Hi everyone :) after some advice

lophie1988

I am 34yr old female living at home with my 63yr old mum who suffers with mental health and has disabilities due to having metal through her spine. I myself suffer with severe depression and anxiety due to losing my brother and friend in a short space of time and my mental health has declined since my diagnoses of having stage 4 endometriosis. My illness is very bad at stage 4, my organs are fused together and I internally bleed once a month making the pain debilitating, where I barely leave my home, can rarely do for myself and the life changes I have had to make due to my flare ups keeping me bed bound a lot. Having stage 4 endometriosis has meant I am unable to have children and my local council - Cardiff Council stated they could not House me because I did not meet their criteria of help due to not having any dependents which I thought quite insensitive of them and my mum having a spare room I can stay in. My problem now is that both our mental states are seriously low and are clashing and my illness is getting a lot worse. I have worked since the age of 15 and had to leave my job I loved 6 months ago due to my illness taking over me. I used to private rent for years and now I am in no position to do so as my savings had to go on private surgery to diagnose my illness as NHS stopped all surgeries in lockdown. Does anybody know of any help I can obtain in regards to finding my own living space? I am in full receipt of PIP due to my illness being chronic and lifelong and on UC. It’s the new year and it’s also the third year of me trying to find help with my situation that is getting worse day by day. I love my mother more than anything in the world, however with both is us experiencing similar mental issues and both physically challenged due to ailments and illnesses I think it’s a very unhealthy environment for us both to be living under the same roof. 

poppy123456

You can put your name down on the social housing list but being single with no children could see you waiting quite a considerable time to be housed.

In the meantime your only option maybe to look at privately renting but the other issue here would be trying to find a landlord that will accept someone claiming benefits, lots of landlords refuse any DSS tenants. If you do manage to find somewhere then your UC can include help with the rent. As a single person you'll be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate of local housing allowance. You can find the rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ you would need to put a postcode into the area you're looking for to see the amount. If there's any shortfall then you will need to pay that yourself.

ladyluck

Have you tried charity housing or church funded housing schemes? They may be very much more likely to empathise  with you. I don’t know what you have in your are but here in Yorkshire there are several charities, known for helping the vunerable and disabled.

Cher_Alumni

Hi @lophie1988 and a warm, belated welcome to our online community. Thank you for sharing your story with us, it sounds like you've been through a tough time. How are you today?

What do you think to the options put forward of looking into going on the social housing list, private housing or funded housing schemes? Scope have a 'Getting more suitable accommodation and moving house' webpage that has some relevant information too.

I also wanted to check and see if you've looked into counselling for either the grief of your loved ones and/or the infertility caused by your endometriosis. I personally found talking therapy very useful for the latter and, although waiting lists are very long, would encourage you to speak with your GP about a referral or explore self referring online via the NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service website.

The organisation CRUSE is also brilliant for support around dealing with bereavement, if you haven't already checked those out. 

I hope you and your mum are keeping well. Take care and please keep us posted with how you get on.