Homeless in 10 days refused RSL allocation

[Deleted User] · 17 October 2017 at 6:24AM

Yes I had the same thing. Charged £50 extra a week for a council property compared to what normal rents were. In a place with cockroaches. Nothing extra was included, I never ever saw the HO managing the property. But I didn't have to pay it, it was covered un HB. I've always wondered how people who don't get HB manage with the high rents that are charged for emergency housing. Sometimes 3 times what you'd pay for a room if single and private renting, but if in emergency housing, you will have your whole family in there (and can't go to a private rented room because then you'll never get the full property your family needs). Its supposed to cover extra costs that supposedly go with emergency housing but I never saw anything for extra charges. I suppose you were paying for those frequent inspections! I was in a hostel once, cost hundreds of pounds for a week, shared bath and toilet. I had to clean the brown stuff off the walls of the toilet, and cleaned the one bath til it was shining that had been condemned, the council couldn't clean it it seems. That room nearly killed me. Had my then one son (5 years old) was pregnant, going hypo for hours at a time. Lying on the floor unable to move at all, knowing I needed an ambulance as I kept coming round for short periods but couldn't get through the two fire doors and concrete steps to the entrance. Worst time of my life. Council would do nothing. Was very lucky to survive that. My poor baby didn't. He died 9 days after being born. What the extended hypos did to him I'll never know. He did have an incidence of brain damage three months before he was born according to tests done afterwards. The grief that caused was unimaginable. No one in authority cares, they don't get the consequences only us, the people that are the 'dregs of society'. I was there because of an abusive relationship.

So glad you have found something nice and now can move on with your life.

I am in permanent housing now too. Its in a very bad state of repair but at least its permanent and not in such a bad sink estate (not so noisy, drugs and drinking not going on as openly).It even has two toilets which makes life a lot easier and no three flights of stairs to kitchen and front door. I even have a support worker now although she's so busy (obviously not her fault) with the best will in the world she can't do much.

I really do hope things are improving for you. Sorry your emergency housing experience was so bad. At least you didn't have cockroaches lololol.

mickey54 · 17 October 2017 at 8:04AM

Good luck in your new home.
As an aside to that, looking at your income, have you also applied for kinship care.?

00ec25 · 17 October 2017 at 8:53AM

JazzaG wrote: »

Just a quick update for anyone who was following this thread.
We were given temporary council housing the day before we became physically homeless. It was a furnished 3 bedroom house, an outreach property run by Benjamin Court, the local homeless hostel. We were not allowed any of our own furniture in the property, and were only allocated a 4ft by 4ft cubical in a warehouse to store our belongings. We easily filled this with boxes of belongings and some small items of furniture. When the council saw how much stuff we had stored in the property, they gave us 24 hours to clear it out or be evicted.
We were not allowed to have our dog in the property, even though we were the only occupants. The house was in the middle of an ordinary council estate, and the 2 houses to the left of us, 1 house to the right, 1 house in front and 1 house behind all had dogs, some also had cats. Imagine how frustrating having to clean up your garden of someone elses cat's waste when your own pet is not allowed in!
We were not allowed visitors, night or day, except from the authority. This also included the boys friends.
We were not allowed any alcohol IN the property, let alone drink any. The property was inspected weekly to ensure we were not breaking any of these rules. The staf were allowed to let themselves into the property with thier own keys, even if we were still in bed or not in!
We were treated as if we had been rehomed off the street, with a shoppimg cart of rubbish and a bottle in a brown paper bag, not like respectable grandparents who had lived in thier own property for the last 25 years.
For the priveledge of being treated like dirt, we were given the honor of paying £458.22 per week.
Luckily, I had applied for a home through St Vincent's Housing Association, who, although a charitable organisation, set thier threshold much higher (£125,000), so we only had to stay in the temporary property for a couple of months.
We now have a lovely home, with a downstairs loo, in a lovely village. Suffice to say we couldn't afford to spend as much as we would have liked on furniture etc., thanks to the council we didnt have enough left. Thanks to all those of you who gave me advice, and the naysayers too, we are all entitlted to our own opinion, that is what these forums are all about.

sorry but your complaints still come across as being from someone who feels entitled, not someone who should be grateful that society provided you with a safety net despite you having money of your own. You were "lucky" you got a house in the circumstances, not a hostel bed.

you were given a temporary property. A no pets rule makes sense in that case as it means the taxpayer is not landed with the costs of having to repair damage, disinfect or otherwise deal with the after effects of animals before the next person can use the property.

