Homeless with pregnant wife

misty_blue_2

it seems to be different for different areas

In my area, if you go and put your name down for social housing, whether homeless or not they first give you a list of properties available for private rent.
You are considered on merit for emergency bed and breakfast accomadation, all things are looked into, like have you made yourself intentinally homeless ect and given a form for social housing, but are told in no uncertain terms the waiting list is very long.
hope all goes well for you, and you get something sorted.

merlin68

If the council decides you are intentionally homeless, this means
it believes that you have given up accommodation you could
have continued to live in, or that it is your fault you have lost
accommodation (for example, by not paying the rent).Events
that happened some time in the past may be taken into account
if the council decides that these are the main cause of your
homelessness. However, councils must act reasonably and
take all facts into account. For example, if rent arrears were not
deliberate and arose because of circumstances beyond your
control, you should not be treated as intentionally homeless.
Councils’ decisions can sometimes be successfully challenged
and overturned. If you are intentionally homeless the council
does not have to find you a long-term home, but if you are in
priority need, it is still under a duty to find you somewhere to
live temporarily and to give you advice and help with finding
your own accommodation.

Finding a home 15

If you have a home but are about to lose it, it is very important that
you stay there for as long as you are entitled to. If you leave earlier,
the council might decide you are intentionally homeless. In some
circumstances this might mean waiting until you receive a court
order to evict you. If you are in danger of homelessness always
seek advice before leaving your home.

If you are not in priority need

If you are homeless but not in priority need, for example if you are
a healthy person under retirement age without children, then the
council does not have a legal duty to find you accommodation.
It does, however, have a duty to provide you with advice and
assistance. The council must first establish what your particular
housing needs are and base its advice on those needs. In addition,
the council has a power to provide you with accommodation if it is
also satisfied that you are not homeless intentionally.
In practice this might not be much more than information on local
hostels, cheap hotels and accommodation agencies; but some
councils give more help than this and can offer a home even if you
are not legally in priority need, so it is always worth applying to the
council.

Where to

ice00

Thank you all , Hannah and the rest of you. I have been able to take in all your advice. I must remind all of you that as soon as I had the housing benefit in process the first time I cancelled immediately believing all would be fine and I may actually get a call for work and hold the fort like I have been for a few years now.

If I had any hunch that my mother and wife would not get along I would have continued the claim as normal.
I have paid taxes since graduating 7 years ago and have never claimed a thing in my life. Everything is new to me and alien teritory but with all your advice I think I know where to start now.

I am hoping to keep my wife in a stress free enviroment as this is here first pregnancy and shes it not taking it as easy as she should worrying 24/7. Iguess not having a roof over your head is reason to worry. Thank you all

Jowo_2

merlin68 wrote: »

...Events
that happened some time in the past may be taken into account
if the council decides that these are the main cause of your
homelessness....

I'm not aware of the practice of holding the homeless to account for tenancies previous to their current accommodation but I am open to correction on this.

In 1987, Tower Hamlets council stopped paying for accommodation for dozens of homelessfamilies whose wives and children had recently arrived from Bangladesh arguing that the families had made themselves intentionally homeless when they left Bangladesh, and so were not entitled to social housing. They lost the legal challenge.

krisskross

It could well be giving up their previous accomodation would mean they are intentionally homeless though.

Hardly think that 3 weeks at Mum's is going to count as a tenancy. Still you can only ask.

bestpud

Jowo wrote: »

I'm not aware of the practice of holding the homeless to account for tenancies previous to their current accommodation but I am open to correction on this.

In 1987, Tower Hamlets council stopped paying for accommodation for dozens of homelessfamilies whose wives and children had recently arrived from Bangladesh arguing that the families had made themselves intentionally homeless when they left Bangladesh, and so were not entitled to social housing. They lost the legal challenge.




[/LEFT]

When we were about to become homeless many years ago, we were turned away by the council because we had left our parents homes voluntarily.

In between leaving home and applying for social housing, we married and had a child, over a period of about four years!!!

They accepted us in the end because a solicitor wrote them a rather sharp letter stating they were out of order (or words to that effect) anyway but, either way, I actually had no option but to leave home as my parents were emigrating.

That was a long time ago but my point is, they can and will go back if they think they may avoid housing someone by doing so!

Sorry to say this OP but I think you need to be prepared for them to argue this whole situation was set up by you and your mother in order to fast track your way into a council house.

I'm not saying that is what happened, but I am sure they will ask questions...

Fran

As suggested by other posters, Shelter is your first port of call. They will be know your local situation. Because of christmas & the snow they are likely to be busy so your priority has to be getting your mother to extend the leaving date so you have a chance to get an appointment.

mumcoll

It's definitely busier at the moment. I work in Housing and this week alone we had over 20 new applications to go on the register. We are a small authority in a semi rural county. Mostly it IS a wait for years depending on the circumstances of the applicants.

Jowo_2

I read somewhere that since the allocation of social housing switched to prioritise the homeless and time served on the waiting list became less relevant, numbers presenting themselves as in priority need has rocketted. I'm sure that there are a huge number of other factors that have led to this, not just because in some areas the only springboard into social housing is to be defined as homeless by the local council who simply don't have the resources to deal with anyone of a lower priority.

I read somewhere that in 1996 Barking and Dagenham's council the number of families accepted as 'homeless' consisted of ten families. In 1999, it was 230 and in 2006 it was 565. I've not been able to substantiate the earliest statistic but have identified an official report which does show that it did double from 1999 to 2006.

If this is true, you can see that in just a decade, the rate of households accepted as homeless in one area has increased from 10 per year to more than 11 per week!

Here is shows how long on average someone spends registered on the list witht the Peabody trust in the area before they are offered social housing by that landlord - its 12 years for a studio/1 bed flat...

http://www.homeconnections.org.uk/Peabody/PDF/Average_Waiting_Times_to_April_2009andCBL_Statistics_April_2009.pdf

lynzpower

krisskross wrote: »

It could well be giving up their previous accomodation would mean they are intentionally homeless though.

Hardly think that 3 weeks at Mum's is going to count as a tenancy. Still you can only ask.

No, however, it has to be lookedinto in context.

OP lost his job, not reasonably to continue to pay the rent and goodwill ran out with LL. Mother enters offering free board. Therefore, a reaosnable person would choose living for free with family, that trying to negotiate Private rental/ LHA.
ie, this is not a man who has waltzed out of a perfectly good home- nether of these prevoious homes are occupiable- one LL has ran out of goodwill, mum has not been able to offer for as long as hoped.