Evicted - BBC One

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hereward wrote:

Homeless people's, and indeed all people's, situation should be judged on an individual basis. I agree the some homeless people should have our sympathy, but perhaps we should not extend that to all of them without knowing their circumstances.

I agree to some extent. This particular family portrayed in the documentary aroused my sympathy because I felt that their situation was awful and they were coping with it with such strength (the father and kids anyway) and good humour (along with a bit of despair at times)! Yet despite all their efforts they appeared to be hitting their heads against a brick wall continually.

petunia_2

noticed that people seemed to want to help out when others are homeless and i wanted to recommend a few free ways to do so...write to your council complaining about the amount of council tax they spend on temporary accomodation. so few people know about this that they can get away with...i was homeless for a year and lived in hostels and temporary accomodation for which i claimed Income Support from my council...it cost them £235 per week to keep me in a hellhole of a hostel (with one toilet and bath for 6 people, no cooker, a scary goes-on-fire oven and 1 hours worth of hot water a day). I was rehoused into permanent accomodation and it costs them £66 per week.
they are paying so much money on poor accomodation they can't afford to improve the stuff that people can live in...and because no one asks them about it, they get away with it!

also check out the Shelter website and sign their petitions. they do the most housing campaigning...and support goes a long way!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Good ideas Petunia. I will check out the Shelter website. I didn't realise they did such a good job before seeing this programme.

System

lennymfo wrote:

What does godo mean? Sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings

Or was it Ghostbusters??

System

Seriously though, Ive just watched and I think mi mouth was open throughout. What a stark reality check. That poor man was being so strong to keep his family together and despite all the adversity he kept his tongue even when he wasnt getting the answers he wanted on the phone. It does bring it home to bear doesnt it. I wasnt too convinced about the 2nd family. I got the impression that they werent too committed to the cause though. And that 15 year old girl who went to stay for the weekend - what a pillar of strength she was. The fact that whilst staying at that house for the weekend that she didnt have to put the beans on the radiator brought a smile to her face. How wise does she seem - but she missed her GCSEs - an absolute tradgey. It goes to show as with most things in life you have to help yourself before the help you need, you ultimately get.

Chrismojam

I'll have to check if it was on replay....

The majority of people do not want to be homeless....obviously...but there is SOOOOOOOOOO much red tape crap.......

My nephew was in private landlord accomodation for 6 months....authority knew that he would be 'homeless' at the end of this (they had advised him to take this on in the first place)...'oh we will rehome you crap crap crap.......'when it came to it...'well you will have to go into emergency accomodation in Oxford...'mmmmmmmmmm' yeah......with a g/f and a 4 month baby in tow?.......thankfully...got family to help out....for now...only just getting sorted out......he is not taking this !!!! either..if he could in any way....pay for everything without any intervention....I KNOW he would.......:mad:

Biffa

After watching that programme, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I'm a Housing Officer!

The family that were evicted for non-payment of Housing Benefit really were treated badly by their Housing Association. The fact that Benefit was paid on the day of the eviction should have been enough. When I worked in rent arrears (a job I loved, btw!), I managed to get HB backdated for quite a few people, which often cleared their arrears altogether, sometimes for thousands of pounds. It's the same problem as ever with the benefits system - if you have no knowledge of how it works, then you're stuffed. Technically, it is a tenants responsibility to ensure that their rent is paid - whether it be by themselves, HB or donations from Aliens visiting earth - it really doesn't matter as long as it gets paid. However, from the programme it seems they got no help at all, which is shocking.

As for the family in Minehead, I'm tempted to send them a Christmas card c/o the BBC. How on earth that father managed to carry on without having a nervous breakdown I do not know! He certainly deserves a medal.

The one thing I would say against it, is that all programmes like this give the impression that a Council eviction happens overnight. It doesn't!!! It takes months - notice has to be served of intention of proceedings to seek possession which is a standard 4 week notice period. Once the notice period is up, if there are still arrears that are more than 4 weeks rent you can apply for a Possession Hearing, which will probably be in around 3 months. At the possession hearing, courts normally make a Suspended Possession order, suspended on the basis that the tenants pays the rent (by whatever means) and a certain amount towards the arrears - for those on benefits it's £2.90 a week. If the tenant then defaults on the terms of the possession order, an application is then made to the court for the warrant to be enforced, and the court will usually give possession in 14 - 28 days. At every stage, the tenant will get a letter advising them of what is happening and have opportunity to sort it - many don't bother. Quite often they'll say 'You can't evict me - I've got kids',, thinking that the Council will rehouse them.

Anyway, sorry for waffling on - really must go and rescue tea from the oven.

Chrismojam

Biffa wrote:

After watching that programme, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I'm a Housing Officer!

Useful to have info from both sides I think.....no doubt it is a difficult job..for those who give a crap.....well done;)

sophiesmum_2

cryptokit wrote:

A friend of mine, who as it happened did work indirectly for a council in Wales where I used to live, once said to me that, at least in his view, there was one single change that needed making to fix a lot of these problems.

Landlords demand rent up front. Deposit.
Housing Benefit is paid only in arrears.

Thats it. That single fact causes more problems than you would ever imagine. That and many landlords refusing to take "DSS" clients in the private sector. Despite the fact these days they are paid directly, so there is virtually no risk of them losing much if any money at all!

Hi cryptokit,
this isn't strictly true, i work for a social landlord and spend a fair amount of time advising on Housing benefit issues and filling in claim forms. Yes landlords can be paid directly and most prefer this method of payment BUT the decision whether to pay the landlord or the applicant is left to the applicant on the benefit form.
I have just had to evict someone who ran up £3,500.00 worth of rent arrears despite being on full Housing benefit.The rent was less than £60 per week and it took the courts well over 6 months and 3 court appearances,possession orders etc before we could evict.
You cannot help some people they get the benefit for housing and then spend it on other things, in this case it was alcohol.


I watched the programme last night and was appalled at how the families were treated. The man from minehead had the patience of a saint and did a great job of keeping his family together,it was the children involved who I really felt for. When i see stories of genuine hardship like this and compare it to some of the cases I have dealt with at work who have run up arrears intentionally there is no comparison, and yet the end results are the same.

Very thought provoking programme.
sophiesmum

Biffa

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