Going to have to leave my flat

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

phil1873football wrote: »

I appreciate where your coming from, however, there are lots of people who just can't afford to privately rent or get a mortgage, so social housing may be their last resort. On this basis, there should be NO discimination taking place be it, gender, age, number of children you have.etc.

Most of us pay taxes which contributes to these facilities, therefore, we should all be given a fair crack at the whip.

Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but of course there should be discrimination based on age and number of children (maybe not gender though).

Jowo_2

wulfhere wrote: »

Hi, I live in a shared flat, which I am soon going to have to leave as I am unable to find people to move in.

I'm unemployed, male, 31.

As far as I'm aware, my only option is to move into council housing. How quickly can this process happen? I suppose it depends on availability and all that, but then I would have thought that I'd be a low priority.

What is your landlord doing to fill the empty rooms - have you had a word with him about this?

Have a look at the Shelter website for their info on homelessness and how council's process applications and allocate housing. Homelessness is roughly defined as not having anywhere to live after the next 28 days and council's have a statutory obligation to assist the homeless.

What you may find is that they may resist helping you, telling you to stay put in your accommodation until your landlord has got a court order for eviction, and letting you know that you will be considered to have made yourself intentionally homeless if you move out when you did not have to. This policy is known as 'gatekeeping' and aims to reduce the amount of applicants due to the scarcity of their resources. Shelter also gives information on how to appeal this. As previous posters have indicated, some areas can barely house high priority applicants from sick and over-crowded households.