Council would rather I put 2 children in to care!!

shellsuit

Sleep on the sofas and let the kids have your bed.

Me and my husband are going shopping tomorrow for a sofa bed for us.

We have 3 kids and they each have a room now. We could have them share, but I don't think a 17yo boy and 4 yo boy can share, and daughter certainly can't share with one of them.

Give your bed up for the kids, that's the only solution right now.


ETA - my dad was one of 12. They lived in a 2 up 2 down for a period of time.

If they could manage, so could you with the greatest of respect.

ETAA! - My Aunty and Uncle had 7 kids, 2 they adopted. They had 3 bedrooms.



I really don't see the problem here!

Mojisola

nearlysorted wrote: »

We have had the children every weekend

nearlysorted wrote: »

Up until ss came to live with us dh had a very well paid job, i work full time too

As the children have been all at the house together at the weekends and you were both working, wouldn't it have been worth looking at an extension before this?

trevorsminted

I just wonder what attracts a women to a man with excess kids i mean surely you must realise if you do have kids they will go without because his first batch need things? then again some just release the first litter before moving on. I think HA should be building an extension for you, you are the exact opposite of bedroom tax, IE they are punished for having an extra bedroom you should punish HA for having not enough bedrooms, simples!

On a serious note surely an exchange to a bigger house should be offered by your council association its your kids human rights to have more room!

Then again not sure on the odds after all going against you is you were actually born in this Country!

balletshoes

lilymay1 wrote: »

I don't think I know anyone with a mortgage anything like £400 a month. £1400, perhaps.

£400 a month rent is also exceptionally cheap and for a 3 bedroom house almost unheard of. But I suppose if the OP has lived with council rates all her life she wouldn't be aware of what private renters pay.

Having said all that, it is morally acceptable to live in heavily subsidised council accomodation when your husband is on £37k and you're also earning. I don't know....

if the OP is in London, yes thats cheap.

Outside of London (ie where I'm from) those figures of £400 are not unusual for a mortgage for a 3-bed house, council rent would be around £400 a month for the same house, and private rent would be just over £500 (we have a mix of all 3 on our road).

I've never considered social housing to be a moral choice to make, its a roof over your head, just like all other options.

Mojisola

balletshoes wrote: »

I've never considered social housing to be a moral choice to make, its a roof over your head, just like all other options.

Social housing is a scarce resource and should be available for people with restricted options. As things work at the moment, once someone gets into social housing, it doesn't matter if they become very comfortable financially, they can still keep their house and pay the lower rents while others in much more difficult situations wait in overcrowded properties for years.

balletshoes

Mojisola wrote: »

Social housing is a scarce resource and should be available for people with restricted options. As things work at the moment, once someone gets into social housing, it doesn't matter if they become very comfortable financially, they can still keep their house and pay the lower rents while others in much more difficult situations wait in overcrowded properties for years.

yes, thats right, the same rules that have been in place regarding social housing tenancies, certainly since I became an adult 30 years ago.

Mojisola

balletshoes wrote: »

yes, thats right, the same rules that have been in place regarding social housing tenancies, certainly since I became an adult 30 years ago.

The tenants should be means tested every couple of years. If their situation has improved, they could then either pay the equivalent of a commercial rent (which could be put towards building more homes) or the tenancy ended and they could move into private rentals or buy a house.

In the same way that benefits should be there to aid people through difficult times, supported housing (for fit and healthy people) should be seen as short-term assistance.

lily76

Op have you thought of making more money? This might appear not to be right as taking cash, but I do have a neighbour who would clean your window with a charge of 3.5 pound--we are in the NW and I believe London must be more expensive. I have calculated all the area we might have more than 200 households!!! He does our window every other week. It is impossible to clean all the 200 households in one day of course, but he is really quick, 15-20 minutes a house. We all pay him cash, do you know what I mean? And I am sure he will claim some benefit as well. You can ask your husband to do some job locally with cash payment even a take away sender. If you do it in Chinese take away, you can take some food home as well which could reduce bill a bit.

shellsuit

If the kids were with you every weekend, why the need for an extension now?

You managed every weekend, so you can manage now for the long term, surely?

bestpud

If you don't want to move then you need to work with what you have.

Either you two move onto a sofa bed - it doesn't have to be an enclosed room as you put it away in the morning and you can use furniture or other means to partition off small areas if need be.

Or you two move into the box room - that seems the best solution to me and, again, look at ways of using furniture to partition off your daughter's area of the shared room.

Ikea is a good starting point for furniture that works in small spaces.

The summerhouse will relieve the pressure somewhat. Can you not find someone to build you one cheaper though? Or can you husband not build something? Ready made summer houses are a rip off in my opinion. It may be worth getting some quotes...?