Moving up the list - How?

Dippypud

Get some advice from CAB, any of the Disability Rights groups or Shelter ...

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/downloads_and_tools/tenancy_deposit_rights_checker

http://www.scope.org.uk/dial

you need to get info and advice pronto ...

BigAunty

outofmoney wrote: »

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In our area there is just over 3000 housing stock. 77 that would be suitable for us. Sadly loads have been bought over the years and not replaced and we live in an area that has lots of people living on low income and we also are an area that housed a number of people coming over from other countries.

Right, so there is huge demand for properties of the size that you want and only around 2.5% of the stock is available to you that rarely has any turnover and the stock is shrinking all the time through the Right to Buy? Generally, social housing tenants are holding onto their tenancies for longer and are living longer.

Many local councils are transparent about supply and demand, publishing how many people bid on properties of each size/type, how many people there are in each band. That will give you some idea of the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, that are jostling for the handful of vacant family homes of the size you desire that become available in your band, and the others of greater priority.

BigAunty

outofmoney wrote: »

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We are in Band C due to living in overcrowded housing. But Band B is for very overcrowded, which I would personally say we are. ..They just sent a form to fill in, but the details we would give would be no different to what they already have.

...

My local HA doesn't have a vague concept of 'very overcrowded'. They have a very detailed table that shows exactly how they calculate overcrowding that makes it very clear the weighting/points/banding that is designated for different scenarios. They have very clear info on their expectations for room sharing by the sex/age of the children.

Therefore, its never about subjective personal opinions but is based on an explicit formula.

What I suspect you are saying is that you feel very overcrowded and do not wish your eldest daughter to share with a male sibling but the council are quite clear that you are not in this category.

A letter challenging it if your household is not within their formula for being in a different band would be a waste of time. The whole point of social housing allocation policies is that personal influence is taken out of the equation and objective measures are put there instead (this doesn't mean the measures are right, fair and so on, btw).

outofmoney

BigAunty wrote: »

I'm not aware of social housing providers running separate lists for those with disabilities - you keep mentioning this but generally I think the allocation policy streams applicants into bands or points, not multiple lists.

Our council used to have one. The reason I know is because my SIL got put on it and once she did was housed almost immediately. Also when we have mentioned it to the council they state that they no longer have a seperate list, which confirms that they did.

So you definately have not been awarded extra points for the disabilities in the household, even without this assessment taking place in the property and this is because the council only calculate this if it requires adaptions to a property and your kids don't have the type of care/mobility needs that require things like ramps, stair lifts, widening doors and so forth?

As we don't appear to have points anymore, or at least not available to us, we assume they have not awarded extra points. However there is nowhere on the form to include this information.

It appears around 100 - 130 bid on each 3 bed property and around 60 on a 4 bed. Part of the problem is allocation. Some new 4 bed houses were built recently but you could only bid if you had a child under 10 so no good to us. Other houses have come up and it says priority to current council tenants who need larger properties.

I think we will try some charities and Shelter. I am not one to go for altercations, so trying to fight the council over their policies sounds a bit too much.

outofmoney

BigAunty wrote: »

My local HA doesn't have a vague concept of 'very overcrowded'. They have a very detailed table that shows exactly how they calculate overcrowding that makes it very clear the weighting/points/banding that is designated for different scenarios. They have very clear info on their expectations for room sharing by the sex/age of the children.

Therefore, its never about subjective personal opinions but is based on an explicit formula.

What I suspect you are saying is that you feel very overcrowded and do not wish your eldest daughter to share with a male sibling but the council are quite clear that you are not in this category.

A letter challenging it if your household is not within their formula for being in a different band would be a waste of time. The whole point of social housing allocation policies is that personal influence is taken out of the equation and objective measures are put there instead (this doesn't mean the measures are right, fair and so on, btw).

According to the councils own formula, the boys bedroom is adequate for one person only. The fact we have one child who cannot have a bed due to lack of space is surely a suggestion that we are overcrowded.

outofmoney

Apologies if I have not answered correctly but I think my cold is getting to me and I can't read things right.

JodyBPM

I think you might have to accept that getting social housing is fairly unlikely to happen quickly. I think that this is a problem faced by many tbh, and it would be sensible for you to consider other options rather than continuing to live as you are.

