Gaining social housing when working.

samwich1979

FBaby wrote: »

I know my post will most likely not be well received, but you chose to reduce your working hours to three days despite your husband being unemployed for some time. Of course times are going to be hard.

Well i have just been off work for 6 months with back, hip and leg problems. Also b12 definciency, abnormal liver function and Epstien Barr.

Im not recovered completely and im sorry but my job is a very stressful, physical job which i couldnt of coped with full time.

People have reason why they have to reduce their hours, it isnt always just to get more time at home you know.

Pippin12

Yes if you had a mouse in social housing you'd have to sort it yourself lol!

dandelionclock30

What about really doing some quality research into decent rented properties in your area? If your husband isnt working then he could do this.
Ask about through family, friends and ask shelter if they have any idea and then get on the waiting list and your name down for when something decent does come up you'll be in there?
Also some Housing Associations are not in with the council tenancies and operate independently.Shelter will be able to point you in the right direction. Again your husband could get the phone book out and ring round and get the forms and fill them out.
I would think strategically about the here and now- a council property is not going to happen for you. You have to go with what you can get not what you cant.

samwich1979

Pippin12 wrote: »

Yes if you had a mouse in social housing you'd have to sort it yourself lol!

If its stuck in a wall it would cost a small fortune to get that sorted out.
How could someone with less money than me even think about paying for something like that?

As the landlord the council should pay for that.

If its just traps etc for when they are getting into your house by normal routes fair enough.

Marisco

We had a mouse living behind the bookcase, I left it to the cats to sort out! They never caught it, I think it just moved home itself!!

PippaGirl_2

BigAunty wrote: »

I doubt this very much indeed and will continue to doubt it until you provide evidence. A local council has a statutory obligation, that is a compelling legal requirement, on a national basis, to prioritise those in priority need.

Well this doesn't provide the percentages but does spell out the criteria. You say council's need to house in order of priority need, well over 96% of the people on this council's housing list ARE in the priority need band, so they are housed according to who has been waiting the longest. Less than 3% manage to get through panel to be made high priotiy, I was told the percentage by the council after applying and failing to be made high priority despite extensive medical evidence. My floating support worker who attends panels all the time told me basically your life has to be in danger if you don't move to get approved to be high priority, this is because the council have so few properties become vacant if they approved a higher percentage of people to be high priority, NO ONE from the priority band would ever be housed. I can see their point.

samwich1979

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

What about really doing some quality research into decent rented properties in your area? If your husband isnt working then he could do this.
Ask about through family, friends and ask shelter if they have any idea and then get on the waiting list and your name down for when something decent does come up you'll be in there?
Also some Housing Associations are not in with the council tenancies and operate independently.Shelter will be able to point you in the right direction. Again your husband could get the phone book out and ring round and get the forms and fill them out.
I would think strategically about the here and now- a council property is not going to happen for you. You have to go with what you can get not what you cant.

My husband has sat for hours online looking for anything we could possibly afford, rang landlords and we have been to 3 suitable properties but as i have said they all had problems which should have been sorted out by the landlords prior to advertising and viewing but they werent.

He has rang agents to ask if they could be a little more flexible with their fees and deposit but no luck there they just dont want to budge.

Ive even emailed my local council leader and all he could suggest was try council accredited landlords properties, one of which was one i refused for the reasons above and the rest are all way over our budgets with fees etc.

Im not just sat here moaning and not doing anything, ive also exhausted all avenues i know are open to us.

Social housing was my last hope really, that or rob a bank!

PippaGirl_2

samwich, have you applied for tax credits and do you know if you are getting everything you are entitled to? Worth going to the CAB to make sure I would think. I didn't apply for CTC for 18 months after I left my ex because I had no idea I was entitled to it, thank God for floating support workers!

samwich1979

PippaGirl wrote: »

samwich, have you applied for tax credits and do you know if you are getting everything you are entitled to? Worth going to the CAB to make sure I would think. I didn't apply for CTC for 18 months after I left my ex because I had no idea I was entitled to it, thank God for floating support workers!

I know we could get some CTC and i do need to apply.
I will try ringing on Monday and see how i get on.

Apart from that i think we are getting everything we can.

Dunroamin

samwich1979 wrote: »

You know what i meant!

Only in one property have i had to provide any of these things whilst renting privately and that was because we were about to be made homeless and had to take anything we could afford.

I spent a small fortune on flooring and paint etc even though i couldnt really spare it and ended up having to move 6 months later due to the landlord having bailiffs knocking on our door for her unpaid fines in London.

We left mighty quick and needless to say i regretted spending so much.

I rented privately for years and, although some places had floor coverings, nowhere ever had curtains, blinds or white goods; it's just normal for that to be the case.

I also can't understand why you'd pay lots of money to carpet someone else's property - it just seems like madness to me!