Help for Homeless Guy

Peter_Pan_6

Bestyman"
A few of them used to drink beer then go to the doctors saying they were alcoholics because they got more benefit that way"

Don`t know who told you this, untrue,I have/do work with Alcoholics.

digp

kopicbloodaxe wrote:

Hi there,

I know this isn't really a money-saving question, but thought this forum was a good place to start with this. Feel free to relocate this thread if necessary!

My wife works for our neighbour who runs his own small cleaning business. He interviewed this homeless guy at the job center and found out that he was living in a sort of den that some kids had made in a nearby park. My neighbour decided to employ him as a cleaner to help him get himself out of his situation - he had lost his family and had nowhere else to turn. My neighbour opened a bank account for him and pays his wages into there for him to save towards paying for accomodation. We all gave him some clothes and my neighbour let's him shower and shave at his house. He always works hard and never smells of alcohol and seems a decent enough chap - he even gave a thankyou card to my neighbour for all his help and support.

Now to the crux of the matter - how in the name of all that is holy does he get himself a proper roof over his head??? They've tried contacting the council, local churches and the salvation army (you'd think they'd help, wouldn't you?) but no-one is interested in his case. I believe they're also contacting the Shelter charity but I don't know the outcome yet.

So... thoughts? Comments? Suggestion? All gratefully received!

Many thanks,
Simon.

he needs to contact the city council. they may be under a duty to provide him with a "home". contact lawyers.

Bossyboots

bestyman wrote:

Hi,
The council have a legal obligation to house this man providing that he is not intentionally homeless.

As a single male, he would be right at the bottom of the list and in fact I would question whether they do have an obligation to house him. I know of two young men who have been refused housing even though they weren't considered intentionally homeless. He would be expected to find his own accommodation, privately rented, and then apply for housing/council tax benefit as necessary.

I wonder whether social services would be a good place to try. They may be persuaded to make a loan for the deposit on privately rented accommodation or put pressure on the housing department to find him somewhere, although in all likelihood this would be B&B accommodation to start with.

november

Single people with no other vulnerabilities (this depends on the individual councils so low housing stock frequently means high vulnerabilities are needed) are not eligible for council help as homeless. You have to be homeless and in priority need to be eligible for the council to offer you accommodation as homeless. If you are they have to offer you something even if it is temporary accommodation. If you are not they only have to offer you advise. Anyone can join a council housing waiting list but that can mean waiting for years if the area has low social housing availability.

There are organisations that help with deposits and with finding private rented accommodation. I posted a link on page 2 of this thread. Social Services have no duty to non vulnerable homeless. The council should know if there is a deposit scheme local but the National Rent Deposit Forum (link) is probably the quickest way to find out.

stellagypsy

kopicbloodaxe - Do you know how your council allocates its properties? We (I work for Housing - sadly no longer for the Council as we have been "hived off") no longer have a "waiting list" but now let ALL of our properties via an internet choice-based lettings system that is available to all - you register, choose the property you are interested in and express your interest on the computer. We then take the applicants in strict order (the computer sorts them out in to date of application) and assess their suitability for the property (ie not over crowded / under occupied, etc). So - no more waiting lists for us - it may be that your Local Authority or what ever it has evolved in to is the same, the Government are pushing all local authorities to use this type of system and I can assure you that if he applied to our organisation via this internet system and was prepared to accept a less popular area / type of accommodation (eg bedsit), he would get a property (I let 2 last week to single non priority homeless people in similar circs to those this chap finds himself in - both went in to top floor maisonettes which families do not want any more and are happy with these - under the old waiting list system they would not have stood a chance).

So you need to check this for your area, you could be able to help him after all.

Stella xx

bestyman

Peter_Pan wrote:

Bestyman"
A few of them used to drink beer then go to the doctors saying they were alcoholics because they got more benefit that way"

Don`t know who told you this, untrue,I have/do work with Alcoholics.

No one told me this , I saw it as I lived there with them . Sickness benefit paid more then unemployment benefit with the added bonus of not getting hounded for restart courses etc.

Anyhow, going off topic. Sorry.

MSE_Martin

There's definitely a story here. Not mine, but someones, I'm going to email this to a few people and see if they're interested. What region are you in?

LouiseW_3

hi,
i know you've already had loads of advice but had a quick look at this website and it seems to have lots of links to other sites that might be useful

http://www.homelesspages.org.uk/

hope it it some help
Louise

kopicbloodaxe

MSE_Martin wrote:

There's definitely a story here. Not mine, but someones, I'm going to email this to a few people and see if they're interested. What region are you in?

Hi Martin,

Thanks for taking an interest in this! We're in North Hampshire (Camberley area). It's my neighbour (who runs the cleaning company) who is driving this - I just picked up the baton to see what I could find out from the extremely helpful people on MSE.com :-D

And, boy, there has been a lot of useful advice!

--Simon.

Fran

kopicbloodaxe wrote:

Thanks for taking an interest in this!

I've only just seen this thread - has your neighbour (or you/wife) followed any of the advice on this thread?

Ie -

Shelter
Citizens Advice Bureau
Social Services
Doctor
Council
Housing Associations ???

What does the homeless person himself think? Has he made any efforts to find housing or has he given up? What did any of the above organisations say when contacted?

Is he priority homeless or not?

He can put his name down on Housing Association lists which as well as being allocated as part of agreements with Councils also act independently.

Has he got another area that he has lived in before - he can apply to places he has a previous connection (either has lived there before or has family connections - check rules of individual authorities)?

How old is he?