Moving away from rural area, into social housing

moneyistooshorttomention

ripplyuk wrote: »

I really appreciate all the replies. I feel better about the social side of things. It worried me because I kept thinking about what my granny used to say about living in the town, everyone keeping their doors open and people in and out of each other's houses. She loved it but I couldn't cope with that.

Your granny 's comments would relate to a previous era. As I understand it, there was a time some while back in our society where that did happen in some communities. But that was then - and this is now. Nowadays, I doubt any communities like that still exist. By and large, things are as "social" as you require them to be - no more, no less.

People HAD to be used to lots of people around all the time in previous eras - because most of them never had much chance to be on their own. Reason being - in many families the kids kept coming and they had child after child after child. Then my parents generation came along (ie with some ability to restrict the number of children they had). Then my generation came along - and welcome to the 1970s and we have total ability to restrict/avoid children these days and, as a consequence, many of us have developed the expectation that we can choose to be alone if we decide to be. Thus - peoples much higher expectations about privacy than in previous eras.

Chances are that your interreactions with neighbours will just consist of a few minutes chat when you pass them in the street/see each other in the garden.

missprice

ripplyuk wrote: »

I don't know what to do about the hens. It's the cockerel I'm thinking about. I don't want to disturb any neighbours and they aren't likely to appreciate him crowing at 3am in the summer.

I really appreciate all the replies. I feel better about the social side of things. It worried me because I kept thinking about what my granny used to say about living in the town, everyone keeping their doors open and people in and out of each other's houses. She loved it but I couldn't cope with that.

I am inner city and the cockerel about 5 houses up has not even been noticed, not one person has complained. Although this is private estate, but still I would have thought someone would have mentioned it if it was annoying.

Your granny must be from a previous era, or on a really close knit street. No one even here on this nice estate pops in for tea and a chat, no one leaves the door unlocked for people to just walk in, in fact most people work and are out all day, and the kids are out at school, or with childminders. You can be as social as you feel like being in inner cities.

TBagpuss

In terms of the hens, I think it would be sensible to start looking into options for rehousing them if it turns out that you cannot take them with you - do you know any breeders, or other owners who might take them if need be? Or anywhere that has a petting zoo or similar? You could explain that you are at this stage looking at options and that you hope to be able to keep the hens.

If you make the enquiries then if it turns out that you can't take them, or that you can't take them all, you won't be trying to get it sorted at the last minute.

It may also be worth starting to look into options for furniture etc - when I bought my first house, I had virtually nothing, and had wiped out my savigns for the deposit. I was able to find a local shop which sold reconditioned appliances and found a fridge for £35 (it didn't look great, but it worked, and I only got rid of it 4 years later when I had to move, and it wasn't worth the cost of transporting and storing it)

I also bought furniture from charity shops - start looking now to get a feel for which shops tend to have what kinds of things.

Are there any charities locally which support people with your specific health issues? they may be able to suggest other resources.

Also look into any homelessness charities in your area - some have services to help people moving on from homelessness and while you do have a home, you may still qualify for support it they class you as homeless on the basis of the council's assessment, or as vulnerably homed.

Are you in a position to start putting a small amount aside each week now, so that when you do get an offer you have a little bit of savings you can use for essentials?

Regarding carpets - you may be able to get fairly cheap carpet if you are willing to get an end-of-line or end-of-roll section - my sister recently re-carpeted their flat very cheaply as they were willing to have different carpets in the rooms - they were able to buy carpet which was large enough for a single room, but was cheap as it would not be enough to fit an entire house.

Finally, I agree with others who have said that being in an urban area doesn't mean people will be in and out the whole time. I recently moved from an estate to a more rural location in a village - I have spent more time with my neighbours in the 14 months I've been in my new home than I ever did when I was living on the estate (mostly because they are much nicer people !)

Good luck.

j.e.j.

missbiggles1 wrote: »

That's actually very good for social housing. You may well find that the council/HA can give you some idea of how long you might like to wait and you can check quite a lot of things online these days.

