Can a single person get a detached house under special circumstances?

CarlyS123

Can a single person get a detached council house under special circumstances?

I have a severely autistic relative in his twenties who is extremely abusive to his parents. He has very bad noise sensitivities and accuses them of making noises he doesn't like which leads to a bunch of threats. He basically hears the tiniest things that no one else would notice and goes ballistic and says that his parents are the source of the noises and they are doing it on purpose to wind him up. The police have been round several times, he has been sectioned and spent some time in a council flat but this ultimately failed as flats aren't good for noise sensitivities and he starting getting into heated arguments over noises with the guy who lived above him who was also a drug dealer. He genuinely is not well in the head and refuses all help and quite frankly no one is interested in helping us, the help you get with autism is disgusting. He is not classed as having a learning disability but he is classed as having 'no capacity'.

Social services have offered to provide care from a council property. The only way forward is if we can get him out of the house into a place away from other people, something like a detached bungalow. However there are all these restrictions in place about this such as all the bedrooms have to be filled and age restrictions on bungalows. Under extreme circumstances can these restrictions be lifted? Because what else can happen in this situation? His parents can not continue with the daily abuse, mental health services accessed him and were useless/ not interested and he will not interact with anyone. If he goes in a council flat its just going to be exactly the same all over again except next time they may actually just kick him out and he will get barred from the council housing completely. We're really at a loss at what to do.

kingfisherblue

I think that the first question would be whether there are actually any detached council properties in the area. I'm not aware of any in mine - most are semi detached.



Will he wear ear defenders? They might help. Or maybe headphones with music or white noise. My son used to wear ear defenders when he was younger, and now he tends to wear headphones playing music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. He has Asperger's.

xylophone

Try Mencap?


https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/housing?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3aGgspL-4gIVq5XtCh1LjwJNEAAYAyAAEgJqcvD_BwE

KatrinaWaves

Ear defenders or another way of dealing with noise is the only way forward. I live in a detached property in a pretty quite rural area. I still hear the neighbours dog, lawn mowers, the occasional motorbike tearing along the road. Wherever he lives there will be noise that he doesn’t like. Many autistic children and adults use these to deal with noise sensititivity.

Detached properties, particularly bungalows, are going to be the most in demand, and those who have physical disabilities which totally preclude them from even accessing a different type of property will probably take priorities. He needs to find ways of dealing with noise in other properties.

elsien

He can't be classed as a blanket "no capacity" as legally that is not possible. Capacity is time and decision specific, and the presumption is that someone has capacity unless it can be evidenced otherwise for each particular decision at the time it needs to be made.

Mental health services have assessed him but clearly don't think he currently falls under the scope of the Mental Health Act, where autism needs to be paired with seriously reckless/irresponsible behaviour to allow him to be detained. They can't force him to interact if he doesn't want to.

If he doesn't have a learning disability, then autism notwithstanding he does need to start taking some responsibility for his actions and the potential consequences, and take steps to try to mitigate some of the issues he has, such as ear defenders etc.

I presume he's not working, so he's also going to have issues with housing benefit and the affordability of a detached house when he's only entitled to the single person rate. It's not as straightforward as overturning the rules on who gets what property, he has to look at affordability as well. The local authority aren't going to be topping up his rent for him.
What section was he under, 2 or 3, as if he's been on S3 there may be some entitlement to S117 aftercare, although any housing support would only be if it directed related to being needed to prevent a deterioration in his mental health. Which brings you back to whether his issues are mental health related and they may well not be.


Have his parents had their own assessments as carers to see what help and support they can get for themselves while all this is going on.
I agree with the others that living in a detached property isn't going to remove all the noise issues. What types of noise is he particularly sensitive to?

Kentish_Dave

CarlyS123 wrote: »

Che help you get with autism is disgusting.

If you don’t think that you and the rest of the family are looking after him properly have you researched where you are going wrong? Do any of the autism charities not have any training or advice that you could take?

