Housing help for a homeless single man over 25. Housing advice say they cnnot help??!

Freebie_Hunter_2

Ok, the situation is this.
The relayionship between my partner and I is over. We have a 14month old son together and rent a house. I was made redundant when I returned to my job from maternity leave and my partner (well, ex. Can't get used to that yet.) is a student. He is due to finish his degree in June.

He wishes to stay in the area but needs to move out. Unfortunately he is on JSA and has no savings, he is also bankrupt. He contacted the housing advice centre to see what his options were, but apparently they have no duty of care towards him. Effectively they don't give a s**t if he was on the streets!
I am HORRIFIED that they have refused him any help. We both don't have the money for a deposit for a private rent and even of we did, he'd need a guarantor as he is bankrupt. If he got full time work we would still not be able to afford to save for his deposit as everything would go on rent.

So what on EARTH do we do? We can't possibly look at moving on as it seems we are stuck in a stalemate. I would be the guardian of our son, so it's not practical for me to move as this is a 2 bedroomed house and everything in it is mine.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to go from here?

BitterAndTwisted

Most local authorities have some kind of deposit or bond scheme for people in this situation and a lot also have lists of private landlords who can be approached.

Why not post your question on the Buying, Selling and Renting forum? There are a fair few people who understand how to go about this and will be able to advise

Marcheline

Just noticed he's a student: has he spoken to his college/uni? Are they able to house him in halls of residence or anywhere like that?

Freebie_Hunter_2

we have already been helped with this house with the deposit scheme as our old flat was damp, no adequate bathing facilities or heating. Realised this place is damp so we looked at moving our deposit, they wouldn't and the guy there said they are already over budget with that scheme. He is also at college part time and they don't have halls of residence there. Thanks for the suggestions though guys.

Fly_Baby

Freebie_Hunter wrote: »

we have already been helped with this house with the deposit scheme as our old flat was damp, no adequate bathing facilities or heating. Realised this place is damp so we looked at moving our deposit, they wouldn't and the guy there said they are already over budget with that scheme. He is also at college part time and they don't have halls of residence there. Thanks for the suggestions though guys.

If he is in college part-time could he find a job that pays enough to get a house share?

C_Mababejive

https://www.spareroom.co.uk

terryw

Fly_Baby wrote: »

If he is in college part-time could he find a job that pays enough to get a house share?

Or even renting a room? The rent for a room could be paid from part-time earnings or even via Housing Benefit as he is on JSA.

Freebie_Hunter_2

Because he is still living with me, the money he would earn from a job would need to go on the rent here as any help we get would be reduced or stopped. He doesn't have the money for a deposit for a houseshare, so there would be no chance to save anything. We are both trying to get full time work so there's a chance we could save for his deposit, not sure how the full time nursery fees are going to fare on the wages though!

terryw

Freebie_Hunter wrote: »

Because he is still living with me, the money he would earn from a job would need to go on the rent here as any help we get would be reduced or stopped. He doesn't have the money for a deposit for a houseshare, so there would be no chance to save anything. We are both trying to get full time work so there's a chance we could save for his deposit, not sure how the full time nursery fees are going to fare on the wages though!

If he rented a room and lived there you would still be entitled to Housing Benefit based on your income - his income would not be taken into account in deciding your entitlement.

Errata

He should contact Shelter http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness/emergency_advice

birduk

Is he a full-time student? If so, he needs to be very very careful as he should not be claiming JSA. If he is not, then unfortunately there is not a lot his college can do- they do have emergency loans and hardship funds for just this type of thing for full-time students. Good luck.