Not sure where to post this

terry1980_2

sorry if my spelling isnt so greate! Im posting this on behalf of a friend who i care for he has being renting privatley for 3 years and his landlord has decidided to sell up.. so unless he can find somewhere in 3 weeks hes going to be homeless he is disabled he suffers chronic pain in his joints he gets high rate care and mobility dla... i am his full time carrer 8 hours a day he canot walk or get around alone trying to find a sutible property isnt so easy. we aree contiueing to look for priate propertys but my real question is this.

he lives in the city of birmingham....im not familur with the counsil housing ways but what sort of chance does he stand of getting something. this is taken from the birmingham city counsil website

The priority categories are:

• households with dependant children
• pregnant with no other dependant children
• applicants aged 16/17 years old
• applicants who were formerly in care, aged 18-20 years old
• currently homeless because of an emergency (fire, flood and so on)
• vulnerable due to old age
• vulnerable due to mental illness or learning disability
• vulnerable due to having been in custody/on remand
• vulnerable due to violence/threats of violence - non-domestic violence
• vulnerable due to domestic violence
• vulnerable due to physical disability
• other special reason.

vulnerable due to physical disability

he is deffinatley vunerable due to a disability but how would they work this out? and isit really worth the effort of getting him down there? if he is classed as priority how soon do they find a property?

dmg24

Welcome to MSE terry1980,

From the information given, he would appear to fulfil the criteria for priority housing. However, there may still be a waiting list (especially if he requires adaptations/ lower floor accom) and any housing offered may not be in a preferred location.

I would give the LA a call on Tuesday and ask about availability/ waiting lists etc. It is possible that they will be able to send someone out to assist you, rather than you having to make a special journey to them.

Let us know how you get on!

terry1980_2

thanks for your reply by lh do you mean local housing?

if i have to i will put him up for a while evern tho my house is full already 2 bedrooms 2 kids! i will do what ever i can however a counsil property would suit him better because the allowence of adaptions which isnt that case with private luckly his current landlord is very very nice unfortunatly he is getting on an has decided to sell up for his own reasons..

are the local housing able to give any idea on wating list times? as like i say if we are not talking huge amounts of time i can put him up it its going to be a very long time im not sure i would be able to do that and private would be the only option. i would love to see him get something from them as it would be more perminent than worrying about moving every couple or years and adaptions he just wants a peacefull life.

mealone

How old is he and does he live alone?

There is a chronic shortage on properties suitable for disabled people throughout the whole country.

cattie

Was he given proper notice to leave his flat by his landlord? Only he can't just be told to leave without proper notice.

Once he has got written notice & a date he needs to leave the accomodation then he should take it to the council. I think untill then he wouldn't be considered for suitable housing, even if there were any available.

terry1980_2

he was told around 6 months ago and given a written letter stating at the end of this tenency it would not be getting renewed over 2months ago.. this he did not tell anybody i think he just thought he would deal with it when it came too it or he thought it would be easy to get somewhere else... i only found out myself a couple of days ago.

i will give the coulsil a ring on tuesday and see if they can be anyhelp.... i dont have any experiance myself by from things iv heard how true i dont know but there is huge wating lists for people classed as homeless..hopefully his disability will do him favous in this respect theres...dose anybody know if you are allowed people to stay over in hostels? he has care needs around the clock. i wouldent be happy for him going into a hostel

mealone

terry1980 wrote: »

he was told around 6 months ago and given a written letter stating at the end of this tenency it would not be getting renewed over 2months ago.. this he did not tell anybody i think he just thought he would deal with it when it came too it or he thought it would be easy to get somewhere else... i only found out myself a couple of days ago.

i will give the coulsil a ring on tuesday and see if they can be anyhelp.... i dont have any experiance myself by from things iv heard how true i dont know but there is huge wating lists for people classed as homeless..hopefully his disability will do him favous in this respect theres...dose anybody know if you are allowed people to stay over in hostels? he has care needs around the clock. i wouldent be happy for him going into a hostel

Thank you for your answer, his age and his household is very important if he want to secure a social landlord.

Savvy_Sue

It will help if he makes sure that all the professionals involved in / aware of his situation know that he needs housing urgently - doctor, specialist, social worker etc etc etc. The local authority will need confirmation of his needs.

terry1980_2

thanks for all the replys some usefull infor here..his doctor will be more than happy to write a letter stating his needs etc... one thing im worried about is they offer him a hostel or a towerblock all the tower blocks in this area are rough areas full of druggies i wouldent want to see him in such a place beggers cant be choosers but he has no way of bettering him self with his disability i think he desevers something a little better than....surely in the case of a fire and the lifts stoped working or a fire in the lifts he would have no way of escape... would this be a valid reason to refuse a toweblock?

Savvy_Sue

I think you need to stop second guessing what the worst case scenario is and whether he can refuse such properties. Go and find out what is likely to be offered, and how soon, and what short term provision there is for someone classed as 'vulnerable', as I believe your friend should be.

BTW, there may even be a Deposit Bond Scheme whereby the local authority would stump up the Deposit on a private rented property, if that is a problem for your friend. But until you ask, you won't know.

daska

Having gone through the 'being made homeless' scenario 3 times in the last 2 years, the first occasion was 8 days before my youngest was born (I'm disabled and DH has a chronic illness and we have 2 older kids, one of whom is classed as vulnerable - so we qualified on 4 counts) BTW this was all because our landlords changed their plans or failed to make properties safe enough to live in...

Our experience: to qualify he will almost certainly have to stick it out until he is evicted - and he will then be liable for the costs of being evicted. The council will then put him into B&B, and from there to temporary accomodation until something permanent and suitable becomes free. This might be a few months or a few years depending on his needs.

Get in touch with the Housing department at his local authority. They can help, or can arrange for a referral to a housing support worker, who will help with forms etc. They will be ever so sympathetic and, in my experience, completely unable to do anything useful until the proverbial hits the fan. Then hunt as hard as you can for a suitable place on the private market because no one in their right mind wants to go down the above route if they don't have to.

Apply for the housing list anyway because if he stays in private rented accomodation you don't know how long it will be before he has to go through this again.

Sorry to be so negative. I hope he finds somewhere lovely - we have, finally.