GlasweJen

Detached houses aren't sound proof, I live in a detached house on a fairly remote island and still hear noises outside such as the neighbours car door closing, dogs barking, kids playing.

You could try increasing the sound proofing in his current home if the council will allow it. Even sound proofing his room might make a difference, though I don't think any room can be truly soundproof if it has a window.

The suggestion above of wearing ear defenders or listening to headphone is also good.

How did your relative get to this age without coping mechanisms? Autism doesn't happen overnight, this should have been getting worked on since early childhood if it's such a huge issue.

ska_lover

I agree with the above, detached houses aren't sound proof and in all honesty I have never heard of anyone getting offered a house, when a flat would 'sufficiently house' them

All the council care about is a roof over their head

One point to mention though is not all flats are the same

In my city there are lots of different types - one being what is known as a 'cottage flat' - where it is a typical house from the outside at first glance, but there is one flat upstairs and one downstairs, and each have their own door

On the bidding system he needs to /or have someone else for him, consider the noise aspect etc

[Deleted User]

I have two sons with autism. Both very sensitive to noise and we all have wireless headphones. I am afraid what you are looking for doesn't exist (a one bed detatched property for someone with purely mental health issues rather than physical). Plus if he was placed around vulnerable residents.., dealing with his meltdowns will be the last thing to do.

Council/housing departments differ but I know mine just looks at how many bedrooms you need, not what the effect on your mental health might be if there is noise around you. I'm afraid there seems to be an unwritten assumption that you should be so damn grateful for any kind of social housing, you don't care what it is or where it is. You get what you are given and say thank you very much (yes, it is very irritating). I've been caught up in this twice.

Social services tend to be told by Housing what they can do, not the other way around (in my experience).

Please don't think you don't have my sympathies, you do, but its not an ideal world and I'm afraid the other posts are correct, with the world as it is, your relative really does has to try and find ways to cope. Wrong as it may be, the ideal fit for them just does not exist. I would imagine the relative is a bit like my older son, a 'difficult client' who finds it very difficult to deal with those who are trying to organise care, very difficult to get him to engage at all.

The only thing I can think of is supported housing, but if he has difficulties with aggression, and again, he is placed in a house with others with vulnerabilities, it might be like waiting for a firework to go off.

You could try phoning National Autistic Society but they don't tend to have much information on housing as it varies so much from one council to another. You could try getting legal help from Shelter.

kingfisherblue

CarlyS123 wrote: »

Can a single person get a detached council house under special circumstances?

I have a severely autistic relative in his twenties who is extremely abusive to his parents. He has very bad noise sensitivities and accuses them of making noises he doesn't like which leads to a bunch of threats. He basically hears the tiniest things that no one else would notice and goes ballistic and says that his parents are the source of the noises and they are doing it on purpose to wind him up. The police have been round several times, he has been sectioned and spent some time in a council flat but this ultimately failed as flats aren't good for noise sensitivities and he starting getting into heated arguments over noises with the guy who lived above him who was also a drug dealer. He genuinely is not well in the head and refuses all help and quite frankly no one is interested in helping us, the help you get with autism is disgusting. He is not classed as having a learning disability but he is classed as having 'no capacity'.

Social services have offered to provide care from a council property. The only way forward is if we can get him out of the house into a place away from other people, something like a detached bungalow. However there are all these restrictions in place about this such as all the bedrooms have to be filled and age restrictions on bungalows. Under extreme circumstances can these restrictions be lifted? Because what else can happen in this situation? His parents can not continue with the daily abuse, mental health services accessed him and were useless/ not interested and he will not interact with anyone. If he goes in a council flat its just going to be exactly the same all over again except next time they may actually just kick him out and he will get barred from the council housing completely. We're really at a loss at what to do.

It would be helpful if the OP could return and answer some of the points raised.

M_Python

Unlikely as they haven't received the answer they were looking for.