Council housing advice

JoJoB

Hello, not sure if this is in the right forum but maybe someone has experience of this.

My friend is trying to get a bigger council house but so far is being ignored by the council. She and her husband and three children live in a small 2 bedroom house and really need a 3 bed. Her little girl is too big for her cot now (which was in the parents room) and they have no room for a bed for her. So she sleeps in the double bed with mum and dad sleeps downstairs on the sofa. Kids have nowhere to play as it isn't safe outside in the street and their garden is no good because of alcoholic neighbours throwing all sorts of crap over the fence. Everyone is tired, depressed, not getting enough sleep etc and they really need the extra room to get the little girl into a proper bedtime routine (and get mum off the sleeping pills).

Dad is usually working but he is building trade so has had no work over christmas, hopefully this will pick up again soon, but they can't afford to go private for the forseeable future.

They have been phoning and sending email after email. Their health visitor has also written on their behalf. All they have received is a letter stating that they are "low-priority" for moving. I am worried about the mum as she is getting more and more ill and depressed and I'm wondering if there are any more routes to go down that she could try, or even if the council has a legal obligation to re-house now that there are 3 children to one small bedroom and one has no room even for a bed?

Any suggestions wlecome!

pinkshoes

Having more children is not a reason to get a bigger council house, or at least not until they are something like 11 or 14, and not the same sex!!

Perhaps she should count herself lucky that she actually has a council house, along with the security off the long term let that it brings, and think of all those renting a tiny home privately, who would do anything to get a council house!?

She may not like where she's living, but it could be ALOT worse.

If she doesn't like the area, could she not consider renting privately?

JoJoB

She can't afford private rents.

Yes, i am aware she is lucky she is able to have a council house at all, but is it really reasonable for her daughter not to have a bed of her own? I wouldn't have thought this would be asking an awful lot really. Is she supposed to sleep in bed with her mum, with her dad on the sofa downstaris until she is 11 or 12? Yes, considering the awful conditions some people live in she is lucky. We are all lucky aren't we, considering we are not being dismembered by some militia gang or blown to bits in a war or starving to death - but we can still seek improvements to our lot can't we without someone getting on their high horse?

silvercar

Could they fit bunk beds and a small single in the larger bedroom and a double bed for parents in the smaller bedroom?

woody_56

Hi how about a council transfer?

slipthru

I believe that until a child is four that they can share a bedroom with there parents.

A guy i worked with, lived in a one bedrrom flat with three children and his wife and had been trying to get moved for a good few years.

Catblue

It does sound a grim situation for your friend, actually.

Would she consider an exchange to another house? Could she even move to another area?

Even if she could only get another 2-bed, the bedrooms might be big enough to have a temporary partition as the kids get older.

Worth looking into, I would think.

98jdougl

Me, my mum and my sister were in homeless shelter and still didn't get a council house.
My friend samantha had a three bed which covered her mum, her dad, herself at 19, her younger brother at 17 as well as a 9 year old sister, 6 year old brother and a 3 month old baby.

It wasn't the best area but everyone was really good about it and appreciated it for what they had.

It isn't great, sure but it's a lot better than what others have- council property is usually pretty bad!

Guy_Montag

Is it unnecessarily harsh to suggest that since they have no room for sprog no.3 then a little more care should have been called for at an earlier stage.

misscomickat

It's a bit late for that now though isn't it?

There is a shortage of larger homes and once people have them they tend to stay in them, hence you have elderly people in 3/4 bed council homes living alone.

Right to buy hasn't helped.

Have you tried housing associations?

tanith

I am not sure the council will really do very much if they are short of housing stock... my daughter has 3 children in a 2 bed place all the children sleep in one room and have done since they moved from the one bed flat.. she has two girls 14 and 2 and a boy of 9.. the eldest girl now spends most of her time with her grandparents as she gets some privacy and a room on her own there, she comes back several nights a week and sleeps on a blow up bed so that the other two have a little more space.. so in fact the family have split up because of over crowding and still the council say they have no bigger homes available... I feel so sorry for people in these situations...