Loosing the will to live

outofmoney

Partly here for a major grumble, but also just in case there is something we may have missed.

The situation is, we live in a very small 3 bed house. We have 3 teenage boys (18, 16 and 14) in a single room. Two are disabled needing day and night care, and one of those has to sleep on the floor since we have no space for a bed. This has been the situation for some years. Our daughter (18) is in the box room. Our room is not much bigger than the boys. Their room is too small a double bed. Our downstairs is all in one so we cannot have any beds down there.

We have been on our council list for 14 and a half years. We have a bidding system here. We have been in the top 5 for the last 18 months but despite more than 5 families being homed, have never been offered a place.

We have now been moved up a Band, because of Serious overcrowding, but this still did not help and we have just been dismissed for two houses.

We have pestered and pestered the council and they have finally told us the truth. The Housing Associations only want working families (Both self and husband are carers for our disabled children) and also children must be under ten. Having waited so long, ours are now much older. We have been told that this means we have never and will never meet the criteria so it goes to the next person.

Due to our situation Private rental is out of the question as LLs won't take anyone on HB. Apart from that rent is way above the LHA. Here is it £750 for a 4 bed and an average house has just gone up for rent for £1600, that is how much the council are out and we would be expected to top up.

We tried our MP three times and she was more than useless. Just forwarded our letter to housing who forwarded back a standard reply.

Shelter have said we have done all we can.

Is there anything we may not have tried? And does anyone know if what the council are doing is even legal. It's all part of their Local Lettings Plan but at the bottom of that it says they make sure they do not discriminate and treat all persons equally. Clearly not!

haras_nosirrah

Part of the problem may be that two of your children are now 18 therefore if you get rehoused now into a 4 bed house and then these young adults leave then you will be under occupying and get hit by the bedroom tax which you may not be able to afford and then there may not be anything suitable to downsize to. Not saying this is the case but it may well be what the council are thinking

Also in a lot of areas 4 and 5 bed houses are very rare and you can't move to another 3 bed as you will be overcrowded

When_the_going_gets_tough

I think you need to bring this to the attention of your local councillor. Also I would seek out the advice of a good housing lawyer - big cities often have community legal organisations - it depends where in the country you are. I would be prepared to fight this - not saying you would win but it must be worth a shot. You need someone prepared to explore every avenue - including the press - for you. Try disability rights organisations too.

freeisgood

I have friends in a tiny 2 bed flat private rented, they (the parents) sleep on a sofa bed in the sitting room. The daughters have one small bedroom, their son in the box room.


Could you not consider a sofa bed in your lounge to instantly free some bedroom space? No one would notice as it would just be extra seating daytime.

PS Most councils now consider a sitting room as a bedroom (ie can be used to sleep in).

jaylee3

Wow OP, you do seem to have been through the ringer! 14 years on the list? And no luck! That is terrible!

Where in the country are you?

You appear to have exhausted every option. I am assuming you are social housing are you, as you say private rental is a no-no?

I hate to say this my friend, but as you have waited 14 years, it does seem worth waiting a bit longer, because as two of your children are over 18, they will almost certainly leave home in the not-too-distant-future. And if you DO have social housing, and you're 'fairly' happy with the area, then don't give it up for private let!

Don't know what else to suggest. Especially as you say you have exhausted most options.

Never heard of children having to be 'under 10' before though, for you to qualify for social housing!

tanith

An awful situation but I don't think unique. It is true that councils count the living room as a room that can be used to sleep in and advised my daughter to sleep in the living room on a sofa bed to free up a bedroom for her son. Can you not do similar for either you or one of your sons, its not ideal I know but better than sleeping on the floor surely. I wish you luck with your council.

freeisgood

I think the rule is children can't share a room when over the age of ten if opposite sexes, but you have three boys in one room.

Again councils have cottoned on to the fact that, they can class a living room as a "bedroom space", so they are seeing your house as "four bedrooms" at present.

jaylee3

tanith wrote: »

An awful situation but I don't think unique. It is true that councils count the living room as a room that can be used to sleep in and advised my daughter to sleep in the living room on a sofa bed to free up a bedroom for her son. Can you not do similar for either you or one of your sons, its not ideal I know but better than sleeping on the floor surely. I wish you luck with your council.

freeisgood wrote: »

I think the rule is children can't share a room when over the age of ten if opposite sexes, but you have three boys in one room.

Again councils have cottoned on to the fact that, they can class a living room as a "bedroom space", so they are seeing your house as "four bedrooms" at present.

Really??? Since when? That's the first I've heard of it! How on earth can the living room be classed as a bedroom?!

If that is the case, then surely one person or a couple in a one-bed property, should be subject to the 'bedroom tax!'

Not having a go BTW, or saying you're wrong; it just sounds ridiculous if it IS true. What if the living room is a gateway to the kitchen and the rest of the downstairs? In our first house, you had to pass through the living room to get out of the front door AND back door (as the stairs came down into the living room.) I can honestly say that I have never, ever heard this before.

I can understand that a separate dining room, which does not need to be accessed to get to the kitchen, could be expected to be used as a bedroom, but surely the ONLY living room, cannot be classed as a bedroom.

I mean if that's the case, then why not go the whole hog, and class the kitchen as a bedroom too, and just put a camp bed in there, and the bathroom too: put a sleeping bag in the bath! That would make a one bed flat house eight people, (because you can put 2 people in each of the bedroom spaces!)

Bargain! Housing overcrowding problem solved!!!

theartfullodger

You do not mention if you have read the council housing allocation policy (on the council website) very carefully & then, if possible write to council pointing out anywhere their policy gives you extra priority. Have you done this, please??

If so, what happened??

outofmoney

We have pointed out from their policy that in certain circumstances they can basically over ride the criteria (It was some act) but they said they knew nothing about it. We wrote to them as well which is how we were moved up a Band. But of course now we have been told it won't make a jot of difference as we don't meet the criteria. We have now put in a complaint.

To answer other questions. We are currently in Private rented property. We were very lucky that our LL was not bothered by us being on HB. We knew the property was going to very quickly be too small but it was all on offer. We were about to become homeless and the council still were not helping. They said we would be placed in a hostel for around two years. Not ideal with disabled children who were quite young at the time. Our LL here has never put our rent up which is such a blessing as it means the HB covers it.

Our living room is not classed as a bedroom. Not heard of that before. We have an open downstairs so front door is in the lounge and so are stairs. It goes through to the kitchen. It would be very impractical as we would be up and down the stairs all night to the boys, plus our daughter is up early for college. As I get little sleep at night I tend to sleep when hubby gets up. I have health problems myself too.

Although our eldest are 18, they are only just, and as one is disabled he is very unlikely to leave home. Our daughter is still in FT education and too, very unlikely to leave home. In any case they were not even at school when we went onto the list!

The council say we need a 5 bed house. There is only one here which was recently let so only 4 beds on offer. We would have to have two children leave home so that would be our daughter and youngest son. At 14 it will be several years before we would be classed as under occupying.

Think I've covered all points raised. Oh, and we tried the MP several times as mentioned in first post.

haras_nosirrah

If they cannot offer you a 4 bed as you would still be overcrowded and there are no 5 beds then is there any way your daughter could reside with another family member temporarily (e.g an aunt or uncle, a grandparent naturally if family are local) to mean that you are then eligible for a 4 bed. Once you have the 4 bed she could move back home

Maybe not practical but some slight out of the box thinking