The first option that occurs to me is that would it not make sense to get a double sofa bed for the living room, and you and dh sleep down there, 2 boys with disabilities share the largest bedroom, other boy has the middle bedroom and daughter stays in her existing room. That would certainly seem liveable to me. As your children are older, it would likely only be necessary for a few years, as once they reach 18 (the ones without disabilities) , surely they will leave home and rent a room etc themselves since you are overcrowded? Nice as it would be for you to be able to support your children well into their 20s, it doesn't seem as though this is a luxury that you can currently afford to consider.

The other thing that occurs to me is that since LHA is set at 30% of the broad rental area rent, then there *are* plenty of homes in the LHA range, but they may be in other parts of the broad rental area. This broad rental area isn't generally large enough for it to be unmanageable to move from one area to another within it. Yes, its likely that you may end up not living in your *preferred* area, but of course many of us have to live where we can afford, rather than where we would prefer! It's really up to you as to what you consider a priority - your current level of overcrowding, or your choice or neighbourhood.

Good luck on the council list, but as you say, there aren't many 4 bed houses that come up, and lots of people bidding on them.

outofmoney

Thanks.

I have disabilities myself so a sofa bed would be no good as I need a good orthopaedic mattress. Plus we have an open style house (no hallway) so no privacy at all.

Whilst we have preferred areas, we will look at all but there really is hardly anything at or below the LHA. The very few that are, either say no DSS or have no parking. Neither which would be suitable as we need a vehicle and close parking.

The annoying thing is when we went on the list, my neice was just 3. She had a baby last year, aged 15. When she turned 16 she was given a one bed flat. If she has more children, chances are she will make it to a house before we do.

Fire_Fox

So you have one double room and two definitely single rooms? Surely you'd still be better off than now in a good sized three bedroom or one with a private sitting/ dining room that could be used to sleep someone? Then you could apply to move up into a four bedroom on the basis of being overcrowded. Have you thought about moving to a completely new, cheaper area?

I'd go back to basics on the research, ask on the Disabilities board here for ideas on how to present your case better, what supporting evidence you can give, have your doctor and other health professionals write really strongly worded letters about the effect on each person's mental wellbeing AND physical health. Maybe post up or link to the local allocation policy. Then find a local disability charity and pick their brains about getting more benefits or rebanded or other help, then as a last resort bring in your ward councillors and MP.

It may be you have to write letter after letter and keep being a PITA until you get somewhere, it is easy to feel discouraged if you are tired but every time you give up for, say, six months you start from scratch again. Don't be fobbed off with verbal blocking, ask for everything to be put into writing so you have something to take to the ward councillours, MP or even the press.

outofmoney

Fire_Fox wrote: »

So you have one double room and two definitely single rooms? Surely you'd still be better off than now in a good sized three bedroom or one with a private sitting/ dining room that could be used to sleep someone? Then you could apply to move up into a four bedroom on the basis of being overcrowded. Have you thought about moving to a completely new, cheaper area?

The middle room would probably be classed as a double by EA because in theory you could just get a double in (It is 6ft in one direction and a bit wider the other. But we would be unable to open/close the door. We are looking at 3 bed houses. Even if the boys still need to share, if they could just have a bit more space (and bed) it would be better.

We are on the housing list for another area too. We joined about 6 months ago and last house we were number 18 on list. But they will only let us bid on 4 beds. We have also been checking Rightmove daily as the LHA is slightly more generous and the rents lower so we could get a 4 or 5 bed house. But they all say no DSS!

I'd go back to basics on the research, ask on the Disabilities board here for ideas on how to present your case better, what supporting evidence you can give, have your doctor and other health professionals write really strongly worded letters about the effect on each person's mental wellbeing AND physical health. Maybe post up or link to the local allocation policy. Then find a local disability charity and pick their brains about getting more benefits or rebanded or other help, then as a last resort bring in your ward councillors and MP.

It may be you have to write letter after letter and keep being a PITA until you get somewhere, it is easy to feel discouraged if you are tired but every time you give up for, say, six months you start from scratch again. Don't be fobbed off with verbal blocking, ask for everything to be put into writing so you have something to take to the ward councillours, MP or even the press.

Just putting something totally random here otherwise I'm not able to post. :rotfl: