HA housing

Curry_Queen

It's the paperwork side of things and waiting to find out if I've been accepted on the list that I'm more concerned about at the moment, as I'd have thought they'd have contacted me by now. Once I get that information and find out how far up the list I am I can then make a decision whether to wait for them to allocate a property or carry in looking in the private sector.

I know it could take some time for a suitable property to become available, especially in the areas I've chosen (limited due to DS's school) as there aren't that many available in the first place, and a girl I knew a couple of years ago had to wait 4-5 months for a place and she was technically homeless with a young baby.

Fran

Curry_Queen wrote:

It's the paperwork side of things and waiting to find out if I've been accepted on the list that I'm more concerned about at the moment, as I'd have thought they'd have contacted me by now. Once I get that information and find out how far up the list I am I can then make a decision whether to wait for them to allocate a property or carry in looking in the private sector.

I know it could take some time for a suitable property to become available, especially in the areas I've chosen (limited due to DS's school) as there aren't that many available in the first place, and a girl I knew a couple of years ago had to wait 4-5 months for a place and she was technically homeless with a young baby.

Well if you contact them on Monday at least you'll be able to confirm that they've received/accepted your form or not. The trouble I found while on HA lists was that they can't tell you how long/ how far you are up the list, because they will have priorities (like the homeless woman with baby) that change the top of their lists. Having said that, each HA (and councils) have their own ways of prioritising, so at some stage you should reach the top of their list whatever - but then have to wait for a suitable property to become available. 4-5 months is actually quite quick to get offered somewhere given the experience I had of trying to move being on HA and council lists, but there again it depends on where you live and the demand and if someone moves out, it's a pity it can't be more precise. When I asked about council housing in a couple of areas where I lived at the time the woman on the phone said something like "well for those areas you could have to wait 30 or 40 years!!!!" - I think she was trying to put me off even being on the list for those areas cos they were popular and not trouble spots and near schools etc.

Curry_Queen

I guess it's a bit like the lottery really, and being in the right place at the right time kinda thing :rolleyes:

I'm also stuck with the problem that if I do manage to find somewhere suitable in the private sector then technically the HA will have no futher reason to keep me on their lists, or at least not as a priority, and the rents are so high here that I'd never be able to afford to pay it should I eventually return to work, which is what I'm hoping to do at some point.

I guess it depends how much of a priority they judge me to be, and yeah I know there's always cases pop up more urgently that go straight to the top of the list, such as the homeless etc, so I could still be sitting here this time next year waiting for a move. Not sure I could cope waiting that long though to be honest as I'm at the end of my tether with things here as it is

Fran

Different HA's have different ways of and reasons for prioritizing people. One way you might have priority is to do with your health and if you haven't done so already, get a letter from your doctor saying how staying where you are presently is affecting your health and this might get you a couple of points depending on their system. Have a double check that you don't meet any other of their criteria for extra points - usually they say this on the form notes, also did you put plenty about how staying where you are affects you on the form?

Curry_Queen

I did mention the health aspects on the form and gave them contact details of my GP and CPN to verify the information. I also completely filled the back two blank pages titled "extra information" telling them everything that's going on here so they have a clearer picture, as I haven't had any contact with either CPN or GP for over 6 mths so they're not aware of just how bad things have got recently. Maybe this is what's causing the delay in them contacting me

From what I've read of the info they sent me they have a 3-tier system whereby people just wanting a property but have no particular needs are in the bottom tier, then people who maybe are in unsuitable property but not affecting health are in the middle, with those having medical priorities or homeless etc go into the top tier.

Like you said before though, broadening your options by choosing several areas obviously gives a better chance of being offered somewhere but as we're "out in the sticks" here it's a little difficult because of my son's school, which is in the village we currently live, so I've only been able to choose areas further out that actually provide a school bus for him to get back here. I personally don't mind moving out of the village as I have no ties here, and all my shopping is done online anyway so it makes no difference to me if there's just one village shop in the area, but his schooling is very important to me and he's settled there so I don't want to move him now. My eldest two had to move schools a couple of times, which I now regret, and it really interfered with their progress.


PS ... forgot to mention that this HA is an umbrella organisation for several associations, but from what I've read the others appear to provide more specialised housing for the young homeless or sheltered acommodation for the elderly, neither of which are applicable to me anyway. We have no "Council" housing here whatsoever.

bonnie_2

i am with springboard but most of the tennants come from the council list, i have been waiting to move for over a year now on dissability grounds and am still 14 on list. because over half of their properties have to go to people on homeless list.i think you have to have 100 points to go on list but cant be sure.