Bloody hell this thread is all kinds of crazy!
Freyanna you are a truly wonderful person :) 
rhubarb obviously I only wrote about myself because decent asked about my ethics and whether I mind discussing/ being questioned - I don't.
This will be my last post but to clarify a few points and fill in a few gaps for anyone who might be even slightly interested (probably no one):
DLA is finishing, many people are on PIP now. The criteria are different to DLA. PIP is difficltu to get even with provable health issues because the govt wnat to cut costs and the assessment process is often hostile and cynical. Getting DLA/PIP does not mean you get housing and it does not pay your rent nor is it enough money to pay the rent. It is entirely separate. The financial situation os much worse in the south and areas where property prices are higher than cheap parts of the north. The housing stock and supply is also different.
So decent I can tell you we are suffering and have been suffering becasue of being rejected for housing depsite my DH (eventually) receiving PIP. I am not a liar or disingenous and that is a very offensive accusation and a complete assumption on your part.
And under the tories if there is not enough revenue from TAX then they cut benefits and services, and they aim to cut taxes too at any opportunity. This is a fact. We have both also paid tax in the recent past until our health got too bad.
The government may be failing people but the govt's responsibiliy towards people totally depends on who the electorate have voted for. We dont all agree with governent policy but we all have personal choice and can choose to go above and beyond what the govt may do if we think it insufficient. That applies to giving to charity and can apply to LLs.
And if you don;t have the resoucres to unerstand UC, then what about ill people? We don;t have a choice. that is where you are, again, more fortunate. UC can be paid direct to LLs if that is any help to you.
The problem is you can have DLA/PIP payments in place but if LLs won't accept HB/UC then no one will actually take your money. We have been flat out rejected 100s of times despite offering 6 months rent up front (our bank will lend to us no problem) a full deposit and a guarantor, and many excellent references, simply because we are not working for genuine, provable health reasons and will have to claim HB/UC for housing costs. There are a few exceptions of course, but these exceptions have been substandard properties and/ or the LLs dodgy.
Not all disabled people are unable to work, but ill and disabled people are more likely than healthy people to be in a sitiution where they cannot work or cannot work enough and so more are likely to need to claim either Housing Benefit which is being phased out, or Universal Credit which is coming in across the country quite swiftly now. Thus a blanket ban on HB or UC tenants is more likely to affect ill/ disabled people - that is the discrimination.
Many working families also need a HB/UC top up but he ill/disabled are disproportionately affected, and if you are too ill/ disabled to work, WTF can you actually do about that?! It is not a lifestyle choice. And god forbid you should want to try to do a bit of work from home because that wont be allowed either.
There will be many veterans who will be unable to work because of injuries/ PTSD etc. They will need to claim HB/UC, unless there are special measures I don't know about.
It is extremely difficult to get a council house because of the shortage. In some areas worse than others. A couple without children will only be allowed to bid on a 1 bed property unless they meet they very high and difficult to meet threshold for an additional bedroom, occasionally you may be considered fro under-occupation in a 2 bed but very rarely and only in a few specific areas, and will not be successful if there is a more suitable applicant which there usually is.
So, it may/can actually be harder for a couple without children to get a council house, than parents with children because a single person literally sleeping on the street with no address will take a higher priority than a couple, even with medical needs. So if you are camping or sleeping on sofa/ in a car but using a friend's address to maintain benefits, credit score, electoral roll etc you will very likely get a lower priority than a street homeless person (perhaps rightly so) and you can find yourself constantly coming 3rd, 5th etc in the bidding because certain areas have a constantly high number of homeless people. Using a friend's address is the alternative to ending up in separate hostels and losing benefit entitlement and falling off the electoral roll and you cannot allow that to happen becasue you HAVE to look at renting privately as well as bid with the council.
Many councils are the most unhelpful and obstructive ^$%&£$!! when it comes to trying to get on the council list. Several times we have faced lies and disinformation in order to stop us from applying. It is also really diificult to manage all the forms etc if you are unwell. (This post has taken me hours to write becasue of my difficulties and many days I just cannot do this. I have been able to cut and paste bits from letters I have written)
Also, if you have particular needs from disability then there are less council properties available to you, ie 3rd floor flats are no good if you have mobility issues. In many areas, a lot of the properties are in blocks.
Many councils prioritise downsizers over ALL other applicants. Again this is an issue if you have mobility needs or are a couple without children because older downsizers will get priority over you when applying for 1 bed flats/ bungalows/ ground floor flats etc.
The councils also can change their entitlement criteria (eg time lived in a area) anytime they like and so it is very easy for people to fall through a crack eg if they have recently moved to an area but then lost the accomodation because the LL is suddenly selling up (despite having told you it was a long term let) for example. So you can easily end up with no local connection to an area due to not living there long enough and this means the council have no duty to house you and you cannot even get on the list. Some councils now require 2 years of living locally to qualify. If you have moved even a few miles just over the neighbouring boundary, say for more than 1 year, you will likely have no longer have a connection to your old area either. So too much time away from one and not enough time on in the other and thus no local connection at all and you cannot get on a list. If you are not working becasue of ill health/ disability, of course you cannot have a local connection from a job, so again ill/disabled people are more at risk of falling through a crack becuase of a technicality/ circumstance directly arising from their having illness/ disabiltiy.
Many councils also have 'local area plans' where they won;t allow non-working tenants, even the those prevented from working by illness/ disability, so there are some properties you cannot just cannot bid on.
With all these factors there are many weeks when there is just nothing that you can bid on. And constantly coming 2nd, 6th, 10th etc is just no good.
It is also bloody diffilcut if you want to stay with a helpful GP/NHS service and know that moving even a few miles to a different catchment will affetc your treamtent. Boundaries for health/ councils etc are totally arbitrary and beggars can;t be choosers of course.
This is the situation in a large number of counties in the South of England becasue of the poplutaion, demographics etc. Some are very severely affected by the housing shortage, but everywhere has a shortage. I know less about other regions but 99% of councils across the UK require a local connection (time lived in the area/ job/ family etc) to accept your application at all so you cannot just move anywhere in the country and get on a list.
Everything I have said is based on our factual experience over many bloody difficult years. Housing policies are available on council websites if anyone wants to check up on the criteria.
I told you decent that I ahve raised these issues with ALL possible avenues. Tory MPs are not interested funnly enough. I am not a liar, so if I say I have raised it and done all that can be done, then I have.
So, I just wanted you to reconsider your ban on UC because the situation is really, really, extremely dire out there. The 'help' is just mythical in some areas and merely minimal in others. mybe in the north or wwhere you are it is a bit different than the south, but there are disabled people and UC claimants everywhere.
If you own your proerties outright then you are in a better position than many mortgaged LLs to offer properties to those on UC. You choose not to becasue of the possible hassle to you. That is shit for people stuck on UC through no fault of their own, becasue as I have explained here, and as is very genrally widely known and reported, there is a severe housing shortage, and a hostile government.
The benefits system especially for ESA and PIP is flawed, degrading, inhumane and frightening, and it is not nice at all to be stuck on HB and worse to be on UC and so being homeless and constantly rejected on top of that is just more than people can take.
You say you do more than some LLs but you could go just a little bit further.
Maybe you will just give just one UC person a chance and see what happens?
Thank you to anyone who has read this :) maybe it will help somehow.