Homeless with pregnant wife

ice00

Hi All.
Im 29yrs old married.
I am a contractor and havent had income for the last 3 months and wife is not working.
I have used all my savings to cover rent and bills till I could do no more.
The landlord had asked me to leave the property but I manged to squeeze an extra month with my initial deposit.

During the same month I processed my first Joint jsa claim as well as fill out a housing claim as advised by citizens advice. To make things worse we also foundout the wife is 6 weeks pregnant which added pressure x 1000.

My mother decides to take us in bearing in mind our situation. I then cancelled the claim for housing believing that problems were solved.
3 weeks on my mother is not getting along with my wife and tempers have flared. My mother has now asked me to leave the property and one week is all I have or we are on the streets. Me and my wife had always dreamt of having a child but being helpless and unable to provide a roof, Im worried we are going to end up on the street. PLEASE HELP Thanks Tam

krisskross

Try giving Shelter a ring.

You could try your Local Authority or Housing Trust but given that you are 2 presumably fit healthy young people with no dependents then you will have no priority and I don't think they would have any obligation to you both.

Can you not borrow the money to get you started again with a private tenancy and reinstate your housing benefit claim? Or, and I know this won't be a popular idea, perhaps you could live separately until you sort things out. You with your parents and your wife with hers.

ice00

borrowing money or staying at mothers house is not a luxury i have at the moment.
My wifes family live in spain and she is here under uk residency. I thought her being pregnant was considered priority.

Jowo_2

Have a look at the Shelter section on homelessness to understand how the local council will assess your homelessness application - go to your council housing dept to complete one, asap.

sunnyone

ice00 wrote: »

borrowing money or staying at mothers house is not a luxury i have at the moment.
My wifes family live in spain and she is here under uk residency. I thought her being pregnant was considered priority.

Shes six weeks pregnant and no LA would class that as a priority in areas where there is a great demand for social houseing.

chez000

sunnyone wrote: »

Shes six weeks pregnant and no LA would class that as a priority in areas where there is a great demand for social houseing.

Not quite.

see 1996 housing act part 7

Priority need for accommodation

(1) The following have a priority need for accommodation—
(a) a pregnant woman or a person with whom she resides or might reasonably be expected to reside;
(b) a person with whom dependent children reside or might reasonably be expected to reside;
(c) a person who is vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or handicap or physical disability or other special reason, or with whom such a person resides or might reasonably be expected to reside;

chesky369

from CAB website :



Pregnancy

71

In England and Wales, an applicant will always be in priority need if she is pregnant, whatever stage she has reached in her pregnancy. An applicant will also be in priority need if a person s/he lives with, or would reasonably be expected to live with, is pregnant.

72

The applicant will need to provide the housing authority with evidence of the pregnancy, for example, a certificate from a doctor, midwife or health visitor confirming the pregnancy, or an appointment card for an ante-natal clinic. If the applicant does not yet have any written confirmation of the pregnancy, the housing authority should provide [URL="file:///C:/Program%20Files/england/INDEX/CATEGORI/CATEGORY/CATEGORY/CATEGORY/11010103.HTM#interim_accommodation"]interim accommodation[/URL] on the basis that there is reason to believe that s/he is in priority need, while it carries out its [URL="file:///C:/Program%20Files/england/INDEX/CATEGORI/CATEGORY/CATEGORY/CATEGORY/11010103.HTM#inquiries"]statutory enquiries[/URL].

hannahO_2

I am sorry to hear you are in a very difficult circumstance and what a mix emotions you must be going through. I am glad that you are getting some advice from CAB.

Shelter is a very good organisation tackling homelessness but will only help single people.

What I suggest is that, even though this may sounds really haphazrd, on the day you get kicked out pack your bags and go to your local council in the morning and announce that you have been made homeless. Your wife is pregnant and that will help, they will have to put you in B&B until suitable arrangements can be organised. I have been there myself but you have no choice but to endure a certain amount of inconvenience and uncertain future.

If you have applied for JSA and you are still waiting for the payment to come through, the payment for B&B will all be sorted out eventually. It's a messy hassle you have to go through but bear with it.

I know it's not ideal and only a temporary solution but don't lose your hope.

Good luck!

Jowo_2

hannahO wrote: »

Shelter is a very good organisation tackling homelessness but will only help single people

No, its Crisis that focusses on single homelessness.

clb776

Go to your local council and ask to speak to the housing options team? its what its called here, there u can explain everything to them. If needs be they can lend you the deposit for private rental, and you pay it back (not sure exactly how it works sorry!). Once moved in, you can claim housing benefit etc. With a baby on the way you need to get yourselfs comfortable and sorted. One of my sisters friends was in a bed and brekkie for so long it became ridiculous! until suitable accommodation was found,

lizimuffin

Hi there, we are in process of being re housed at the moment. With out council, if you turn up aqt the housing office with your bags and advise them you have nowhere else to go they will find you somewhere to stay, even if it's temporary until you get a flat/house. Don't know if your council does the same thing, but might be worth a try?
Good luck