I agree that the experience sounds dehumanising, but then again surely that is a part of the process "pour encourager les autres" otherwise "everyone" would want their "entitlement"

JazzaG · 21 October 2017 at 10:13AM

I'm sorry too, that you think it is wrong to expect to be treated like a human being. They came to inspect the property each week, and checked all the rooms, including the bedrooms, and one time still insisted on checking the bedroom when I told them that my grandson was still in bed.
We had workmen letting themselves in with keys that the "support staff" had given them. One workman stuck his head round my bedroom door at 8.30 am without even knocking, to ask if there was a socket that he could plug his drill into. Luckily, I was sat up in bed, not wanting to get up while they were working outside the bedroom door, although I felt just as shocked and embarrassed as if I had been standing in the middle of the room stark naked.
As regards the "no pets" rule, the reason given was "health and safety", supposedly in case the dog attacked them when they let themselves in. No matter how much I told them that he was a very placid, good tempered dog. We also had to pay for lodgings for the dog, another cost eating into our capital

Deanatrois - Glad to hear that you finally got your housing situation sorted. It is so hard to deal with anything when you don't have a permanent roof over your head.

martindow · 21 October 2017 at 11:01AM

JazzaG wrote: »

We had workmen letting themselves in with keys that the "support staff" had given them.

As you were inside couldn't you have bolted the door or locked it from the inside leaving the key in the lock to prevent this?

JazzaG · 21 October 2017 at 11:37AM

We were not expecting anyone to let themselves in without knocking. When the workman (plumber) realised that we were in he said he would have knocked, but he thought the property was vacant. We knew the second workman was coming, so we had left the key in the door. He did try to get in with the key, and pushed the key out just as my husband got to the door.
We were quite concerned that workmen were being given the key and could have let themselves in when we were out. Ok, it was only temporary accommodation, but you still expect a certain level of privacy. You don't expect a stranger to be wandering around your home, unaccompanied and uninvited.

JazzaG · 21 October 2017 at 11:46AM

We looked into kinship care when the boys first came to live with us. We weren't eligible as they were not classed as "looked after" by social services. They had not initially taken the boys into care, my daughter left them with me before they were taken off her.

Fosterdog · 21 October 2017 at 1:09PM

JazzaG wrote: »

I'm sorry too, that you think it is wrong to expect to be treated like a human being. They came to inspect the property each week, and checked all the rooms, including the bedrooms, and one time still insisted on checking the bedroom when I told them that my grandson was still in bed.
We had workmen letting themselves in with keys that the "support staff" had given them. One workman stuck his head round my bedroom door at 8.30 am without even knocking, to ask if there was a socket that he could plug his drill into. Luckily, I was sat up in bed, not wanting to get up while they were working outside the bedroom door, although I felt just as shocked and embarrassed as if I had been standing in the middle of the room stark naked.
As regards the "no pets" rule, the reason given was "health and safety", supposedly in case the dog attacked them when they let themselves in. No matter how much I told them that he was a very placid, good tempered dog. We also had to pay for lodgings for the dog, another cost eating into our capital

Deanatrois - Glad to hear that you finally got your housing situation sorted. It is so hard to deal with anything when you don't have a permanent roof over your head.

I honestly find it absolutely disgusting that you can be so ungrateful for what you’ve been given. You weren’t treated less than human at all, if you think that is being treated badly take a look at how people have to live and survive in other parts of the world. Even in this country there are people actually homeless and being treated like animals by society and the government and they would cut off their arm for the opportunity were were given and the fact they kept a roof over your and your grandchildren’s heads. In your position I’d be thouroughly ashamed of myself for my attitude through this whole ordeal.