Council housing

iwanttosave_2

Savvy_Sue wrote:

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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.

I'm not having a rant, i come in peace (so to speak) this person i speak about is a repeat offender he has been in prison 6 time this year, and has brought a lot of trouble round our way, all i was saying is that i would rather see this mother in that house who would appriciate it, than him who abuses it.

I understand that they have to live somewhere but i think that if they get themselves in to trouble then they shouldn't have a house ready for them, they should have to go in a hostel like many families have to. My aunt has just had to go in one, it is not fair to put kiddies in these places. If they put ex-prisoners into hostels on release they could also incorparate some sort of rehabilitation program so they have the resorses there to get them selves on their feet and then in to a home of there own.

Sorry i went off course then but i didn't want people to think i was having a dig at prisoners

dag_2

I'm not having a rant, i come in peace (so to speak) this person i speak about is a repeat offender he has been in prison 6 time this year, and has brought a lot of trouble round our way, all i was saying is that i would rather see this mother in that house who would appriciate it, than him who abuses it.

You're entitled to think what you like about the people around you, but I don't honestly see how this is helping fattyrae1, who is wondering what she should do to keep a roof over her head.

My point is - if you really believe that ex-offenders get a better deal, that's fine, but you'd be well advised to check the facts before passing that advice on to someone else. Perhaps you can pop into the citizens advice bureau - twice - once on behalf of an imaginary homeless ex-offender relative, and once again with fattyrae1's real situation. See which situation would give you the stronger rights - I think you'll find there's actually not a lot in it - if anything, the mother with kids is likely to be in the stronger position.

But as we all know, having rights to housing is one thing. Translating that into an actual roof over your head is quite another. So I'd recommend you study some government comparative statistics on rehousing while you're at it too.

Besides - an ex-offender who's just been released is unlikely to be bringing kids into his new home - unlike a mother. What would you think if fattyrae1 and her kids were put into a studio flat now because it was the only thing available, and the ex-offender was put into a three-bedroom house that became available at a later date? Quite.

Fran

***Boardguide comment***

Please.... keep on topic. :rudolf:

Tabbykatt

Hi fattyrae1

I was in the exact same situation as yourself last year, where I recieved my 2 months (I am in the UK) notice in November and had to be out just after Christmas. I wasa single mum with 2 children under 5 and I have to say that I was told that unless I had children with disabilities or special needs then I would not have a chance of getting a Council House (I think I am still #545 after a year!!). I applied to all the Housing Associations etc and had no joy there either. It is thought that single parents with children are given a priority for housing but that is unfortunatly a fairy-tale.

I too was sympathetic to my Landlord as he was in a bad financial situation too, but I also had to think about myself and my children and I was quite prepared to make him go to court to get me out. YOUR family have to be your priority, at the end of the day I feel pretty sure that your landlord has been taking his rent from you every month with no concern to your welfare? So long as you continue to pay for your rent there should not be any animosity. So dont think you have to be out of your house on Christmas Eve!

I really do feel for you as last year my Christmas was dominated by trying to find a new home to live in and I feel that I lost a really special time of year because of the stress this caused. I was lucky enough in the end to find a sympathetic private landlord and believe me there are not many of those around when you mention Housing Benefit... and begged and borrowed the money for the deposit to privatly rent. It was not easy but you really need to keep positive and to be blunt NOT rely on your local authority for any help. Probably not what you want to here but I'm afraid its the way of the world.

Stick in there and have a very Merry Christmas with your children, and try not to let this get you down.

LearningToSave.

you need to register as homeless.
we were in the same situation last year.....we went to the council and were put on the homelessness list and given a homeless officer.we had to show our letter from our landlord-they then contacted the landlord to confirm this....at this point they acepted that we were becoming unintentionally homess and told us to report to them on the day we became homeless if no offers had been made.
we had also gone to CAB before hand to find out exactly where we stood.
of course no offers had....so on 10th december we reported to the office as homeless,we were immediately put into b+b accomadation(not nice!) then on the 14th into temporary accomadation then on 22 dec offered this house(2 bed) and finally on 17th january given they keys and tenancy.
basically as other posters have said as soon as you are classed as homeless you rocket to the top of the list.
please pm me as there is a lot of additional info,what happens etc that i dont wish to go into detail on here.

Tabbykatt

It is a very difficult situation and it really depends on where you live. You were lucky Learningtosave to get permanant accomodation so quickly, when I first approached the Council after getting my letter from the landlord I was told that I would have to wait at least 3-4 months in B&B before I could have moved on to something 'nicer', and to be honest that really would have been my last call. It would also have meant losing my pet dog of 13yrs as I could not have taken her with me
I may sound very cynical about local housing schemes but my experience of them seem to be, if you can help yourself then you stand more of a chance of living safe and well.

NervousYetFeisty

I Thanked Alleycat becasue although the advice isn't relevant to me personally, it is very, very sound. So follow it!
Anyway, sending you my thoughts :xmassmile

Halaku

fattyrae,

For starters, 4 weeks notice is not enough, it needs to be a 2 month minimum. But to say anything else, I'll need to know more about the nature of your tenancy

What sort of agreement do you have with your landlord, how long was it for, and when did/does it expire?

Also, are you employed, or is your rent being paid by the DSS?

Nickything

Fattyrae, as someone else mentioned make sure that you are nominated to all Housing Associations in the area, most HA's only take people nominated by the Council but some do open their lists and accept applications.

I'm so sorry you are in this situation, would your Landlord give you some leeway and maybe let you stay at least until after the holidays? Please keep us updated as I'll be thinking of you...

Alleycat

Halaku wrote:

fattyrae,

For starters, 4 weeks notice is not enough, it needs to be a 2 month minimum. But to say anything else, I'll need to know more about the nature of your tenancy

What sort of agreement do you have with your landlord, how long was it for, and when did/does it expire?

Also, are you employed, or is your rent being paid by the DSS?

The OP lives in Northern Ireland which has different legislation to England. It is min 8 weeks here, but only 4 weeks over there. I am assuming it is an assured shorthold tenancy, so as long as the notice is legal, this should suffice. The expiry date of the tenancy agreement should be irrelevant, as as long as the OP continues to make regular rent payments, the landlord will still be required to go through the correct eviction procedure. Again, whether the OP is receiving Housing Benefit or not is irrelevant as long as the rent is paid and up to date.