Council housing

fattyrae1

Hi, i am a single parent of three and renting privately but been given notice by my landord. I have to be out on xmas eve (no fault of landlord, he is having money troubles) and have been on to the housing executive (northern ireland). They filled out forms etc and since then, nothing.
There are empty houses in the area i need (my eldest son goes to school there) but they keep coming up with excuses why they can't give me one. Not enough points, not ready for moving into, in a housing improvement scheme and finally, all private and being sold (which is untrue).
There is one empty house that is being done up for disabled use next year but in the meantime, empty. There is another that need some work but not much. They eventually said they will have to put me into temp accommodation in another area but i cannot get my son to school as i have two other children both under 3. I have asked for them to house me in the disabled house as temp until the other is done up but they are refusing to budge. Now it is 1 week before i am homeless on xmas eve.
Can anyone help. Any ideas or insider tips would be very welcome.

shellsuit

Oh God I'm sorry to hear that

Why on earth do you have to be out on Christmas Eve of all days????

iwanttosave_2

well i was on the housing list for 3 years dispite living in a 3 bed house with seven people, me, OH and 2 kids were all in one room and the council didn't care, they said that because i had a roof over my head i was only in band c. Even with a letter off my mum saying we had to move out because the situation brought on depression.

Have you been to the homeless section with a letter off your landlord showing that you have to be out, this should move you up, but only from the date that you move out.

The best option is to go into a hostel, this automatically puts you in band AA, not just band A, you go straight to the top of the list, its not a nice option but certainly the best.


Hope this helps
I only managed to get this house because my mum moved out and we succeded the tenancy.

iwanttosave_2

Also sign up to all the housing assosiations in your bourough. They only take people that are on a council list

Quasar

I think it's shocking that in a supposedly "civilised, advanced, blah blah" country things like this can happen.

I bet that if fattyrae1 had been a criminal just out of prison, there would be a cushy little place just waiting for her. No lists then.

iwanttosave_2

i live opposite four 1 bedroom houses and the council have actually left a house empty for the tenant who has gone to prison, then there is another that a guy just uses as a mailing adress for his benifits, when i adressed this to the council, they just said "well there is nothing we can do about it"

fattyrae1

It just so happened that he gave me 4 weeks notice which happens to end on xmas eve. It's not his fault though.

Alleycat

Regardless of the reason your landlord has for eviction, you do not have to move out on the day the tenancy ends. Your landlord is required to apply to the courts for possession which with Christmas so soon after your notice expires means that you may not have to be out for 3 or 4 weeks.

I work in England for a local authority homeless advice unit, so was unsure if the law was the same in Northern Ireland and whilst in England landlords are required to give 8 weeks, the 4 weeks notice you have received appears to be legal. Landlords still have to go to court for possession though, so whatever you do, if you've not managed to secure either alternative permanent or temporary accommodation by christmas eve, please, please stay put.

You need to make sure you have had a homeless assessment. The Housing Executive had a legal duty to provide this and you can use it when applying to other housing providers as it can increase your 'points'/chances of getting rehoused quickly. Depending on the area you live in, your local office can temporarily rehouse you in quite a wide area as there will only be a limited stock of temporary accommodation. This will most probably be different properties to the ones you have seen empty as they will be permanent housing. I understand that you have been given conflicting information as to why these houses are empty, but often when a tenant vacates there can be quite significant repairs needed doing as the state some properties are left in is truely horrendous.

With regard to your son's schooling, if you have to be temporarily rehoused out of the area, you should speak to the school. They will usually liase with social services to arrange that you son go to a different school whilst you are waiting to be rehoused. I know this is by no means ideal, but at least he won't have to be pulled out altogether. You could also say that you have spoken to a solicitor that specialises in housing law and have been advised that you should be temporarily (and permanently) rehoused within an acceptable travelling vicinity to your son's school. This is the guidance issued by the Chartered Institute of Housing. If necessary quote this to the manager.

Not meaning to go too far off topic, but just felt I should pick up on the posts by Quasar and Iwanttosave.

Prisoners don't automatically get rehoused on release from prison. They will be treated in exactly the same way as any homeless person approaching their local authority for assistance. The only time they may be in priority need and eligible for temporary accom (hostels usually) is if they have been inside for a significant amount of their life therefore having become 'institutionalised' and less able to fend for themselves. A single person, with no priority need will have no automatic eligibilty for temporary or permanent housing and will have to go onto a waiting list like everyone else.

Re the guy who is currently inside, if he is only in for a three month or less sentence, then housing benefits will continue to pay his rent until his release. This is preventing yet another person becoming homeless and falling into drug/alcohol use, crime etc. I know it seems unfair when there are genuinely deserving people who are homeless through no fault of their own, but thems is the rules and looking at the wider picture it does make sense.

Anyway, waffle over! You are more than welcome to pm me if you need any further advice. I will keep an eye on this thread too in case I can be of anymore help.

Good luck!!

Savvy_Sue

I do feel for you fattyrae, but alleycat's given excellent advice. Another good place to go could be Shelter: that's the link to the NI part of their site. I know they've done a lot of work around the effect of homelessness and instability on children. And if you do end up in several short-term lets then they may be able to help you get settled each time.

I am also very glad Alleycat responded to those two posts as it saved me the trouble! If only there were accommodation lined up for single people coming out of prison a lot of re-offending could be prevented, but when they come out they have to present as homeless, and certainly in this area they will pass any amount of drug dealers en route to the office which deals with single homeless people. If they had a habit before they went in it is hard to resist the temptation, even if they've been clean in prison. And before anyone goes off on a rant about how they must have done something to deserve to go to prison, what if they were held on remand and cleared at trial, ie innocent? Even if they were rightly in prison, is it right to continue to punish them when they come out, or would it be better to give good initial support to enable them to lead fruitful lives within our wider society?

I am not putting the rights of ex-prisoners above those of families, just pointing out that the severe shortage of social housing affects all of us, whether we realise it or not.

Fran

Have a word with your local Citizens Advice Bureau too, they might know some local information that you haven't already found out, also any housing information offices near you. (In case you haven't already.)

Good luck, let us know how you go on.

dag_2

I'm with Savvy Sue on this one. Make no mistake about it - although some released prisoners have homes to go to, a lot of them don't. Many of them lose the homes they already had, and end up in homeless hostels, including those who were only on remand, and who were either subsequently found innocent, or given a non-custodial sentence (eg DTTO or community service).

Despite Quasar's irresponsible implicit suggestion, committing a crime that is likely to land you a custodial sentence is a very bad idea, and I would strongly recommend against it. Furthermore, it's likely to result in your kids being taken into care or fostered - and once you lose custody of your kids, they will no longer count towards your housing priority points. The best advice really is to stay clean and keep your kids.

Once your landlord has actually got the posession order, you will have 14 days to appeal against it - however, if your landlord has done things by the book in serving you the notice in the first place, then chances are, any appeal you make will be unsuccessful. However, the landlord can't order the bailiffs in until that 14 days has expired - and even then, the bailiffs have to give you a day or two's notice, I'm not quite sure how much. But the point is, you won't be forced to move out by the bailiffs until January 8th at the very earliest, and probably a few days later than this.

As Alleycat suggests - contact the local authority's homelessness service as soon as possible. Homelessness applications are often dealt with separately from routine council housing applications.