help need help!!!!

ruggedtoast

Jesus why shouldnt a young working couple be able to get a cheap council house and have a kid? Hope they get a place sorted out guinness34, as others have said you need to write a letter stating you are chucking her out and the date you will make her homeless.

Biffa

Guiness, roughly where do you live? It depends on which system the council use for housing allocations - either a band system or a points system?

For arguments sake, I'll assume you live where I work. We use a banding system, which consists of Urgent (for those accepted as homeless), high (for those with medical or overcrowding needs), general (for most applications) and reserve (for those who live out of the area).

Where I work, we have around 3,000 properties. Of these, around 1,000 are either one bedroom flats or warden aided accommodation. We also have around 4,500 people on the waiting list, the majority of which are after family accommodation (2,3, or 4 bed houses). Because we're in a fairly ok area, we have a very low turnover of properties and are losing properties all the time thanks to the RTB system. Someone on the general band looking for a one bed flat can expect to be waiting around 5/6 years before they get an offer, although at the moment there is no limit to the number of offers made (some places have a maximum of 3 then you're suspended from the list for 12 months).

So, assuming your council also has a banding system (although they probably have points or choice-based lettings), your daughter can expect to be waiting quite some time.

If she decides to go down the homeless route (ie: you are no longer prepared to have her living at home and can't accommodate the baby), then you will need to apply to the council as homeless. To be homeless she has to be:

a) in priority need (pregnant, have dependant children or a disability)
b) have a local connection to the area she is applying to as homeless
c) not be intentionally homeless (ie, evicted due to rent arrears, ASB etc)
d) be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 28 days

Her application will then be investigated by a homeless officer. How long this takes varies from council to council, but our target is within 33 working days. She will need to provide them with proof of ID, proof of income, proof of pregnancy, bank statements for the last 3 months, a letter from yourself saying she can no longer be accommodated etc etc. The council can offer her temporary accommodation while they assess her application but this will vary from B&B to a hostel. If she refuses temporary accommodation, this may cast a doubt over how 'homeless' she really is.

If she is accepted as homeless, she will get ONE offer of accommodation. If she refuses to accept it, the council will discharge their duty to her and she will need to find her own accommodation. Again, depending on where you live, she may only qualify for a one bed flat until baby has been born and turns 1 year old - there basically isn't enough properties around to go handing out two bed flats and houses to everyone that wants one.

One other point is that we can't give tenancies to those under 18 without a guarantor, so you may need to guarantee her rent in case she gets into arrears.

Hope this helps but feel free to PM me if you need any more info and I'll try to help if I can.

Running_Horse

You need to learn to play the system. One bloke I know borrowed a sold EA sign, to convince the council he was moving and his daughter would soon be homeless.

In my Utopian society, people would be rewarded for good behaviour, not for telling lies and playing the victim; with engaged and newly married working couples taking priority.

sleepless_saver

guinness34 wrote: »

they have asked me to write a letter to help them to get a house a bit quicker
but with them both being british can't see that happening :rotfl: :rotfl:

If they are a priority (e.g pregnant and homeless) they will get a house faster, and if they're not they won't. I don't see what being British has to do with it.

ruggedtoast

sleepless_saver wrote: »

If they are a priority (e.g pregnant and homeless) they will get a house faster, and if they're not they won't. I don't see what being British has to do with it.

Apparently newly arrived immigrants score more points so get to jump the queue. This may well just be Daily Mail moral outrage hatred ramping though. Maybe Biffa can comment on this?

Biffa

Rugged,

Newly arrived immigrants, believe it or not, don't just turn up and get given a property straight away, despite what the Daily Mail says! They have to meet strict criteria, amongst which is not being subject to immigration controls, having access to public funds, etc etc.

Having said that, where I work we don't have that many immigrants applying to us for housing in the first place. I think we've had one case in the last 2 years as far as I know, and as it wasn't one of mine (thankfully! The relevant Government agencies are VERY slow at providing all the information that we needed as I recall), so I really couldn't comment on what the outcome was.

fc123

carolt wrote: »

Out of interest, where did she plan to live when she got pregnant, if not with you, if she doesn't earn?

Or did she just expect the State (ie the taxpayers) to pick up the tab?

If a system is set up in a certain way, then people will adapt to it.
My niece did not get pregant by accident.......she had lifestyle choices laid out in front of her. My son will leave uni, work and pay tax...indirectly supporting his cousins life choice. In effect, he will pay for her.

gm47

If a system is set up in a certain way, then people will adapt to it. what you really mean is lie and cheat.

My niece did not get pregant by accident.......she had lifestyle choices laid out in front of her.So she chose to be a burden to taxpayers and you think that is ok !!

My son will leave uni, work and pay tax...indirectly supporting his cousins life choice. In effect, he will pay for her. Are you joking, unless your son is going to be paying max tax on a huge salary for many years will he ever come close to "paying for her".

Sorry if this offends but the truth sometimes is unpalatable

PasturesNew

What happened to the mother/baby places that unmarried mothers used to be sent to in the 70s when their families kicked them out?

They didn't get flats back then, it was off to the Unmarried Mothers Unit.

I think it might be better to bring those back. Reduce the overhead of keeping them while providing them with an environment conducive to bringing up a baby and opportunities to share/help/learn with others.

silvercar

fc123 wrote: »

If a system is set up in a certain way, then people will adapt to it.
My niece did not get pregant by accident.......she had lifestyle choices laid out in front of her. My son will leave uni, work and pay tax...indirectly supporting his cousins life choice. In effect, he will pay for her.

Are you saying that if your niece hadn't got pregnant, your son wouldn't have left uni, work and pay tax?

NO?

So he's not paying for her; this was his plan anyway.