Applying for a council house

tomtontom

mattcanary wrote: »

Er, because their circumstances (personal, financial, etc) may well have changed since they had their children?

Of course, that never happens, does it??!!!!!

Given the high level of long term overcrowding in London, and the very high numbers of people claiming housing benefit for years on end, it seems unlikely this is a primary cause of the problem.

Mojisola

Killerseven wrote: »

That is all very well saying that they have entitlement to a 3 bed, but they just cant afford a three bed in their area which is London.

Are they claiming Housing Benefit?

mattcanary

tomtontom wrote: »

Given the high level of long term overcrowding in London, and the very high numbers of people claiming housing benefit for years on end, it seems unlikely this is a primary cause of the problem.

Who knows?

Killerseven

The problem is the amount of housing benefit said to be for a 3 bedroom place s only enough for a 2bed place, in the private sector. thats why everyone wants a council house that is affordable.

duchy

Killerseven wrote: »

They cant move, they have family close by and have lived in London for generations.

That isn't "can't" that is won't.

Plenty of people move out of London to give their children a better life . My father was born in London but he (and most of his six siblings) made the move out of London once they had children to areas where they could afford family sized properties that weren't affordable in London.

They didn't lose touch with their other family members as even in those pre Skype, facebook and facetime days London was well served by trains and buses and there was a wonderful invention called the telephone !

Basically it's the same choice it always was - live in an expensive area and compromise on size - or move further out and pay less for better accommodation.

nannytone_2

mattcanary wrote: »

That cannot possibly be the case. It's illegal!

councils only have a duty of care towards children and vulnerable adults.
they could offer foster care for any children whilst refusing help to the parent/s.

eadieb

mattcanary wrote: »

That cannot possibly be the case. It's illegal!

I will try to paste the link which I have never done before but its in the policy doc for our area choice based lettings system. buried on their website is this weighty 76 page doc.

https://homeconnections.org.uk/Devon_Home_Choice/PDF/DHCPolicy363fromMarch15.pdf

Devon Home Choice - website

its section 3.5.1 - statutory homeless households
and 3.7.5 local priority

essentially they are saying that if you are accepted as stat homeless then the first option is private rented and you are downgraded to D band. If you can demonstrate that it is not reasonable or extremely unlikely, due to your particular circumstances, that you can obtain affordable private rented then you go back up to a B band.
in practice what usually happens is that the council have found you a private rented first, before you get put back up to a B. I have also experienced a council putting a stat homeless in b & b without making a final decision on the application. this enables them to 'offer' the family 6 month tenancy (instead of the stated 12 month) they are obliged to give once they formally accept a duty.

nannytone_2

many councils, especially in London, 'ship' their homeless families/vulnerable adults to other parts of the country.
as long as they are following the rules regarding the homeless vulnerable, they are doing nothing wrong. ( the accommodation may ne hostels or B $ B's.... they don't have to offer a tenancy

mattcanary

nannytone wrote: »

many councils, especially in London, 'ship' their homeless families/vulnerable adults to other parts of the country.
as long as they are following the rules regarding the homeless vulnerable, they are doing nothing wrong. ( the accommodation may ne hostels or B $ B's.... they don't have to offer a tenancy

The earlier post implied (at least to me) they wouldn't get housed though, even if they were statutorily homeless. Quite clearly the council would have to find housing for them - whether that be in one of their homes or some other kind of tenancy.


That policy seems very strange though - who are they there to help?
The statutorily homeless include all kinds of people - in work or not, people that have lived in the area for a long time or not, etc.
Some of them may also have been on the housing register for some time whilst not homeless, only for their situation to change. Would these people also still be moved to the back of the queue - even if they may have had a real chance of being housed by the council otherwise? (eg: if they had been on the register for many years).

Murphybear

eadieb wrote: »

I will try to paste the link which I have never done before but its in the policy doc for our area choice based lettings system. buried on their website is this weighty 76 page doc.

https://homeconnections.org.uk/Devon_Home_Choice/PDF/DHCPolicy363fromMarch15.pdf

Devon Home Choice - website

its section 3.5.1 - statutory homeless households
and 3.7.5 local priority

essentially they are saying that if you are accepted as stat homeless then the first option is private rented and you are downgraded to D band. If you can demonstrate that it is not reasonable or extremely unlikely, due to your particular circumstances, that you can obtain affordable private rented then you go back up to a B band.
in practice what usually happens is that the council have found you a private rented first, before you get put back up to a B. I have also experienced a council putting a stat homeless in b & b without making a final decision on the application. this enables them to 'offer' the family 6 month tenancy (instead of the stated 12 month) they are obliged to give once they formally accept a duty.

I note that this is in Devon. According to the Western Morning News this week, in an article about private renting, the South West has the highest rents outside London and the South East. That would make the pressure on social housing even worse.