Homeless,please help

trafalgar_2

A friend of my daughters has been told to vacate her rented home by thursday,it's already gone to court and what have you ....................the council say she made herself intentionally homeless so the only help they will give is 28 days emergency housing come thursday


she has 3 children all under 7 and a 3 bed flat full of furniture.....................the question is ,with no money etc how can she store her furniture etc and how can she find a deposit for a private let



any advice help appreciated as she is understandably in a state

Smiley_Mum

trafalgar wrote:

A friend of my daughters has been told to vacate her rented home by thursday,it's already gone to court and what have you ....................the council say she made herself intentionally homeless so the only help they will give is 28 days emergency housing come thursday


she has 3 children all under 7 and a 3 bed flat full of furniture.....................the question is ,with no money etc how can she store her furniture etc and how can she find a deposit for a private let



any advice help appreciated as she is understandably in a state

If she has been told to vacate the accommodation she was in, then how can she have made herself intentionally homeless. What did they expect her to do, squat?? Would the CAB help? Would the DWP help with costs towards storing her furniture by way of a Community Care Grant?

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/sb16/community/cmg_1.asp

There is information on here that states that the Council have a right to help protect your belongings etc if you are homeless. I would shout and holler at the Council offices and see what they say.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-173.cfm

Challenging the Council decision further etc...

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-163.cfm

I hope that she gets on ok, been in the same situation myself and was in Womens Aid.

Is there a SureStart group nearby. Here is a link...

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/aboutsurestart/

If any of her children are 3 or under then she can get referred by her Health Visitor. They may be able to help out.

There is a link also for Home Start which I think is a similar set up. May have to get referred by Health Visitor also.

http://www.home-start.org.uk/needsupport/

Got my fingers crossed for her. :grouphug:

Fran

She should speak to Shelter asap there is a 24 hr. number. (See useful links/google.)

mandi

Trafalgar.

Your daughters friend could get a crisis loan from the Dss for a deposit for new accomodation, Although Im sorry to say, she may have problems with a private let, if shes had previous problems.. Is there anyone who can stand as a guarantor for her.. would make things a little easier


God I really do feel sorry for her, wish I could be more constructive, sorry

trafalgar_2

Thanks everyone,she has been onto shelter etc and has been told they have a duty to help,unfortunately the council say otherwise and when thursday arrives the contents of her house will be 'dumped' according to her landlord......very sad

I'm going to daughters today so will see what I can do to help


unfortunately she seems alone and has no-one who can be guarantor or house her things temporarily............they class her as intentionally homeless as she got into rent difficulties due to changes in circumstances from one benefit to another ,they say she should of made up the shortfall herself to stop the eviction order............from what heaven only knows


will let you know what happens when I get back


thanks again

lynzpower

I take it she has appealed the Intentional homeless rulings, decisions, she has 28 days to do so.... advice from her LA housing dept or shelter CAB on this. It does seem overly harsh that she was evicted on this premise, I do suspect however, that the arrears are a) rather large and b) she didnt make any attempt to tackle them. Im not being overly harsh here, but working for a LA doing a lot of housing work, our threshold is 15k arrears before action is taken, for example.

Above poster is correct, she may find getting private accomodation difficult if she has an IH decision.On the plus side, its not as if shes been anti-social, or noise probs, or trashed the place, so that is something.

However, the local authority childrens social services dept have a duty to intervene as the chidlren are "in need" due to homelessness. WHat Ive done for many families like this is organised renting a flat ( sometimes direct from the housing department, sometimes from private landlords) and using Social services pots of money for deposits and whatnot.

In some local authorities there are schemes in place where the LA housing dept will pay the deposits on a private rented flat & first month upfront. I dont know where the family are though, so couldnt say whether this would be an option.

They need legal advice and pronto, housing depts can make bordeline legal decisions as the law with housing is simply not "cut adn dried" and if they can get a caseworker from shelter ( who are excellent in my experience) then all the better.
HTH
Lynz

chugalug

What is it that's happening on Thursday?? Is it the bailiff's or is it the date the court has given her to leave?

If the former she can apply back to the court IMMEDIATELY on an N244 (application to stay the warrant). She must complete this giving reasons why she defaulted on the court order and why the court should let her stay. The court usher will help her with this. When she has completed this and submitted it to the court she must wait to be told when the hearing is - it will be allocated there and then. She must also pay any arrears payments to her landlord to bring the court order up to date. Get a receipt and take this with the N244 to show the court that she has complied with the order. There is no guarantee that this application will succeed but she is in a very difficult situation and needs to take every chance she has.

If its the expiry of the court order and her landlord has not yet applied for a bailiff's warrant then she must get help from someone like Shelter immediately. IMO CAB are not enough on this occassion as they are not housing specialists.

If she is evicted, it will be very difficult for her to find alternative accommodation. The council have said she is intentionally homeless for not paying her rent when she should have done. There may be reasons for this so she needs to contact Shelter for help with appealing the council decision. This is time limited though - only 28 days to appeal so she must get help with this.

