristol-south-gloucestershire

Just to fill you in on why we (he and I think he might be ND). I mentioned some places on the other side of the city and he immediately risk assessed and said it increases the possibility of an accident the further he cycles, and don't want to put himself at that risk.

He's had two really nasty accidents (not his fault and not to do with his sight) and is terrified of another. His bike is festooned in lights, he wears full high viz and is very careful. He cycles approx twelve miles a day (to work and back), is super fit cardio vascular wise because of his cycling. But walking more than 10 metres without a pole is too much because of pain and the need to stop and "pop" his hip to relieve the pain every few minutes. To the poster who doubted his disability, it most certainly is possible to cycle without pain but not walk. If you saw the curve on his spine and his posture you would not be suggesting he was trying to pull a fast one.

But walking more than 10 metres without a pole is too much because of pain and the need to stop and "pop" his hip to relieve the pain every few minutes.

I'm confident that he qualifies as disabled for Equality Act purposes.

Has he ever applied for PIP/DLA/whatever-the-govt-call-it-this-week?

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia he will be applying now he knows, he had no idea he could until this weekend

I know you're probably stressed on your friends behalf but I feel this is a rude response to @Lovelydaytomorrow who is actually describing a reality of housing in the UK across all demographics. Whether anyone wants to house share or not Section 21s, lack of social housing and rent increases have directly contributed to significant increases in over-55s seeking house shares in recent years (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62344571). It sucks, UK affordable housing is on its knees and any anger we feel about that should be vented towards the Tories and landlords.

I hope something I add below can be of use to your friend and I sincerely wish him the best, section 21s are evil:

• Citizens Advice are great, yes he'll have to repeatedly call and wait but there's a lot of advice on their website and they really can help people in this situation such as checking whether he can challenge the S21: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/during-your-tenancy/if-you-get-a-section-21-notice/

• Ditto Shelter, there's lot of advice on their site for exactly this situation https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/section_21_eviction/how_long_a_section_21_eviction_takes?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjMKqBhCgARIsAPDgWlyzlRY3QZO6Sc7cDxhDtuB4ezKKsyLdqFczPL7aenPTUpDXsZfUMJgaAgfqEALw_wcB and they have tailored helplines for emergencies, online and web chat, plus local services: england.shelter.org.uk/get_help

• I agree contact the local council about support getting on the housing register, finding out about any 55+ schemes including with social landlords/housing associations (they usually can do a full search, not just of local authority stuff) ditto if he feels vulnerable in any way they may refer him to social service to get a support worker to help with managing the stress of the process. If he has you or other friends able to go with him for the first appoint, that may be beneficial as there is often a lot of jargon and 'oh well we can't do much' that can be really overwhelming. Another area of support may be...

• Generation Rent and ACORN (Renters Union) are activists doing brilliant campaigning work. He may want to connect with them to feel less isolated by this and feel the community of many, many people affected by this awful process where they have done nothing wrong. Looks like there's a Bristol group: https://twitter.com/ACORN_Bristol?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

• Honestly, if it was happening to me - and when it has happened to friends - one of the first things on my list would be to go to the GP and discuss anxiety medication or support (sadly counselling is often months if not years away though so meds can be a useful crutch). Section 21s can take an enormous toll on peoples mental health even if they don't want to admit it, it's an horrendous thing to do to another human. I've had a few friends go through it and some have really been pushed very close to the edge by it.

Again, very best wishes to him. I'd also be raising an absolute ruckus in my local newspaper/radio shows/online community groups but ACORN etc may be the place for that because I can imagine his energy is full consumed by this right now and it feels vulnerable enough without drawing attention to it.

I don't quite understand why this shows he might be ND?

Detail-oriented thinking and a heavy reliance on research and planning to cope with stuff are both autistic traits.

So is a tendency to decision paralysis and "rabbit in headlights" cognitive freezing when faced with imposed changes.

Source: am autistic.

You are doing a good thing OP, actually a string of good things.

On the PIP questionnaire as @IAmNeon said questions are there to trip you up eg they ask if you can walk 50m unaided or with a stick / crutches, they then 'helpfully' tell you that is the length of an average swimming pool.

50m (for anyone who doesn't know) is the size of an Olympic pool, there are about 20 in the whole of the UK. Your local pool is probably 25m.