Homeless 76 year old

cashman82

My mum is 77 in a few months. After almost 20 years of her 2nd marriage to her miserly husband, he accused her of being a thief and she had enough. She went to the solicitor the next day and filed for divorce. That was last March. Over a year down the line and one awful solicitor later, she was told to sell her house and the money went to the ex husbands solicitors bank account (apparently the two solicitors agreed to this)
Since the house sold, she’s been living between houses. She’s on a low income and can’t afford to rent and feed herself. Her basic pension is less than £400/m.
I’ve found a low cost flat for her and she’s in first position to get it if the council can provide a letter to say she’s homeless. We’ve provided evidence that she has no access to the house proceeds until a financial agreement is reached and the council have been in touch to say they will do an assessment when the proceeds from the house are finalised.

I’m at my wits end. The divorce was started last year, they are now divorced but until there is a financial agreement, she has no access to funds from the house. Her ex husband won’t even agree to a small lump sum up front to allow her to get a rental!

What can I do?? She is homeless, she is of no fixed abode and we can’t go on with the situation as it is. She has health issues, she’s had a small stroke so one of her arms doesn’t function properly. How can I get the council to address her needs and quickly? She can be safe in a flat in my area if they’d just declare her homeless but don’t seem willing to even do the assessment, but we can’t wait 6 months until a possible court date to get the funds distributed.

Anyone in the know able to help?

LunaLater

Can you not have her to stay with you?

Rubyroobs

She can surely claim housing benefit until the proceeds of the divorce settlement come through if she finds a private rental. I'm not sure why you need a letter off the council to rent a flat - is it social housing ? Also if she has difficulties with personal care, she could possibly also qualify for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested.

Alice_Holt

And it sounds like she would be currently entitled to Pension Credit (with automatic entitlement to HB). 

HillStreetBlues

Rubyroobs said:

She can surely claim housing benefit until the proceeds of the divorce settlement come through if she finds a private rental. I'm not sure why you need a letter off the council to rent a flat - is it social housing ? Also if she has difficulties with personal care, she could possibly also qualify for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested.

A 76 year old with very little income, sounds like no money for deposit is highly unlikely to get a private rental.
 

poppy12345

HillStreetBlues said:

Rubyroobs said:

She can surely claim housing benefit until the proceeds of the divorce settlement come through if she finds a private rental. I'm not sure why you need a letter off the council to rent a flat - is it social housing ? Also if she has difficulties with personal care, she could possibly also qualify for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested.

A 76 year old with very little income, sounds like no money for deposit is highly unlikely to get a private rental.
 

It's not a privately rented property as mentioned here.

cashman82 said:

I’ve found a low cost flat for her and she’s in first position to get it if the council can provide a letter to say she’s homeless.

HillStreetBlues

poppy12345 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Rubyroobs said:

She can surely claim housing benefit until the proceeds of the divorce settlement come through if she finds a private rental. I'm not sure why you need a letter off the council to rent a flat - is it social housing ? Also if she has difficulties with personal care, she could possibly also qualify for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested.

A 76 year old with very little income, sounds like no money for deposit is highly unlikely to get a private rental.
 

It's not a privately rented property as mentioned here.

cashman82 said:

I’ve found a low cost flat for her and she’s in first position to get it if the council can provide a letter to say she’s homeless.

Puzzled by your post as I know the OP isn't talking about private rental.

My reply was to Rubyroobs who mentioned getting a private rental hence the emboldening  and quoting just their post.

Murphybear

There are some good sheltered housing association properties around, I live in one.  They have properties for over 60s throughout England.    With ours you don’t need to go through the council, you can apply direct.  There are waiting lists for the most popular areas such as Bournemouth or the Isle of Wight but for many places there are vacancies.  Rents are set at affordable and they are happy to take housing benefit.  

poppy12345

HillStreetBlues said:

poppy12345 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Rubyroobs said:

She can surely claim housing benefit until the proceeds of the divorce settlement come through if she finds a private rental. I'm not sure why you need a letter off the council to rent a flat - is it social housing ? Also if she has difficulties with personal care, she could possibly also qualify for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested.

A 76 year old with very little income, sounds like no money for deposit is highly unlikely to get a private rental.
 

It's not a privately rented property as mentioned here.

cashman82 said:

I’ve found a low cost flat for her and she’s in first position to get it if the council can provide a letter to say she’s homeless.

Puzzled by your post as I know the OP isn't talking about private rental.

My reply was to Rubyroobs who mentioned getting a private rental hence the emboldening  and quoting just their post.

Apologies, i quoted the wrong comment. It was late and it had been a very long day.

cashman82

Murphybear said:

There are some good sheltered housing association properties around, I live in one.  They have properties for over 60s throughout England.    With ours you don’t need to go through the council, you can apply direct.  There are waiting lists for the most popular areas such as Bournemouth or the Isle of Wight but for many places there are vacancies.  Rents are set at affordable and they are happy to take housing benefit.  

This is exactly what I’m trying to get her. I’ve bid on it, but despite her age, her health issues (including a heart condition, high BP and depression since this all began) she was in 3rd position. I understand that people with children can be higher up the pecking order but this is a 1 bed flat so intended as single occupancy.

She is, for all intents and purposes, of no fixed abode. I listed her on the application as homeless because she is as that has put her in first position BUT I require this official letter from her local council to say so and then she is guaranteed the flat. It is social housing.

She is receiving pension credit which i think is more than her actual pension - that’s how low her pension is! We’ve applied for private rentals but she always gets turned down. She pretty infirm in a lot of ways - also has mobility issues and I think landlords look at her application and don’t want the hassle of an old single lady. They also do a credit check and she has to tell them her income. It’s often lower than what they want. Even with pension credit it’s less than £9000 a year.

cashman82

Alice_Holt said:

And it sounds like she would be currently entitled to Pension Credit (with automatic entitlement to HB). 

She gets pension credit. It’s takes her annual income to under £9k a year