I don't know what area you're in and how social services in that area are in situations like these. By law, they only have a duty to help the children. They can help the whole family but this depends on resources. I don't want to frighten anyone, this is just the reality in my area.

IMO your friends situation has gone beyond any help from these boards, she needs and expert such as Shelter. Good Luck

Fran

chugalug wrote:

What is it that's happening on Thursday?? Is it the bailiff's or is it the date the court has given her to leave?

If the former she can apply back to the court IMMEDIATELY on an N244 (application to stay the warrant). She must complete this giving reasons why she defaulted on the court order and why the court should let her stay. The court usher will help her with this. When she has completed this and submitted it to the court she must wait to be told when the hearing is - it will be allocated there and then. She must also pay any arrears payments to her landlord to bring the court order up to date. Get a receipt and take this with the N244 to show the court that she has complied with the order. There is no guarantee that this application will succeed but she is in a very difficult situation and needs to take every chance she has.

If its the expiry of the court order and her landlord has not yet applied for a bailiff's warrant then she must get help from someone like Shelter immediately. IMO CAB are not enough on this occassion as they are not housing specialists.

.......

Yes this is what has to happen. If Shelter don't help with this she should go to CAB, they will help with this application, CABx nowadays DO have Housing Specialists (not all, depends on the area), also any advisor working there will be able to help fill N244 in, the Debt Specialists will know how to fill it in and other more experienced advisors. CAB should have a form in the bureau, then she will have to personally take it to the court.

Either CAB/Shelter should be contacting the landlord, especially if it was due to delayed Housing Benefit - has this been resolved?

mboro

Im so sorry to hear about this.

I was evicted early this year, was told the ballifs and the court hearing were on the same day and I HAD to be out by 12pm.... I put my head in the sand and my rent arrears with my local authority rose to £2000 inc court costs. Hence I am on this forum every day for help and advice and the odd cyber hug. :T

I went to my local homlessness shelter told them the circumstances but there was nothing they could do :mad: until I was litraly on the streets. :mad: I asked them what to do with my contents of a 2 bedroom house they said they couldnt help. I was very prepared to go into a homless shelter. I asked my dad to assist with storing my house contents but most of it I gave away to my neighbours as he just didnt have the room to store it all.

It would seem that some councils are more helpful than others when dealing with homless people. :rolleyes:

I really hope every thing works out for her in the end.

Alleycat

If it is still within the 28 day time limit to make an appeal against the intentionally homeless decision, she should do this immediately. The council Homeless Department will then have a duty to provide temporary accommodation (including the storage of her furniture) whilst they investigate. It may well be that the intentional decision is upheld, but at least it would allow some breathing space for your friend's daughter to find alternative accommodation. If you are able, it might be worth going with her to do this as she might find herself railroaded by the officer who she speaks to as it is obviously a very stressful time.

She could also do as chugalug suggests and appeal to the courts for an extension to the possession deadline. Citing hardship due to children, furniture etc.

Regarding getting a deposit together for another private rented, you are not allowed Crisis Loans for this specific purpose but she could always tell them it is for some other house moving purpose. I know this isn't strictly above board, but at the end of the day if it gets her into some permanent accommodation, then it might be worth doing. It would have to be paid back, but would only be a couple of pounds a week depending on her income.

At the end of the day, if all else fails, Social Services would have a duty to provide some assistance as she has children. You never know but they may be able to help with interim accommodation and/or a deposit for private rented.

Homeless Hostels are an option, but do not have the facilities for storing belongings. Some have move-on accommodation which are either shared or basic flats/houses with support workers visiting regularly. It would be a very good idea to contact as many as you can and find out what services they provide and get her name down on the waiting list. Most are supposed to be direct access, but due to the large number of homeless families who present sometimes hold a waiting list.

Also, depending on her age and if she is a single parent, but you could see if there is a Gingerbread or similar housing scheme operating in your area. They provide accommodation for single young mothers. Google housing young people or housing single parent. Have a look on your local council website as they may have further info on there.

Finally, she should look into Bed and Breakfast. This would hopefully be a last resort, but if there is nothing else could be an option. Some B&B's will take housing benefits and although it may not cover the full rent charged, would at least be a roof over her and the children's heads. Just telephone them and ask if they take HB recipients.

tina68

Hi, This happened to me 2 years ago i was left homeless with a14 yr old son due to a !!!! of a boyfriend, moved 400miles to be with him. after 5 years of grief and mental torcher i had had enough and so suicidel then i was speaking to a friend who is a nurse and she told me about "WOMENS AID" they took us in right away and we were given temp accomadation it was a 3 bed flat which we had, i too had possesions and was lucky to be able to put them in storage for £5 pw, then they got us a permanent residence (jumped the queue), Womens Aid were great helped with schooling, home work, job seeking and benefit claims..thanks to them i have my confidence back and a gr8 son..if you are homeless or know anyone who maybe about to become homeless soon with children or not get in touch with them
Tina :T :smileyhea