Housing for pregnant 17 year old

cml2508

Hello,

Can I ask what area you live in?

I work for my local council as a housing advisor, my job is in homeless prevention.

As your daughter is 17 she wouldn't be able to hold a secure tenancy, therefore any housing from the council would need to be guarenteed by either yourselves or another adult financially capable of paying any rent/water rates that she fails to pay.

She would be classed as priority homeless and would be housed under the homeless act as her local authority have a duty to find her suitable accomodation.

She would not be placed in two bedroomed accomodation until she has had the baby, as bad as it sounds the reason for that is because of still births etc they cannot give a 2 bedroomed property meant for family use until the child is actually here.

She will be asked to provide 16 weeks proof of preganancy as it is not recognised until this stage.

Our local authority and I believe many others are currently providing a rent deposit scheme, it is basically a guarentee on private rented accomodation.

The provide the deposit and first months rent, and they agree to pay any costs for damage etc once the tenancy ends.

As she is only 17 and her partner isnt working, they would be entitled to full housing a council tax benefit so it shouldn't be a problem however you do have to be carefull.

If she chooses to rent privately the property must only be for the size they require, in this case 2 bedroomed in order to qualify for the above. And you should check out the level of "fair" rent set by your council. Hb has now been changed and a maximum level is awarded depending on what they deem to be fair rent for that area.

Has she been to see a homeless prevention/housing advisor? Normally when you approach your council they will arrange this straight away. The other thing to note is they only look into homeless cases and begin to assess them, 28 days before the given date for becoming homeless. Initially they will provide mother and baby unit or another form of temporary accomodation until a suitable property is found.

It is also important to note, local authorities have different rules for how they allocate properties based on homelessness. As we currently work on a banding system, homeless cases are placed into a higher band and note their interest online using our choice based letting system for properties they are interested in.... if they are not succesfull in finding a property within 4 weeks, (properties are advertised on a weekly basis) we will make a direct offer, in most cases these tend to be high rise flats.

So homelessness isnt a key to a beautiful two bedroomed house in a quiet cul-de-sac i'm afraid.... if you want any more advice feel free to ask.

It could be that your in our area.

Hope that helps,

CML2508

secretspender_2

He really needs to get a job. Do you have LAbourReady agencies by you? they do factory work.

I got made redundant recently, no pay out either. I worked in a factory for two week, got offered a job at KFC but started my temp admin job instead.

I'd tell him to get his !!!! in gear. If he doesnt do it now, he never will. Everyone is feeling the credit crunch at the moment and its affecting us all but he has duties and responsibilities nnow:money:

MrsE_2

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

you mentioned you had a granny annexe/flat - surely this would be perfect accomodation for your daughter + bf + baby... any way the grandparents can go live with another family member or perhaps go in sheltered accomodation.

Sorry it sounds awfull shunting granny + grandpa off like that but alternative is shunting your daughter + grandchild off to god knows where !

Yes I thought this!

If it were me my daughter would be in there, but then I'm not really close to my mum, but you have more a duty to your kids than your parents.

I don't understand the rush, why does she have to be out by the 1st October, when is the baby due, why can't she stay in your house longer?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

I agree the fella should get a job - that baby is going to need SO much.

The council will house her but it goes on a scheme. If she does go one homeless priority just check because they may put her in a homless shelter until theres accomodation available. There's other housing assosciations out there

neverdespairgirl

carolt wrote: »

If he really wants a job - any job - he'll find one. No reason why your daughter can't be doing something useful now either - she's only pregnant! I worked till 8.5 months pregnant with both my first two - unless there's a real health issue, or the work involves healthy lifting, pregnant women can do most jobs as well as anyone.

I agree - you can definintely work when you are pregnant, even if you can't do every job (heavy lifting, or chemicals, etc) So it sounds as if they both need to look for work ASAP.

neverdespairgirl

dedward67 wrote: »

He has no special qualifications (just gcse) and can't drive and as he has a stutter, no customer service work would be any good. He claims that minimum wage jobs would actually make him worse off than the dole as he'd be responsible for paying all the rent and council tax on a private dwelling, which he couldn't afford.

Sounds as if he thinks he's too good for work. If you don't have anything other than GCSE, you are going to start off working for crap pay, and probably a boring job as well. But then you can move onwards and upwards.

He needs to stop thinking he's too good for the jobs available, I reckon, and start thinking about the baby!

dedward67

MrsE wrote: »

Yes I thought this!

If it were me my daughter would be in there, but then I'm not really close to my mum, but you have more a duty to your kids than your parents.

I don't understand the rush, why does she have to be out by the 1st October, when is the baby due, why can't she stay in your house longer?

Yes, it's a moral dilema! We originally lived in the "granny annexe" when we were married 19 years ago and then managed to purchase the rest of the house from my inlaws in 1996. The issue is they are in their 80's, mentally very sound, but MIL is not great on her feet. Get on fairly well with them and as they've lived there for 12 years, so would be v. difficult decision morally to kick them out.

Reason for October 1st is that they both felt they wanted to get married end of October before she bloomed too much and bring up the baby in a married relationship. Not done much nowadays, but they were both adamant they wanted to try and move forward from what had happened and prove their committment to each other and the baby. After much talking, we eventually agreed to their request and the registry office is booked.

MrsE_2

dedward67 wrote: »

Yes, it's a moral dilema! We originally lived in the "granny annexe" when we were married 19 years ago and then managed to purchase the rest of the house from my inlaws in 1996. The issue is they are in their 80's, mentally very sound, but MIL is not great on her feet. Get on fairly well with them and as they've lived there for 12 years, so would be v. difficult decision morally to kick them out.

Reason for October 1st is that they both felt they wanted to get married end of October before she bloomed too much and bring up the baby in a married relationship. Not done much nowadays, but they were both adamant they wanted to try and move forward from what had happened and prove their committment to each other and the baby. After much talking, we eventually agreed to their request and the registry office is booked.

So the house is yours?
Or is part of it theirs?
If not do they pay rent?

You are in a pickle, what about a loft conversion?

secretspender_2

dedward67 wrote: »

prove their committment to each other and the baby. .

they can do this by the fella getting a job. Its great they want to be together but he needs a kick up the jacksie. Why do YOU set the boundaries for him and show how to be a responsible parent - supporting his family, not you

dedward67

MrsE wrote: »

So the house is yours?
Or is part of it theirs?
If not do they pay rent?

You are in a pickle, what about a loft conversion?

No, house is entirely ours. They don't pay rent but pay half the council tax, half the water rates and half the gas (electic is a separate meter). Loft conversion maybe an option, but would cost several thousand and don't have the money for that unfortunately. Also other children (14 and 12) tolerate daughter's b/f but aren't great fans so wouldn't work him living there too!