You're not kidding! Where I live there are about 10 000 people waiting to be housed, and about 50 properties available per week/fortnight.

Arthog

Talk to your new Housing Association straight away about having a Supported Housing Officer to see you through your move. They will be know about what is available in the area you are moving to and can help you to claim what is due to you, help locate furniture etc, and their presence when visiting your present house, as an 'official' person, will calm your landlord down!
You need help and support for this major change in your life.

ripplyuk

j.e.j. wrote: »

You're not kidding! Where I live there are about 10 000 people waiting to be housed, and about 50 properties available per week/fortnight.

10,000 :eek:

That's a lot! It must be a big area. Even the cities nearest to me don't have that many on the waiting list.

I've been told by my housing office that they are waiting for a decision to see if I should get complex needs points. I should hear within a couple of weeks. I think they wrote to my doctor as well. It would mean I will get some extra support with it all and the extra points might mean I could get an offer quicker.

I do feel guilty asking for social housing as I know so many people are waiting but I've been looking for a private rented house since November and not one is interested when I mention housing benefit. The letting agents all took a lot of money from me just to register an interest and still nothing. I feel my health would be better if I had a secure tenancy too.

It's just the waiting, and the not knowing when, if ever, I'll get an offer. I've been in my current house for such a long time but I've put up with so much from my landlord and can't take any more. I'm trying to be positive about it, and think of it as a new start. All the replies have been so helpful and kind, and it doesn't sound so scary now with the idea of close neighbours. I'll look into any discounted carpets/vinyl from shops as I'm not bothered if it matches. And I've found a charity shop that sells curtains and often gets things like kitchen tables and sometimes wardrobes. They deliver too.

Savvy_Sue

missprice wrote: »

I am inner city and the cockerel about 5 houses up has not even been noticed, not one person has complained. Although this is private estate, but still I would have thought someone would have mentioned it if it was annoying.

I have a friend with hens, who acquired a cockerel as well. They did get a complaint, and were rather indignant about it. My feeling was that if you live in the countryside then being woken by a cockerel may be part of life's rich tapestry, but in the suburbs of a city it's probably not what you anticipated. My friend thought it wasn't that noisy: again my view was that if was disturbing a neighbour, then the family's views on how noisy it was weren't relevant.

Mind you the seagulls and crows can outshout any cockerel from where I'm sleeping ...

TBagpuss wrote: »

In terms of the hens, I think it would be sensible to start looking into options for rehousing them if it turns out that you cannot take them with you - do you know any breeders, or other owners who might take them if need be? Or anywhere that has a petting zoo or similar? You could explain that you are at this stage looking at options and that you hope to be able to keep the hens.

If you make the enquiries then if it turns out that you can't take them, or that you can't take them all, you won't be trying to get it sorted at the last minute.

I think that's good advice. If you get an offer and one of the conditions of the tenancy is 'no pets', or if any garden just isn't chicken friendly, then at least you're not put right on the spot.

Tixy

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j.e.j.

ripplyuk wrote: »

10,000 :eek:

That's a lot! It must be a big area. Even the cities nearest to me don't have that many on the waiting list.

It's actually worse than I thought, it's now gone up to 18 000 people! The area isn't that big, geographically, but it's a city and we have a lot of outsiders coming in and taking up resources, which doesn't help.



18,000 people are on the waiting list for housing in Brighton and Hove


The number of properties available per fortnight varies from 30 to 60.. It's ridiculous.

j.e.j.

I think it's £30k, and £40k for London.

£30 000 per annum is about £2000 per month take home pay, so yes someone could possibly afford to rent somewhere small for that amount (if you're in the South East). A lot of landlords like to see that the tenant is earning 3 x the monthly rent, though, so it may still be a problem, even on £30 000


The trouble it will cause will be mainly social, namely social housing is going to become ghettos of low-earners and non-workers.

It also gives out the completely wrong message, namely: if you dare to get yourself a well-paying job we're going to make you pay top dollar for your rent. Hardly incentivizes people to better themselves, does it..