Homelessness

[grumpy80]

Having been homeless myself I find it appalling that certain councils take so long to prevent homelessness. Myself and the other half spoke to our local council just over 6 weeks ago, they did not respond to our initial request for 4 weeks. It took an MP, a GP as well as other agencies to get them to even respond at that point.

Having got so many people involved with our quest we are being helped out. I can't help myself from thinking what if we had said forget it to them several weeks ago.

Does anyone on here have experience of this kind of issue? If so, leave a message here. I am taking action in the New Year along with a local MP so get your views in.

[oldgrape]

when i was pregnant with my son my then partner and i were sleeping in his work van for ages and the council did nothing to help i got in contact with an organisation called Sheler who were fantastic without them god knows what would have happened

[sara3]

I would imagine that most councils have quite a few families in the same/similar situations. if they don't have the properties immediately available, it's going to be the most desperate that gets dealt with first.

or maybe the ones that shout the loudest?

I'm pleased to hear you're getting some help now :o)

[grumpy80]

Shelter can be helpful at times but we have found recently that it is very difficult to get the right kind of information from them.

I am glad that you got help Old Grape. I am in a gay relationship so there were no kids involved, thankfully, but I do have a serious bowel disease which the government does not recognise. Daft eh??!

[grumpy80]

Sara3 - I know what you mean. It is only those who shout the loudest that benefit. I have Crohns Disease which means I need access to the toilet 24/7, I had to describe what being homeless (rough sleeping) would do to my bowels yet they still decided I was not vulnerable. I will not name the council as that would not be fair as I am sure that if we had kids, or were mentally disturbed or druggies they would have helped sooner lol!

[saxy_jag]

Just what is your quest, grumpy? Whilst I agree that as a nation we don't do nearly enough for the homeless, I'm not sure what it is you're asking us to do.

On the face of it, six weeks is a pretty fast response time, although I'll grant you it hardly seems like that when you're living in hostels.

What I can tell you from my experience of working for a local authority (not housing) is that a pretty sure fire way of getting anything done quickly is to take your case direct to your local councillor (or failing that, the councillor who is the lead on housing). When a councillor takes a case to a department, the department usually gets onto it pdq.

[grumpy80]

We became homeless earlier this year through no fault of our own. My partner was made redundant and as our landlord at the time did not accept DSS we had no choice but to get out. The council we approached knew that the other half had a local connection of over 15 years and that I was quite poorly with Crohns. As we have been rough sleepers before I had not yet got all my identification back however I was told that a medical card was a definate proof of identification - the council housing officer said otherwise.

Whilst admittedly we are not in a hostel but in someone elses home (he is illegally renting us the room, the council are aware and will deal with him accordingly once we have left) where we have to pay rent out of Jobseekers as we cannot claim LHA due to him claim Incap etc etc. So yes 6 weeks is quick but they DID NOT even acknowledge any phone call or email or letter. Ignoring the problem will not make homeless people go away, they have rights to a roof over their head one way or another.

We have been given rent in advance as well as a deposit guarantee, we move into our official home before Christmas.

[sara3]

why aren't you claiming benefits as a couple? would you not get any element of Income Support, which would entitle you to HB?

[firewatch]

Right, i work for a homeless charity, one which houses the homeless.
We DO NOT except druggies, any persons found with drugs on there persons/room (which they are subject to random room searches) they are instantly removed from the premises.
We work hard to work with the local housing teams in order to have quick response times, and keeping those on the waiting lists informed of there position.
In the last week i have dealt with people who are or were sleeping in there cars and are now housed, thank god.
We took there call one morning and following an interview, police checks etc, they were housed the following evening.
Unfourtunatley we are a single persons hostel, we cannot take families,pregnant women and those with chronic illness. We simply do not have the trained staff to do so.
We would love to help that sort of person more but our facilities do not lend themselves to this (we have a lot of stairs!).
The council is obliged to help provided you have a letter stating reason for eviction from previous landlord, which in no way makes out you are intentionally homeless.
all the best chickx

[stokemaveric]

the council house stock is fast running out with the sale of council houses and the influx of immigrants,no wonder true brits cant get a council house......narrow minded i may be.....but also i live in the real world......

[Octavius]

What is a 'true brit'?

[Quinlad]

A Morris dancer with a bulldog.

[Haggisdj]

.. sorry - no pets allowed!!!

[grumpy80]

Too many people are becoming homeless, whether they are single or a couple more needs to be done for others in need. I, for one, will be volunteering over Xmas at one place we used to go for a hot shower and food when we slept rough a couple of year ago.

[bednobs]

i dont understand this thread. how are you homeless if someone is renting you a room (albeit illegally)?
You are not slepping in a van, you are not rough sleeping, you are not in a hostel therefore, in my opinion you are not homeless. No wonder its taking a long time to help -they have people in the above positions to help first
You say you have been given rent advance and help with deposit and you will move in b4 christmas - that all sounds pretty quick to me (admittedly i have never slept rough, but to be fair, neither are you at the moment)

[grumpy80]

bedknobs - we have no tenancy agreement or rent book nor could we apply for housing benefit for where we are at present. It is not our fault we have ended up where we have.

ALL councils have a duty to help or assist, within their rules, a person or persons who know they will be homeless in or before 28 days.

We have slept rough before but we got ourselves sorted back then. Now we ask the local council for assistance and people assume we are drug takers or alcoholics.

If we had not approached anyone for help we would be sleeping rough, something I cannot do with half a bowel!!!!

The guy we 'rent' from is on benefits himself and is defrauding the system by not declaring we are there. He is also working despite being off sick. Now I am seriously ill with Crohns and could land in hospital at any minute but I am applying for work in the new area (you need a car or train journey before getting there from here) in Probation Service.

So bedknobs I beg to differ with you as it is obvious that you feel we had a roof. Yes we did but having to pay out for a room out of JSA (due to the lack of work for both of us and the fact we knew we cannot stay in the place we are in) as well as starving ourselves.